Bill Text: NY A07503 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Increases the minimum wage annually; removes the distinction in New York City between large employers and small employers; makes related provisions.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 20-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-11-16 - print number 7503c [A07503 Detail]

Download: New_York-2021-A07503-Amended.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                         7503--B

                               2021-2022 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                      May 12, 2021
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by M. of A. JOYNER, BRONSON, CRUZ, STECK, GOTTFRIED, ABBATE,
          GONZALEZ-ROJAS, HEVESI -- read once and referred to the  Committee  on
          Labor  --  committee  discharged,  bill  amended, ordered reprinted as
          amended and recommitted  to  said  committee  --  recommitted  to  the
          Committee  on  Labor  in  accordance  with  Assembly Rule 3, sec. 2 --
          committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as  amended  and
          recommitted to said committee

        AN  ACT  to amend the labor law, in relation to raising the minimum wage
          annually by a percentage which is based on inflation;  and  to  repeal
          subdivision 6 of section 652 of the labor law relating thereto

          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section  1. Legislative findings. As New  Yorkers  struggle  with  the
     2  rapidly  rising  cost of living, their paychecks are not keeping up. The
     3  state minimum wage has been frozen at $15 in New York City  since  2018.
     4  In the suburbs of New York City it reached $15 in 2021 and under current
     5  law will not increase further. And upstate, it is projected to reach $15
     6  in  a  few  years,  but  will  not increase further after that until the
     7  legislature acts.
     8    At the same time, record inflation is eroding the value of the minimum
     9  wage as workers face rapidly rising prices. For  example,  adjusted  for
    10  consumer  price  inflation  from  the fourth quarter of 2018 through the
    11  first quarter of 2022, the purchasing power of New York City's $15 mini-
    12  mum wage has declined by 13.6% and is now just $12.96. As inflation  has
    13  remained  high  since  the  second  quarter  of 2021 and is likely to be
    14  elevated for some time, the value of the minimum wage across New York is
    15  falling even lower as consumers struggle with the rising cost of  neces-
    16  sities.  And  even  in  times of more stable price growth, workers still
    17  lose real wages as the minimum wage stays stagnant.
    18    Meanwhile, other high-cost cities and states are raising their minimum
    19  wages well above $15. Thirty-three cities and counties have wages  above

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD06653-17-2
        A. 7503--B                          2

     1  $15  an  hour as of January 2022, and eleven more will pass $15 later in
     2  2022. Seattle, San Francisco, and five other cities  will  have  minimum
     3  wages  of  about $17 or higher in 2022. Similarly, California and Hawaii
     4  are considering raising their minimum wages to $18 statewide.
     5    New  York must restore the value of the eroded $15 minimum wage in New
     6  York City, while finally phasing the upstate minimum wage  to  $15,  and
     7  providing  for automatic annual minimum wage increases in all regions of
     8  the state.
     9    "Catching up" New York City's minimum wage  to  its  2018  value  (and
    10  adjusting  it  for  the  growth in labor productivity) would raise it to
    11  $20.45 by 2025, based on current projections.
    12    For adjusting the minimum wage statewide each year, the Department  of
    13  Labor should use the same formula that it and the Division of the Budget
    14  used  to  increase New York's upstate minimum wage in 2021. That formula
    15  was based on a combination of the past year's increase in  the  cost  of
    16  living  together  with  the  past year's increase in labor productivity.
    17  This important approach ensures: (1) that workers' wages keep pace  with
    18  rising consumer prices - a crucial concern right now as workers struggle
    19  with  the  highest inflation in four decades - and (2) that workers also
    20  share in the benefits of  productivity  gains  that  their  labor  helps
    21  produce.
    22    New  York's  recent  experiences  raising  the  minimum wage show that
    23  increases have been manageable for employers and that  higher  paychecks
    24  have  put  money back into local communities, boosting consumer spending
    25  at neighborhood businesses. With inflation crushing New  York's  working
    26  families, we cannot afford to wait.
    27    §  2.  Subdivision  1  of  section 652 of the labor law, as amended by
    28  section 1 of part K of chapter 54 of the laws of  2016,  is  amended  to
    29  read as follows:
    30    1.  Statutory.  Every  employer shall pay to each of its employees for
    31  each hour worked a wage of not less than:
    32    $4.25 on and after April 1, 1991,
    33    $5.15 on and after March 31, 2000,
    34    $6.00 on and after January 1, 2005,
    35    $6.75 on and after January 1, 2006,
    36    $7.15 on and after January 1, 2007,
    37    $8.00 on and after December 31, 2013,
    38    $8.75 on and after December 31, 2014,
    39    $9.00 on and after December 31, 2015, and until December 31, 2016, or,
    40  if greater, such other wage as may be established by federal law  pursu-
    41  ant to 29 U.S.C. section 206 or its successors
    42  or  such  other  wage  as  may  be  established  in  accordance with the
    43  provisions of this article.
    44    (a) New York City. (i) Large employers. Every employer  of  eleven  or
    45  more  employees  shall pay to each of its employees for each hour worked
    46  in the city of New York a wage of not less than:
    47    $11.00 per hour on and after December 31, 2016,
    48    $13.00 per hour on and after December 31, 2017,
    49    $15.00 per hour on and after December 31, 2018,
    50    $17.00 on and after January 1, 2023,
    51    $18.80 on and after January 1, 2024,
    52    $20.45 on and after January 1, 2025, or, if greater, such  other  wage
    53  as  may be established by federal law pursuant to 29 U.S.C.  section 206
    54  or its successors or such other wage as may be established in accordance
    55  with the provisions of this article.
        A. 7503--B                          3

     1    (ii) Small employers. Every employer of ten or  less  employees  shall
     2  pay  to  each  of  its employees for each hour worked in the city of New
     3  York a wage of not less than:
     4    $10.50 per hour on and after December 31, 2016,
     5    $12.00 per hour on and after December 31, 2017,
     6    $13.50 per hour on and after December 31, 2018,
     7    $15.00 per hour on and after December 31, 2019,
     8    $17.00 on and after January 1, 2023,
     9    $18.80 on and after January 1, 2024,
    10    $20.45  on  and after January 1, 2025, or, if greater, such other wage
    11  as may be established by federal law pursuant to 29 U.S.C.  section  206
    12  or its successors or such other wage as may be established in accordance
    13  with the provisions of this article.
    14    (b)  Remainder  of  downstate. Every employer shall pay to each of its
    15  employees for each hour worked in the counties of  Nassau,  Suffolk  and
    16  Westchester a wage not less than:
    17    $10.00 per hour on and after December 31, 2016,
    18    $11.00 per hour on and after December 31, 2017,
    19    $12.00 per hour on and after December 31, 2018,
    20    $13.00 per hour on and after December 31, 2019,
    21    $14.00 per hour on and after December 31, 2020,
    22    $15.00 per hour on and after December 31, 2021,
    23    $16.00 on and after January 1, 2023,
    24    $17.20 on and after January 1, 2024,
    25    $17.95 on and after January 1, 2025,
    26    or,  if  greater, such other wage as may be established by federal law
    27  pursuant to 29 U.S.C. section 206 or its successors or such  other  wage
    28  as may be established in accordance with the provisions of this article.
    29    (c)  Remainder  of  state.  Every  employer  shall  pay to each of its
    30  employees for each hour worked outside of the city of New York  and  the
    31  counties of Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester, a wage of not less than:
    32    $9.70 on and after December 31, 2016,
    33    $10.40 on and after December 31, 2017,
    34    $11.10 on and after December 31, 2018,
    35    $11.80 on and after December 31, 2019,
    36    $12.50 on and after December 31, 2020,
    37    [and  on each following December thirty-first, a wage published by the
    38  commissioner on or before October first, based on the then current mini-
    39  mum wage increased by a percentage determined by  the  director  of  the
    40  budget in consultation with the commissioner, with the result rounded to
    41  the nearest five cents, totaling no more than fifteen dollars, where the
    42  percentage increase shall be based on indices including, but not limited
    43  to,  (i)  the  rate of inflation for the most recent twelve month period
    44  ending June of that year based on the consumer price index for all urban
    45  consumers on a national and seasonally unadjusted basis  (CPI-U),  or  a
    46  successor  index as calculated by the United States department of labor,
    47  (ii) the rate of state personal income growth  for  the  prior  calendar
    48  year, or a successor index, published by the bureau of economic analysis
    49  of the United States department of commerce, or (iii) wage growth;]
    50    $13.20 on and after December 31, 2021,
    51    $14.20 on and after January 1, 2023,
    52    $15.10 on and after January 1, 2024,
    53    $15.75  on  and after January 1, 2025, or, if greater, such other wage
    54  as may be established by federal law pursuant to 29 U.S.C.  section  206
    55  or its successors or such other wage as may be established in accordance
    56  with the provisions of this article.
        A. 7503--B                          4

     1    (d)  Annual increases.  On January first, two thousand twenty-six, and
     2  on each following January first, the wages set forth in paragraphs  (a),
     3  (b)  and  (c)  of  this  subdivision  and any other wages established in
     4  accordance with the provisions of this chapter  and  set  forth  in  any
     5  minimum  wage  order,  shall  be the wages published by the commissioner
     6  pursuant to this paragraph. The commissioner shall publish such wages on
     7  or before November first, two thousand twenty-five, and on each  follow-
     8  ing  November  first.    The commissioner shall base each such published
     9  wage on each then current wage increased by the sum of: (i) the rate  of
    10  inflation,  if  greater  than  zero,  as measured by the change from the
    11  third quarter of the prior year through the third quarter of the current
    12  year in the consumer price index for all urban wage earners and clerical
    13  workers on a national and seasonally  unadjusted  basis  (CPI-W),  or  a
    14  successor index, as calculated by the United States department of labor;
    15  and (ii) labor productivity growth, if greater than zero, as measured by
    16  the  change in the average quarterly index for the four quarters through
    17  the second quarter of the current year divided by the average  quarterly
    18  index  for the four quarters through the second quarter of the preceding
    19  year in national labor productivity (output per hour)  of  all  employed
    20  persons  in the nonfarm business sector, or a successor index, as calcu-
    21  lated by the United States department of labor, with the sum rounded  to
    22  the  nearest  multiple of five cents. For purposes of subdivision two of
    23  this section, each published wage that increases each then current mini-
    24  mum wage shall be deemed to be an increase in  hourly  minimum  wage  as
    25  provided in this subdivision.
    26    (e)  The  rates and schedules established in paragraphs (a) and (b) of
    27  this subdivision shall not be deemed to be the minimum wage  under  this
    28  subdivision   for purposes of the calculations specified in subdivisions
    29  one and two of section five hundred twenty-seven of this chapter.
    30    § 3. Subdivision 6 of section 652 of the labor law is REPEALED.
    31    § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.