On the heels of the re-election of Governor Kathy Hochul, New York’s restaurants saw significant state and local employment law developments that have gone into effect with the turn of the calendar to a new year.
As of December 31, 2022, the minimum wage for non-tipped workers increased to $15.00 per hour. The minimum wage for tipped staff remained at $10.00 per hour. The allowable “tip credit” for food service workers and service employees and the minimum cash wage increased for employees working outside New York City, Westchester, or Long Island. A food service worker is defined as any employee who is primarily engaged in the serving of food or beverages to guests, patrons, or customers in the hospitality industry, including, but not limited to, wait staff, bartenders, captains, and bussing personnel; and who regularly receives tips from such guests, patrons, or customers. The term food service worker does not include delivery workers.
On January 1, 2023, an amendment to New York’s Paid Family Leave law went into effect, expanding the definition of “family member” to include siblings, meaning biological siblings, adopted siblings, step-siblings, and half-siblings. Under the current law, employees can take up to 12 weeks of job-protected, paid leave to care for spouses, domestic partners, children and step-children, parents, parents-in-law, grandparents, and grandchildren with a serious health condition. Beginning this month, employees can also take up to 12 weeks of job-protected, paid leave to care for siblings with a serious health condition.
In March 2021, New York passed an amendment to the New York Labor Law requiring New York employers to provide up to four hours of paid leave for employees to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. As described previously, this requirement has been extended to remain in effect through December 31, 2023.
In December 2021, New York City passed the Automated Employment Decision Tools Law, requiring employers to conduct independent bias audits of automated employment decision tools (AEDT) used to evaluate job candidates or employees. The law became effective on January 1, 2023, and it has garnered significant attention due to its sweeping implications for New York City employers that utilize AEDTs.
New York City employers covered by the new law are required to: Complete an independent bias audit of the AEDT. They must maintain a publicly available summary of bias audit findings, and keep “information about the type of data collected for the automated employment decision tool, the source of such data and the employer or employment agency’s data retention policy,” which the employer would also have to provide to a candidate or employee upon written request; Employers must also provide notice to candidates and employees who resides in New York City in advance about the use of such a tool, including “the job qualifications and characteristics that such automated employment decision tool will use in the assessment”; and allow candidates and employees to request an accommodation from being subjected to the AEDT, among other things.
