New York State is already home to high taxes and onerous regulations and now two additional burdens to New York’s businesses will be added to the pile. The state’s minimum wage is going up – again, and a mandate requiring additional paid sick leave goes into effect.
Beginning in January 2024, the state is mandating a $0.50 increase to the state’s minimum wage raising the Long Island minimum wage to $16.50/hour. An additional $0.50 will be tacked on in 2026 increasing it to $17/hour. New York City and Westchester County also pay this rate while the rest of the state is $1/hour less.
In a difficult economy with inflation still cutting into the pocketbooks of regular working people, and many small and medium-sized businesses still not recovered from the losses during the government-enforced closures of their businesses, more unfunded mandates from Albany are the last thing our business community needs.
January also brings a new state-mandated requirement that businesses grant additional paid sick leave to any pregnant employee. The law states that any privately employed pregnant New Yorker will be eligible for an extra 20 hours of paid sick leave for pregnancy-related medical appointments on top of any existing sick leave benefit. Governor Hochul praises this as a “First in the Nation” program, but it’s easy to put things in place when someone else has to pay for them.
“No pregnant woman in New York should be forced to choose between a paycheck and a check-up — and that’s why I pushed to create the nation’s first paid prenatal leave policy,” Hochul said. “From raising the minimum wage to investing in affordable child care, we’re making New York the best and most affordable place to raise a family.”
Even where businesses might agree with the sentiment of a proposal, having it mandated without any regard for the ability of a business to bear the cost and sustain it over time is just too much for many. One way or the other someone pays for these mandates. It could be in reduced hours for an employee or higher prices for customers. If mandates continue to cut into the margins of a business, eventually the business will be a lot less viable.
Businesses of all sizes have to manage costs, but smaller businesses are affected the most by these mandates. Consideration to cutting hours of employees, raising prices on products and services, and maybe even going out of business altogether have to be made. Customers and owners alike can only absorb so much.