COMMISSIONER OF LABOR PROPERLY ISSUED A WAGE ORDER INCREASING THE MINIMUM WAGE FOR CERTAIN FAST FOOD WORKERS TO $15 AN HOUR.

The Third Department, in a full-fledged opinion by Justice Devine, determined the Commissioner of Labor had the authority to mandate a minimum wage ($15 an hour) for certain fast food workers in New York:

The Commissioner is authorized to make the assessment as to whether the minimum wage should be increased for employees in specific occupations, does so with help from an agency having special competence in the area and a wage board tasked with investigating the relevant questions as set forth by the Legislature, and thereafter issues a wage order setting a minimum wage in a specific occupation if such would further the policy objectives delineated by statute. The Commissioner complied with that procedure, and the fact that the Legislature failed to agree on an increase in the statutory minimum wage in the leadup to the issuance of the wage order in no way reflects dispute or confusion as to the longstanding authority of the Commissioner to set a minimum wage for employees in a given occupation … . Matter of National Rest. Assn. v Commissioner of Labor, 2016 NY Slip Op 04498, 3rd Dept 6-9-16

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