In light of a recent recommendation by a New York state-appointed board to increase the minimum wage for fast-food workers, state legislators have suggested extending the wage hike to others.
A three-person board ”“ appointed by acting state Labor Commissioner Mario J. Musolino, who heeded a request to empanel a wage board by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo ”“ gained public input through hearings across the state over the last two months and recommended on July 22 that wages for employees in the fast-food sector be increased incrementally to $15 per hour.
The wage board outlined a plan in which New York City fast-food employees would reach the new minimum wage in 2018 and the rest of the state would follow in 2021.
State Assemblyman Thomas Abinanti, D-Greenburgh, has requested that the wage board consider extending the New York City timeline of incremental wage increases to Westchester County.
Abinanti”™s office in a press release cited a cost-of-living index from tech company FindTheBest that said Westchester County is the fifth most expensive area to live in the country. He compared that with New York City, which ranked eighth.
“By some standards, Westchester”™s cost of living is higher than New York City”™s and far higher than the rest of the state and the rest of the country. Westchester workers who put in an honest day”™s work should be paid enough to keep their families out of poverty,” he said in the press release.
State Sen. David Carlucci, D-Clarkstown, penned a letter to Musolino asking the labor commissioner to extend the minimum-wage increase to direct support professionals who are caretakers for people with disabilities.
“I fear the targeted increase in minimum wage will lead to an exodus of employee”™s (sic) from the human services sector to higher paying jobs in the fast food industry,” Carlucci said.
The legal justification for empaneling a wage board, and bypassing the state Legislature to increase wages in the fast-food sector, is outlined in Section 653 of New York state”™s labor law.
If a commissioner “is of the opinion that any substantial number of persons employed in any occupation or occupations are receiving wages insufficient to provide adequate maintenance and to protect their health, he shall appoint a wage board to inquire into and report and recommend adequate minimum wage and regulations for employees in such occupation or occupations,” the law states.
In this case, the board recommended that fast-food restaurants be defined as “part of chains that have 30 or more locations nationally.”
Musolino told the wage board in May that his decision to convene the board “was based on data and studies that indicate that 60 percent of fast-food workers in New York are in families enrolled in at least one public assistance program.”
Musolino has 45 days from the filing of the board”™s report about the recommendations to accept, reject or modify the fast-food definition or pay increase.
