A New York state law increasing minimum wage for fast-food workers may or may not apply to fast-food workers at Syracuse University.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced an increase in the minimum wage on Sept. 10, the same day Acting State Labor Commissioner Mario Musolino signed an order designating a $15.00 per hour statewide minimum wage for fast-food workers — the level recommended by a State Department of Labor wage board over the summer, according to a press release from Cuomo’s office.

Under this new law, the minimum wage for fast-food restaurants will be raised to $15 from the current $8.75 by 2018 in New York City and will spread to the rest of the state by July 2021. In doing so, New York state will have the highest minimum wage in the country, according to the release.

The rate will increase by $1.50 a year in New York City and by $1 a year in the rest of the state until the minimum wage is $15 across the state. The mandatory rate increases will not be enforced until Dec. 31 this year.

“The state is currently working out details on how to administer these new requirements statewide, including how colleges and universities (like SU) should proceed,” said Keith Kobland, media manager for SU, in an email.

The university is reviewing the new state minimum wage order for fast-food workers, but New York state is still working out details on how to administer the new wage requirements, Kobland added.

The policy affects fast-food workers and SU has various fast-food locations across campus, including a Dunkin’ Donuts in the Schine Student Center and a Burger King in the Goldstein Student Center.

Jeffrey Kubik, an associate professor of economics in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, said he believes SU won’t be affected by the policy in a direct way.

“They’re not covered by the rules,” Kubik said, referring to the university, which is private.

University Professor Carl Schramm agrees.

“The government has a marvelous way of exempting itself from something like this,” Schramm said, since most students who work in Food Services are funded through federal work-study, he added.

Schramm instead said he believes the state should be more concerned with the effects the policy will have on the economy of the state.

In addition to targeting fast-food restaurants, Cuomo is working toward an “all-industry minimum wage increase,” according to the release.

“Raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour will bring fairness to 2.2 million working New Yorkers,” Cuomo said in his announcement.

In order to accomplish this goal, the state “will phase in the wage so businesses can plan accordingly,” Cuomo said.

“We have heard and we reject the political argument that has been made that raising the minimum wage will cost jobs — we believe the exact opposite,” he said.

Schramm added the increase in minimum wage is building a fence that will keep new businesses out of New York. Increased minimum wage will stifle job growth because companies will not be willing to move their businesses to the state due to the high taxes in different forms, he said.

“The goal should not be to mandate a minimum wage; the goal should be to have an economy that is growing so quickly, where there is a tight labor market so that employers are bidding up wages,” Schramm said.

If companies have to raise minimum wage, they will raise their prices, Schramm said, and it is not an issue of whether companies can pay for the increased wage, but if citizens can pay the higher prices for goods.

While the policy brings a possibility of job loss, Kubik said it is difficult to say in the future how many people will be affected.

“Minimum wage only affects a very small, certain type of employee, but there will always be winners and losers,” he added.

Published on September 21, 2015 at 11:21 pm

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