DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — DeKalb County employees will start their jobs at a higher rate thanks to action by the County Commission.
Nearly every hourly worker got raises, starting April 11, when officials raised the minimum staff wages from $17.68 per hour to $19.
The higher pay level was present in paychecks issued on May 1.
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According to the county, the increased wage floor makes DeKalb County among the highest-paying public employers in metro Atlanta.
Among the more than 1,400 DeKalb County employees, full-time and part-time workers all got the increase.
However, temporary employees will not.
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Any employee that was earning less than $19 per hour will now be at the new countywide minimum. The change impacted 563 employees, according to officials.
The county will also provide what they call compression adjustments to protect pay separation for workers already at or just above the new minimum wage.
Going forward, employees who had already earned between $17.68 to $22.68 per hour will get a graduated raise to make sure the pay they receive matches their experience and responsibilities, when compared to entry-level workers.
“The closer an employee was to the new $19.00 minimum, the larger their compression adjustment. The adjustments phase out at $22.68 per hour,” the county said. “A total of 865 employees fall into this group, with the smallest increase coming in at 0.118 percent for an employee previously earning $22.67288 per hour.”
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