Students who choose to work on campus lose the benefit of earning a higher minimum wage rate, due to an exemption from the city’s Minimum Wage Ordinance.

According to Richard Waller, the supervising compliance officer for the Office of Labor Standards Enforcement, because SF State is a state agency, the MWO does not apply to the college and therefore, they don’t have to follow the state minimum wage laws.

“As long as the university pays the employees the state minimum wage then it is fine,” Waller said. “The ordinance doesn’t interfere with state or federal institutions.”

Josh Pastreich, a contract compliance officer for the OLSE, disagrees with state agency exemptions and said all business or institutions should abide by the same set of rules.

“We have to stay within our jurisdiction,” Pastreich said. “We aren’t allowed to cross the boundaries and reach into state operated institutions.”

Students have the option of working off campus, which would guarantee them $8.82 an hour, but choose to work on campus for convenience purposes.

Shana Torres, a 20-year-old criminal justice major, has worked at the One Stop Student Center information desk for the last six months. She was hired through the Registrar’s office and gets paid $8.80 an hour. Torres was aware that the city’s minimum wage increased.

“The last time I checked my paycheck, I was only getting paid $8.80 an hour,” Torres said. “Maybe I should check again, but I’m pretty sure it’s not $8.82.

According to Denise Fox Needleman, associate vice president of human resources, the minimum salary for students working on any campus in the CSU system is $6.75, the state minimum wage.

Last Jan.1, any employee working in San Francisco for more than two hours a week should be paid no less than $8.82. Any employer who violates this ordinance risks legal action, as well as a monetary penalty.

San Francisco employees can expect another minimum wage increase on Jan.1, 2007, according to a Sept. 21 press release. An additional 3.6 percent increase will raise the rate to $9.14, making San Francisco employees the highest paid minimum wage workers in the country.

Although SF State is not required to comply with the City of San Francisco’s livable wage, they voluntarily elected to increase the student minimum wage to more closely correspond with the city’s livable wage.

There are currently two SF State salary ranges for student employees: $8.50 to $16.17 and $9.00 to $15.79. Students can be paid any where within the total salary range, depending on the nature of work as well as required skills, knowledge and experience.

Torres said the minimum wage rate is decent enough for workers employed at less educated places of employment, but she disagrees with the idea that she gets paid the same amount working at a professional institution.

“You don’t need an education to flip burgers at McDonald’s,” Torres said. “I’m a peer adviser. I had to take classes and trained for one year. I help these students navigate their way through the campus and I’m getting paid the same amount as someone flipping burgers.”

Kyle Corbett, a 22-year-old senior employed at the Student Center Information desk, said he has relied on working part-time and taking out loans to get through his college years. He works on campus because it’s convenient for his schedule and he lives in San Francisco because of the proximity to school. But his minimum wage paychecks are barely enough to live in the city, Corbett said, and he anticipates graduation so that he can move elsewhere.

“Minimum wage, it’s definitely not enough,” Corbett said. “The city is just way too expensive for anyone who has to go to school and work.”

Corbett said a rate of $11 an hour would be more helpful for any part-time worker who is paid minimum wage.

Many of the students on campus work an average of 15 to 20 hours a week and feel that working for minimum wage isn’t enough to survive in the city. Some of the students have considered working two jobs, but hesitate for fear that work might interfere with school. Others have considered moving out of the area for cheaper rent, but they factor in the expenses for transportation or gas money and decide to just stay in the city.

“I’ve actually thought about living with a family member in Santa Rosa and commuting to the city with her every day, because it is cheaper,” Brandon Powers, 23 an SF State student studying Japanese, said. “But she gets up at 4:30 in the morning just to be in the city by 7 a.m., and I can’t see myself doing that. Plus the expenses for gas, the prices are just so high. At the end of it all it probably just balances out.”

Powers is currently unemployed and receives financial aid from the school. He pays $600 a month for an apartment he rents at The Villas. He appreciates being able to focus solely on school and has difficulty imagining how it would be if he had to balance out school with work. He believes that a minimum wage around $12 would be better than the current rate of $8.82.

“There is no way you can live out here on a minimum wage job unless you’re working two different jobs or just working,” Powers said. “School and work is almost impossible and it’s amazing how some students can balance it out.”