The National Restaurant Association is fighting New York’s anticipated $15-per-hour minimum wage hike in the restaurant industry’s latest wage battle.
The association filed a petition last week pressing the New York Industrial Board of Appeals to scrap the anticipated increase for fast food workers in the state.
The group argued that the New York Department of Labor’s order to raise the minimum wage from $8.75 to $15 an hour by 2021 marked a “thinly veiled” attempt by Gov. Andrew Cuomo to circumvent an “unwilling legislature” to advance his agenda.
In its appeal, the association claims that the governor violated the state’s separation of powers doctrine, which “does not allow for such blatant executive overreach.”
Cuomo received backlash across the state after he created a wage board in May that enabled him to implement the hike without approval from the legislature.
The association argued that the wage board, charged with evaluating the fast food industry to determine whether a wage increase is necessary, did not include anyone from the restaurant industry.
“Without proper representation and input from the affected industry, a wage board cannot fairly and adequately evaluate the costs, benefits, and consequences of the action it is considering,” the association wrote in its appeal.
Acting Labor Commissioner Mario Musolino approved the increase in September, making New York the first state to set its minimum wage at $15 an hour, though the boost applies solely to fast food workers at chain restaurants with at least 30 locations.
Cuomo announced the increase during a labor rally with Vice President Joe Biden last month, calling it a victory in the “crusade for economic justice.”
“Raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour will add fairness to our economy and bring dignity and respect to 2.2 million people, many of whom have been forced to live in poverty for too long,” he said.
James Sherk, a research fellow in labor economics at The Heritage Foundation, countered Cuomo, contending that the wage hike would instead harm consumers and workers.
“The average fast food restaurant would have to increase prices almost 40 percent, while cutting employment and hours back by a third, in order to afford this hike,” Sherk said. “That means higher costs for low- and middle-income families and fewer entry-level jobs for those just starting in the workforce.”
The challenge marks the National Restaurant Association’s latest effort in its campaign against Cuomo’s wage push.
In a New York Times op-ed published in May, the group’s president, Dawn Sweeney, called the governor’s plan “an assault on an industry that has delivered nearly 800,000 jobs to the state of New York.”
