Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced Wednesday that the state has recouped and returned $98,200 to 324 workers in the north country who were not paid the proper minimum wage, overtime pay or fringe benefits.
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On Thursday, the Empire Center will release the research they’ve done on the impact a $15 minimum wage would have on each region of the state.
Cuomo earlier this year pushed for a two-tiered minimum wage increase, depending on whether someone worked upstate or downstate.
Demonstrators rally for a $15 minimum wage before a meeting of the wage board in New York, Monday, June 15, 2015. “Areas of New York, especially upstate, are experiencing little or no economic growth….” “Those that do survive will be forced to reduce staff and increase prices on consumers”.
Anyone with questions about minimum wage or any issues related to suspected worker abuse or who would like to file a complaint, should call the Exploited Worker Task Force Hotline: 888-469-7365. That increase is set to take effect over the next three years in New York City and over the next six years in the rest of the state.
The coalition includes the Business Council of New York State, the state Farm Bureau, the Restaurant Association, Associated General Contractors of New York and several others.
“It is no secret that these groups oppose the Governor’s minimum wage proposal, in fact majority have aggressively opposed every minimum wage increase”. He then pushed efforts that increased wages for tip workers, and a gradual increase to $15 an hour in the wages for fast-food workers. Seattle has also approved a similar hike.
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“If you work full time, you shouldn’t have to live in poverty, plain and simple”, Cuomo said at the time.
