The State Department of Labor is issuing an order eliminating the subminimum wage for \u2018miscellaneous\u2019 industries statewide.
\nThe order impacts over 70,000 tipped employees and will end confusion and outright wage theft that evidence shows robs them of tipped income they rightfully earned, state officials said.
\nWorkers that will be impacted by the new measure include: nail salon workers, hairdressers, aestheticians, car wash workers, valet parking attendants, door-persons, tow truck drivers, dog groomers and tour guides.
\n\u201cIn New York, we believe in a fair day\u2019s pay for a fair day\u2019s work,\u201d Governor Cuomo said. \u201cBut after an exhaustive investigation conducted by the Department of Labor, it\u2019s clear the tip system in many situations is needlessly complicated, allowing unscrupulous businesses to flout our nation-leading minimum wage laws and robbing workers of the paycheck they earned. That ends now.
\n\u201cI am directing the labor department to put an end to the tip credit in the industries with the highest risk of wage theft to help restore fairness for workers, many of whom are critical to the service industries that keep our economy moving forward.\u201d
\nThe elimination of the tip wage for miscellaneous industries will be phased in over a one-year period, an aggressive timetable that will provide employees relief while also giving businesses time to adjust to these changes as to not inadvertently incur job loss.
\nThe schedule includes:
\n\u2022 On June 30, the difference between the minimum wage and current tip wages will be cut in half.
\n\u2022 On Dec. 31, the tip wage will be completely eliminated and workers in these effected industries will be making the normal minimum wage.
\nThe ending the state\u2019s tip credit for miscellaneous industries\u2014bringing those workers up to the current minimum wage\u2014came as the Department of Labor released a report and recommendations after conducting hearings and receiving testimony from individuals across tipped industries.
\nKey findings in the DOL report note that:
\n1) The current system of tipping disproportionally impacts the lowest-paid workers in our state: women, minorities and immigrants.
\n2) Miscellaneous workers receive less in tips and have widespread confusion about whether or not they are entitled to earn minimum wage or not. This has led to rampant wage theft in particular industries, and a real concern that tip credits are simply not appropriate in others, as many of their customers aren\u2019t clear that tips are expected.
\nState Law allows certain industries to pay tipped employees below the state minimum wage only if those employees earn enough in tips to make up the difference. In certain workplaces where wages and tips are both generally low, workers\u2019 income can rely almost entirely upon tips.
\nThe industries affected were grouped together in a category known as \u201cmiscellaneous\u201d more than 30 years ago creating the unintended consequence of establishing a tip credit in various industries where the tip credit had previously been prohibited.
\nAccording to state officials, in practice, many employers in these industries find it difficult to keep track of employee tips properly, as they are not a steady and reliable source of income that can be depended upon by workers to meet their living expenses. Additionally, daily and weekly fluctuations make it difficult for workers to know whether they are being underpaid and complicated tip credit record keeping can make it difficult for employers to know whether they are meeting their obligations.
\nA three year assessment of wage theft cases investigated by the Department of Labor published in 2018 show that nearly two-thirds of all minimum wage-related cases were in the industries covering miscellaneous industry workers, and in 80 percent of cases, underpayments were found.
\nMore information is available at www.ny.gov\/minimumwage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The State Department of Labor is issuing an order eliminating the subminimum wage for \u2018miscellaneous\u2019 industries statewide. The order impacts over 70,000 tipped employees and will end confusion and outright wage theft that evidence shows robs them of tipped income they rightfully earned, state officials said. Workers that will be impacted by the new measure […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":196,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business-news"],"yoast_head":"\r\n