Labor & Employment (Minimum Wage)

Freezes minimum wage automatic escalators and annual inflation adjustments beginning in 2027; repeals the provision of law providing that the minimum wage shall be determined by increasing the then current year's minimum wage rate by the rate of change in the average of the three most recent consecutive twelve-month periods between the first of August and the thirty-first of July, each over their preceding twelve-month periods published by the United States department of labor non-seasonally adjusted consumer price index for the northeast region urban wage earners and clerical workers (CPI-W) or any successor index as calculated by the United States department of labor.

Removes the requirement that an employer has employed an average of one thousand or more persons in the past three years in order to pay less frequently than weekly, but not less frequently than semi-monthly; provides for damages for violations where the employer paid the employee wages on a regular payday, no less frequently than semi-monthly.

Relates to wage claims for manual workers; establishes an exception is provided from certain legal relief for instances of when payment is made within fourteen calendar days after the end of the week in which the wages were earned.

Establishes a training wage equal to eighty-five percent of the state minimum wage or one hundred percent of the federal minimum wage, whichever is greater, that may be paid to a youth who has no prior job experience; provides that no youth may be paid a training wage for more than one hundred eighty days.

This bill requires New York State legislators to approve any new minimum wage order or modification to an existing order before it takes effect. It directly affects workers who would see wage changes delayed until legislative action, and businesses that would receive clearer timelines for potential cost impacts. Key provisions include mandating legislative authorization for wage increases, requiring the commissioner to analyze business costs using employment data, and updating processes for wage board recommendations and commissioner reviews. The bill shifts authority from the commissioner to the legislature for implementing minimum wage changes.