The Wyoming Labor Law Guide

Minimum wage is the lowest hourly pay rate that employers are legally obligated to pay employees. The federal minimum wage is a wage baseline, but different states, cities, and regions can adopt their own rates.

$7.25 per hour for eligible employees

Wyoming does not allow different cities to set their own minimum wage rates.

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Tipped minimum wage is the lowest hourly pay rate employers are legally obligated to pay employees who earn a significant portion of their income through tips.

$2.13 per hour for eligible employees

Wyoming law defines an eligible tipped employee as any one person who customarily and regularly receives at least $30 a month or more in tips.

You aren't allowed to consider tips as part of wages. Including tips, an employee must reach an average of $5.15 an hour or the employer must pay the difference to the tipped employee.

Wyoming doesn't have any state-based overtime laws. The federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) applies to FLSA-covered employers in Wyoming.

Under the FLSA, employers must pay non-exempt employees 1.5 times their regular rate of pay after 40 hours of work in a workweek.

Deductions made from wages for any number of reasons, such as employer-required uniforms, are not legal if they reduce the amount of overtime pay under the FLSA.

Wyoming doesn't have any laws requiring employers to provide rest or meal breaks.

If you and the employee initially agree to provided meal breaks, federal work-hour rules may apply. Usually, if a break is given but lasts less than 20 minutes, it must be paid.

If an employee takes a rest or meal break and is "off duty," meaning they aren't on work premises or responsible for work, they don't need to be paid for this time.

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Vacation leave
Wyoming doesn't require private or public employers to provide paid time off to employees. Any agreements for paid or unpaid vacation leave is at the discretion of you as the employer.

Paid sick leave
Wyoming employment laws don't require private or public employers to provide paid sick leave to employees. Any agreed-upon sick leave is at the discretion of the employer.

Under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), eligible employees are allowed up to 12 weeks of unpaid job-protected leave each year for any of the following:

• Birth and care of a child.

• Placement of a child in adoption or foster care.

• Care of a child, spouse, or parent with a serious health condition.

• Employee's own serious health condition.

Holidays
In Wyoming, any hours worked during holidays are treated like normal working hours. Wyoming has no laws regulating paid holiday leave, as of November 2024.

Most employers do offer at least a few paid holidays that would be outlined in an employment contract or company policy. The state does observe nine state holidays that are treated as paid leave for state employees, including:

• New Year's Day

• Martin Luther King Jr. Day

• Presidents' Day

• Memorial Day

• Independence Day

• Labor Day

• Veterans Day

• Thanksgiving Day

• Christmas Day

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Wyoming enforces its own child labor laws that differ somewhat from the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Minors under the age of 14:
May not generally be employed except they may be employed by their parents on a family farm.

Minors 14 or 15 years of age are permitted to work in retail, food service, and gasoline service establishments, as well as other local businesses such as banks, government employers, insurance companies, advertising agencies, information technology rms, software development, tutoring or teachers assistant, and lifeguards (15 and older). They cannot generally work in a job requiring operation of or working on heavy construction or employment requiring contact with explosives or dangerous chemicals. They can also work anytime outside school hours with the following restrictions:

• May not work more than 3 hours on a school day, and not during school hours. 

• May not work more than 18 hours in a school week. 

• May not work more than 8 hours on a non-school day. 

• May not work more than 40 hours in a non-school week. 

• May not work before 7:00 AM or after 7:00PM (except from June 1 to Labor Day when evening hours are extended to 9:00 PM). 

*Restrictions on work hours are relaxed for work-study programs tailored to 14 and 15 year olds enrolled in Advanced Placement (AP) courses.

Minors 16 or older:
May work in any job, hazardous or not, for unlimited hours

Note: A minority of Wyoming employers who are not required to comply with federal child labor laws (summarized above) are required to observe the State of Wyoming’s child labor laws. Very few Wyoming employers fall under that category. Information regarding employers who fall under state child labor requirements can be found below:

Allowable work hours minors (for Wyoming employers not covered by federal law):

• No more than 8 hours in any 12-hour period

• No work before 5:00 am or after 10:00 PM on nights followed by a school day, or after midnight on days which are not followed by a school day

• Children not enrolled in school may work for an 8-hour period between 5:00 AM and midnight

Hiring
The Fair Employment Practices Act in Wyoming regulates all hiring practices for employers. Under the law, employers with two or more employees are prohibited from discriminating against qualified individuals based on protected characteristics.

Employers may not discriminate based on any of the following:

• Age

• Sex

• Race

• Creed

• Color

• National original

• Ancestry 

• Pregnancy 

• Qualifying disability 

The law includes discrimination in hiring, promoting, demoting, or terminating, along with discrimination in compensation or other employment terms.

Firing
Wyoming is known as an at-will employment state, meaning employers may terminate employees at any time without a reason or cause, as long as it's not unlawful.

Employees also have the right to resign from employment at any time for any reason without providing prior notice, unless it's specified in their employment contract or company policy.