The Department of Labor’s decision to move forward with a minimum wage increase is extremely short-sighted at a time when small and mid-sized businesses face state ordered shutdowns and the looming threat of a statewide lockdown by the Governor.

These smaller employers struggle each and every day to keep their doors open, and invested heavily in safety measures to keep their employees and customers safe from COVID-19. The state has  done nothing to help them.

The last thing they need is additional costs at this time, and the last thing they want is to pink slip dedicated employees for Christmas. But instead of pausing this increase as the Senate Republican Conference urged until the end of the pandemic, the state will now force these small employers to make difficult choices. The state wrongly based their decision on pre-pandemic economic success.

These small employers would have been more than willing to share that success in better times, but the financial fragility caused by COVID-19 and this decision will now put these workers, these small businesses, and New York’s economy at greater risk.

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