Governor Andrew Cuomo’s administration has announced today that the New York State sub-minimum wage rate for all tipped workers will be raised to $7.50 an hour at the end of 2015. This is a substantial and well warranted increase from the current tipped wage rate of $5.00, and will bring the tipped wage rate much closer to the regular minimum wage rate, which will itself increase from $8.75 to $9.00 at the end of 2015.
The unprompted raise should provide a long overdue increase in the standard of living for New York State’s 229,000 restaurant servers and tipped workers. Further, this is a particularly big victory for women, who make up 70% of all tipped workers. Contrary to the standard arguments raised by greedy employers, increasing the tipped minimum wage rate has been found to provide great benefits in reducing poverty among tipped workers without causing a negative impact on job growth or employment rates. It is even estimated that states that have eliminated the use of tipped wage rates will have faster restaurant job growth rates than New York currently has.
The NYC employment lawyers at Fitapelli & Schaffer, LLP are fully committed to the rights and well being of tipped workers and restaurant employees and see this wage rate as a triumph and hopefully the first in a long line of improvements for tipped workers everywhere. If you have any questions about these exciting changes, or about the strict requirements your employer must follow in order to utilize the tipped wage rate, please do not hesitate to contact us at (212) 300-0375 or visit our website at www.fslawfirm.com.