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Hawley: Governor's new proposal mandating minimum wage for tipped workers will hurt small businesses

By Billie Owens
Press release:
 
Assemblyman Steve Hawley (R,C,I-Batavia) today criticized Gov. Cuomo’s new proposal to mandate businesses pay the same minimum wage to tipped workers as other employees in their region.
 
The plan calls for the New York State Department of Labor to hold hearings to gain input on the issue.
 
Gov. Cuomo signed legislation in 2016 that increases the minimum wage in New York City, Long Island and Westchester to $15 per hour by 2021 and at least $12.50 per hour for the rest of the state.
 
“The governor’s war on small businesses continues with this new proposal,” Hawley said. “Many workers in the service industry are competitively compensated due to the large share of their income that is comprised of tips.
 
"By allowing our employees to be paid by tips we are letting their performance and work ethic determine their income to a large extent which raises standards across the industry and provides a better quality of service. Another minimum wage hike will surely be a blow to small businesses and stifle job creation when what we need is tax and regulatory reform to allow these companies to thrive.”
Scott Chismar

Instead of battling the Governor, I would like to see Mr. Hawley address the issue of wage theft of workers. In industries throughout the area, many workers are not getting what they are entitled to because management is ripping them off. Some are having their paychecks shorted while others are forced to work off the clock.

Now our President is working to make it possible for tipped employees to get the short end of the stick even more. He is attempting to have all of earned tips be pulled together and then Management will determine how or even if the money may be shared. In other words, tipped employees may receive the lower rate of hourly pay for tipped employees, yet their Boss may take all of their tip money. This is outrageous.

I would think Mr. Hawley would be better off picking this issue to fight.

Dec 19, 2017, 7:05pm Permalink
Scott Chismar

John, it is common in many retail and transportation industries. It is both large companies and small.

As for retail, many Employers have a policy of paying no overtime. Of course, nobody wants to pay time and one half when they can pay straight time. But in big box stores and supermarkets, it is not uncommon for a Boss to instruct an employee to finish tasks that can not be completed during their shift. The orders are given and the employee is told that it is a must to get done. Therefore, the Employee tends to clock out when their shift is over then return to complete the assignment so as to not get into hot water with the Boss. The worker is working for free and wages are not paid.

It is also especially common in the transportation industry. Drivers are supposed to do a pre trip and post trip inspection. When many drivers clock in, they are told to be safe yet the Boss wants the wheels turning down the road. He/She does not want to see the Drivers conducting inspections because that leads to delayed delivery times. In these cases, potential unsafe vehicles are driving down the road. If proper procedures were followed and the Driver did their inspection in addition to their route they would see an increase in pay. When they do not do the inspection, they are victims of wage theft.

Do a search of "Employee Wage Theft" and you will see countless stories of this stuff happening. It is sad but true.

Dec 19, 2017, 10:13pm Permalink
John Roach

Scott, so it's "common", but you can not tell us the name of any company in Genesee County guilty of that.

I don't doubt it happens, but you say it's common, but can not back it up. OK.

Dec 20, 2017, 6:06am Permalink
Rich Richmond

Let me start by saying, as a rule, rather than the exception, Waiters and Waitresses work hard for their money, and I tip 20% or better when I go out to eat. That being said, a grain of salt of what Scott says has been going on for years, although I wouldn't call it common, and before President Trump or Assemblyman Hawley were in office.

I worked briefly (one month) at Batavia Downs as a busboy in 1974. I was required to set the tables and clear the dishes, and tips were part of my wages.

I carried the trays of dinners up the ramp-stairs for the waitresses to bring it to the tables. If the dishwasher was sick, (the dishwashers made hourly rate) I washed dishes and bused tables. The Waitresses waited on tables only.

The Waitresses collected and put the tips in a jar. The busboys received approximately 20% of the tips at the end of the waitresses shift. I stayed an hour or so working setting the tables after they left.

I learned an important lesson on the working of Socialism during my brief job as a busboy.

Dec 20, 2017, 12:14pm Permalink
Brian Graz

John wth is the difference if Scott names an offender? Maybe you should try and accept someone at their word. There are several good [legal] reasons why he wouldn't. Are you some legal prosecutor who is going to take the employer to task if Scott names them? Not hardly. You just play your stupid games [like you have done many time with me], to obfuscate the issue, when you don't have a viable argument.

Having said that, Scott is dead on in his contention. I personally had this very experience [and no I'm not giving you the name of the employer either]. I worked in the commercial transportation industry for several years. I was regularly scheduled to be on the route 15 mins after my clock-in. I had an nominal 8-11 minute drive to get to the starting point. I was required to do a daily DOT pre-trip inspection of the vehicle, plus several sheets of logs. There was no way to clock-in, do the pre-trip [plus in the winter - snow and ice removal], paperwork, and start the route on time... impossible. If I didn't start the route on time I was written up, and repeated late starts resulted in discipline. I suggested to the employer that my clock-in time be set earlier 15 mins to accommodate the lack of appropriate pre-trip time. It was refused. The employer said I could clock-in as early as I wanted, but I would not be paid until the "scheduled start time". I was also told that it was my problem and that I'd best start the route on time, or else. I took the issue up with the week-kneed union we had, and their response was "do you want to keep your job, then you'd better start on your own time as early as necessary to be on the route at the proper time". SO, as Scott has contended, the employer was stealing 15 minutes of wages each morning that I rightfully should have been being paid.

Eventually I filed a complaint with the DOT in Albany and the shit really hit the fan, but once the Albany investigators were out of sight, the abuse started again. I filed one more subsequent complaint, but it only remedied the problem for 8-9 months and then it was the SOS. Needless to say, though I survived another 6-7 years at that job. the relationship with management was miserable. YES, this abuse does happen!

Dec 22, 2017, 9:32pm Permalink
Ed Hartgrove

To be fair, John, in comment #2, you asked Scott for "names of the industries you say are stealing wages", not for specific company names.

I believe Scott replied with "industry" names - which, again, is what you asked for.

Dec 23, 2017, 12:19am Permalink

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