NEW YORK – Yesterday, New York state’s fast-food wage board recommended raising the minimum wage for that industry to $15 an hour by 2018 in New York City, and by 2021 elsewhere in the state.
While the move is a response to labor unions and others who have vocally advocated for higher wages for low-income workers, it prompted an immediate backlash from businesses that say higher costs will lead to job losses and that it is unfair to single out a specific industry for the wage hikes.
The recommendation, which received unanimous approval from the three-member wage board, applies to fast-food establishments that are part of chains with 30 or more locations nationwide. The state labor commissioner still must accept the recommendation, which he is expected to do.
In New York City, the board recommended the wage be increased to $10.50 an hour by the end of 2015, $12 by the end of 2016, $13.50 by the end of 2017 and $15 by the end of 2018. New York’s current minimum hourly wage across all industries is $8.75 and is set to increase to $9 at the end of the year.
In response to the recommendation, the New York Association of Convenience Stores (NYACS) issued a statement clarifying how convenience retailers would be impacted by the law, if passed.
NYACS described the wage board’s definition of fast-food establishments as “far-reaching,” a category that would that would capture chain and franchise convenience stores, as follows:
"Fast Food Employee" shall mean any person employed or permitted to work at or for a Fast Food Establishment by any employer where such person's job duties include at least one of the following: customer service, cooking, food or drink preparation, delivery, security, stocking supplies or equipment, cleaning, or routine maintenance.
"Fast Food Establishment" shall mean any establishment in the state of New York serving food or drink items: (a) where patrons order or select items and pay before eating and such items may be consumed on the premises, taken out, or delivered to the customer's location; (b) which offers limited service; (c) which is part of a chain; and (d) which is one of thirty (30) or more establishments nationally, including: (i) an integrated enterprise which owns or operates thirty (30) or more such establishments in the aggregate nationally; or (ii) an establishment operated pursuant to a Franchise where the Franchisor and the Franchisee(s) of such Franchisor owns or operate thirty (30) or more such establishments in the aggregate nationally.
“Obviously, the cost implications would be a major blow to many of our retail members,” said NYACS President James Calvin. NYACS representatives are planning to meet with the state labor commissioner in order to show him how illogical and impractical it would be to include convenience stores under the banner of fast-food establishments.
“Food service is a part of our business, not our primary business,” Calvin explained. “In fact, it represents less than one-fifth of convenience store sales on average. Our valued employees are cross-trained to prepare food and perform a variety of other, unrelated functions inside the store – and are a separate and distinct class of workers from the group of employees we believe the wage board was created to examine.”