New York Governor Andrew Cuomo says teams from the Department of Labor will spread out across the state to educate both workers and employers on the new minimum wage that went into effect January 1.
Cuomo says hundreds of investigators will “inform and enforce” the new minimum wage, which is now $10 per hour on Long Island, and in Westchester, $10.50 or $11.00 in New York City depending on the size of the business, and $9.70 in the rest of the state.
“A lot of workers don’t know that they just got a raise, and they need to know this because they need to make sure it is in their paycheck. A lot of employers don’t know that the minimum wage went up, and they need to know it also.”
While Cuomo stresses that the wage hike is not voluntary, and that there are criminal penalties for egregious cases, he believes most employers who have not yet complied have made an honest mistake and forgot the deadline.
