New York”™s labor commissioner will call on a three-member wage board to hold public hearings this year and recommend any needed changes to pay regulations for food service workers and service employees dependent on tips for their income.
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo on Thursday directed state Labor Commissioner Peter M. Rivera to convene the board as an additional step in New York”™s three-year phase-in of a $1.75 increase in the state”™s hourly minimum wage for all workers. The rate increased from $7.25 per hour to $8 per hour Dec. 31 and will rise again to $8.75 per hour at the end of this year. The New York minimum wage will top out at $9 per hour on Dec. 31, 2015.
Under legislation enacted in 2013, tipped workers are paid a required base rate. Their tips added to that base pay must equal or exceed the minimum wage.
Heather C. Briccetti, president and CEO of The Business Council of New York State, will serve on the board with Peter Ward, president of the New York Hotel Trade Council, and retired Broome County Executive Timothy Grippen.
“Business has changed since the last minimum wage increase,” Rivera said in a press release. “I will task these individuals with determining if the base pay for tipped food service workers should be amended and, if so, by how much.”
Rivera said a schedule of public hearings will be announced soon.
