S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________
7503--B
2021-2022 Regular Sessions
I N A S S E M B L Y
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:
Section 1. Legislative findings. As New Yorkers struggle with the
rapidly rising cost of living, their paychecks are not keeping up. The
state minimum wage has been frozen at $15 in New York City since 2018.
In the suburbs of New York City it reached $15 in 2021 and under current
law will not increase further. And upstate, it is projected to reach $15
in a few years, but will not increase further after that until the
legislature acts.
At the same time, record inflation is eroding the value of the minimum
wage as workers face rapidly rising prices. For example, adjusted for
consumer price inflation from the fourth quarter of 2018 through the
first quarter of 2022, the purchasing power of New York City's $15 mini-
mum wage has declined by 13.6% and is now just $12.96. As inflation has
remained high since the second quarter of 2021 and is likely to be
elevated for some time, the value of the minimum wage across New York is
falling even lower as consumers struggle with the rising cost of neces-
sities. And even in times of more stable price growth, workers still
lose real wages as the minimum wage stays stagnant.
Meanwhile, other high-cost cities and states are raising their minimum
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
$15 an hour as of January 2022, and eleven more will pass $15 later in
2022. Seattle, San Francisco, and five other cities will have minimum
wages of about $17 or higher in 2022. Similarly, California and Hawaii
are considering raising their minimum wages to $18 statewide.
New York must restore the value of the eroded $15 minimum wage in New
York City, while finally phasing the upstate minimum wage to $15, and
providing for automatic annual minimum wage increases in all regions of
the state.
"Catching up" New York City's minimum wage to its 2018 value (and
adjusting it for the growth in labor productivity) would raise it to
$20.45 by 2025, based on current projections.
For adjusting the minimum wage statewide each year, the Department of
Labor should use the same formula that it and the Division of the Budget
used to increase New York's upstate minimum wage in 2021. That formula
was based on a combination of the past year's increase in the cost of
living together with the past year's increase in labor productivity.
This important approach ensures: (1) that workers' wages keep pace with
rising consumer prices - a crucial concern right now as workers struggle
with the highest inflation in four decades - and (2) that workers also
share in the benefits of productivity gains that their labor helps
produce.
New York's recent experiences raising the minimum wage show that
increases have been manageable for employers and that higher paychecks
have put money back into local communities, boosting consumer spending
at neighborhood businesses. With inflation crushing New York's working
families, we cannot afford to wait.
§ 2. Subdivision 1 of section 652 of the labor law, as amended by
section 1 of part K of chapter 54 of the laws of 2016, is amended to
read as follows:
1. Statutory. Every employer shall pay to each of its employees for
each hour worked a wage of not less than:
$4.25 on and after April 1, 1991,
$5.15 on and after March 31, 2000,
$6.00 on and after January 1, 2005,
$6.75 on and after January 1, 2006,
$7.15 on and after January 1, 2007,
$8.00 on and after December 31, 2013,
$8.75 on and after December 31, 2014,
$9.00 on and after December 31, 2015, and until December 31, 2016, or,
if greater, such other wage as may be established by federal law pursu-
ant to 29 U.S.C. section 206 or its successors
or such other wage as may be established in accordance with the
provisions of this article.
(a) New York City. (i) Large employers. Every employer of eleven or
more employees shall pay to each of its employees for each hour worked
in the city of New York a wage of not less than:
$11.00 per hour on and after December 31, 2016,
$13.00 per hour on and after December 31, 2017,
$15.00 per hour on and after December 31, 2018,
$17.00 ON AND AFTER JANUARY 1, 2023,
$18.80 ON AND AFTER JANUARY 1, 2024,
$20.45 ON AND AFTER JANUARY 1, 2025, or, if greater, such other wage
as may be established by federal law pursuant to 29 U.S.C. section 206
or its successors or such other wage as may be established in accordance
with the provisions of this article.
A. 7503--B 3
(ii) Small employers. Every employer of ten or less employees shall
pay to each of its employees for each hour worked in the city of New
York a wage of not less than:
$10.50 per hour on and after December 31, 2016,
$12.00 per hour on and after December 31, 2017,
$13.50 per hour on and after December 31, 2018,
$15.00 per hour on and after December 31, 2019,
$17.00 ON AND AFTER JANUARY 1, 2023,
$18.80 ON AND AFTER JANUARY 1, 2024,
$20.45 ON AND AFTER JANUARY 1, 2025, or, if greater, such other wage
as may be established by federal law pursuant to 29 U.S.C. section 206
or its successors or such other wage as may be established in accordance
with the provisions of this article.
(b) Remainder of downstate. Every employer shall pay to each of its
employees for each hour worked in the counties of Nassau, Suffolk and
Westchester a wage not less than:
$10.00 per hour on and after December 31, 2016,
$11.00 per hour on and after December 31, 2017,
$12.00 per hour on and after December 31, 2018,
$13.00 per hour on and after December 31, 2019,
$14.00 per hour on and after December 31, 2020,
$15.00 per hour on and after December 31, 2021,
$16.00 ON AND AFTER JANUARY 1, 2023,
$17.20 ON AND AFTER JANUARY 1, 2024,
$17.95 ON AND AFTER JANUARY 1, 2025,
or, if greater, such other wage as may be established by federal law
pursuant to 29 U.S.C. section 206 or its successors or such other wage
as may be established in accordance with the provisions of this article.
(c) Remainder of state. Every employer shall pay to each of its
employees for each hour worked outside of the city of New York and the
counties of Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester, a wage of not less than:
$9.70 on and after December 31, 2016,
$10.40 on and after December 31, 2017,
$11.10 on and after December 31, 2018,
$11.80 on and after December 31, 2019,
$12.50 on and after December 31, 2020,
[and on each following December thirty-first, a wage published by the
commissioner on or before October first, based on the then current mini-
mum wage increased by a percentage determined by the director of the
budget in consultation with the commissioner, with the result rounded to
the nearest five cents, totaling no more than fifteen dollars, where the
percentage increase shall be based on indices including, but not limited
to, (i) the rate of inflation for the most recent twelve month period
ending June of that year based on the consumer price index for all urban
consumers on a national and seasonally unadjusted basis (CPI-U), or a
successor index as calculated by the United States department of labor,
(ii) the rate of state personal income growth for the prior calendar
year, or a successor index, published by the bureau of economic analysis
of the United States department of commerce, or (iii) wage growth;]
$13.20 ON AND AFTER DECEMBER 31, 2021,
$14.20 ON AND AFTER JANUARY 1, 2023,
$15.10 ON AND AFTER JANUARY 1, 2024,
$15.75 ON AND AFTER JANUARY 1, 2025, or, if greater, such other wage
as may be established by federal law pursuant to 29 U.S.C. section 206
or its successors or such other wage as may be established in accordance
with the provisions of this article.
A. 7503--B 4
(d) ANNUAL INCREASES. ON JANUARY FIRST, TWO THOUSAND TWENTY-SIX, AND
ON EACH FOLLOWING JANUARY FIRST, THE WAGES SET FORTH IN PARAGRAPHS (A),
(B) AND (C) OF THIS SUBDIVISION AND ANY OTHER WAGES ESTABLISHED IN
ACCORDANCE WITH THE PROVISIONS OF THIS CHAPTER AND SET FORTH IN ANY
MINIMUM WAGE ORDER, SHALL BE THE WAGES PUBLISHED BY THE COMMISSIONER
PURSUANT TO THIS PARAGRAPH. THE COMMISSIONER SHALL PUBLISH SUCH WAGES ON
OR BEFORE NOVEMBER FIRST, TWO THOUSAND TWENTY-FIVE, AND ON EACH FOLLOW-
ING NOVEMBER FIRST. THE COMMISSIONER SHALL BASE EACH SUCH PUBLISHED
WAGE ON EACH THEN CURRENT WAGE INCREASED BY THE SUM OF: (I) THE RATE OF
INFLATION, IF GREATER THAN ZERO, AS MEASURED BY THE CHANGE FROM THE
THIRD QUARTER OF THE PRIOR YEAR THROUGH THE THIRD QUARTER OF THE CURRENT
YEAR IN THE CONSUMER PRICE INDEX FOR ALL URBAN WAGE EARNERS AND CLERICAL
WORKERS ON A NATIONAL AND SEASONALLY UNADJUSTED BASIS (CPI-W), OR A
SUCCESSOR INDEX, AS CALCULATED BY THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR;
AND (II) LABOR PRODUCTIVITY GROWTH, IF GREATER THAN ZERO, AS MEASURED BY
THE CHANGE IN THE AVERAGE QUARTERLY INDEX FOR THE FOUR QUARTERS THROUGH
THE SECOND QUARTER OF THE CURRENT YEAR DIVIDED BY THE AVERAGE QUARTERLY
INDEX FOR THE FOUR QUARTERS THROUGH THE SECOND QUARTER OF THE PRECEDING
YEAR IN NATIONAL LABOR PRODUCTIVITY (OUTPUT PER HOUR) OF ALL EMPLOYED
PERSONS IN THE NONFARM BUSINESS SECTOR, OR A SUCCESSOR INDEX, AS CALCU-
LATED BY THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR, WITH THE SUM ROUNDED TO
THE NEAREST MULTIPLE OF FIVE CENTS. FOR PURPOSES OF SUBDIVISION TWO OF
THIS SECTION, EACH PUBLISHED WAGE THAT INCREASES EACH THEN CURRENT MINI-
MUM WAGE SHALL BE DEEMED TO BE AN INCREASE IN HOURLY MINIMUM WAGE AS
PROVIDED IN THIS SUBDIVISION.
(E) The rates and schedules established in paragraphs (a) and (b) of
this subdivision shall not be deemed to be the minimum wage under this
subdivision for purposes of the calculations specified in subdivisions
one and two of section five hundred twenty-seven of this chapter.
§ 3. Subdivision 6 of section 652 of the labor law is REPEALED.
§ 4. This act shall take effect immediately.