labor lawAdivision of labor law center

New York employers need to be aware of several recent changes in the Wage and Hour regulations, including rules regarding maintenance of uniforms, meals and lodging.

This comes on the heels of news that the New York Department of Labor reached a settlement on January 27, 2010 with a Queens supermarket for not paying grocery baggers at all. Apparently, the food store required baggers to work for tips only, without any wages.  When one employee complained that this was illegal, he was terminated.

The supermarket paid more than $300,000 in back wages to three baggers and reinstated the employee, under the terms of the settlement. 

“It continues to frustrate me how employers can continue to flaunt the law and simply not pay their workers. We are glad that the employer agreed to pay workers the wages they owe them, and to reinstate the worker they fired,” Labor Commissioner Smith said.

The wage and hour changes proposed by the wage board were (more…)

The New York Labor Commissioner recently issued a ruling that non-exempt employees must be paid an hourly rate. This law is in contrast to the federal FLSA and most state laws, which permit an employer to pay any worker (exempt or non-exempt) by salary, as long as applicable minimum wage and overtime laws are followed. It applies to almost every employer in New York.

Although this new ruling has not yet gone into effect, every New York employer should be aware of it. As soon as the Labor Commissioner finalizes regulations, they will be published in 10 New York newspapers. Thirty days after publication, the new rules will go into effect.

When that happens, only exempt employees can be paid on a salaried basis under New York law. Because the Labor Commissioner has not yet (more…)

Effective January 1, 2010 the tipped minimum wage for food service workers in New York increased to $4.75 per hour. Under the same regulations, on January 1, 2011 the tipped minimum wage will increase to $5.00 per hour.

Restaurant owners should be prepared for further increases in the state tipped minimum wage. The Labor Commissioner has said that these two increases are just the first step in increasing the tipped minimum wage to the same level as the minimum wage for non-tipped employees, currently $7.25.

Several states including Washington already require that tipped employees be paid the same minimum wage as other workers.

Under the new regulations, the Labor Commissioner also requires that New York employers must inform workers of the tip credit to be taken. If an employer neglects to notify employees, no credit is allowed. This requirement for employers covered under the federal minimum wage law has now been extended to employees covered by the New York state minimum wage law. For example, (more…)

The New York State Labor Department has reversed a policy implemented in late 2009, which would have required every New York employer to use the same wage notification form for new employees.

New York employers are still required to notify every new employee in writing of the employee’s:

• Hourly rate
• Overtime rate if applicable
• Payday

However, employers can use any form they already have in place, or create a new one, to provide such notification.

New York employers must receive written acknowledgment of this wage notification from employees. The most common way to do this is for the employee to sign a copy of the notification and return it, while keeping one copy for the employee’s records.

In late October 2009, the New York Department of Labor issued a mandatory form to be used by all temporary agencies. Shortly thereafter, the department posted an online notice with a mandatory form to be used by all New York employers (other than temp agencies) to comply (more…)

The New York minimum wage will increase by 10 cents from $7.15 to $7.25 on July 24, 2009. Many employers point out that a dime an hour will have little impact for employees, but be a major annoyance for employers.

For one thing, every New York employer has to update his or her state and federal minimum wage posters on that date.

However, there is no way to avoid this increase. Under state law, the New York minimum wage cannot be lower than the federal minimum wage. On July 24, 2009 the federal minimum wage increases from $6.55 per hour to $7.25 per hour under the FLSA.

The federal Fair Labor Standards Act  or FLSA covers employers that engage in interstate commerce and companies with an annual revenue of at least $500,000. These employers are required by FLSA to pay their workers the federal minimum wage.

In 2007, the federal minimum rose from $5.15 to $5.85 per hour. In 2008, the federal rate rose by again to $6.55 per hour. On July 24, 2009, the federal minimum wage will again increase by 70 cents from the $6.55 per hour to $7.25 per hour. (more…)