New York Business Climate Set to Go from Bad to Worse

New York state consistently ranks at or near the bottom for its oppressive business climate. For people courageous enough to take a risk, invest their time and money, and start their own business, Albany rewards them with sky-high costs and endless regulations. If things weren’t bad enough, Gov. Andrew Cuomo is pushing two new bad policies that will hurt working people and businesses. 

Cuomo has taken steps to drastically alter the rules governing how businesses schedule shifts for their employees. Under his proposal, last-minute scheduling changes due to weather or other unpredictable conditions will require businesses to pay inconvenienced employees up to four hours’ wages. Managers will be required to schedule 14 days in advance, with workers getting paid two hours at minimum wage if called in unexpectedly. Further, any scheduled shift cut without 72 hours’ notice will allow the affected employee to collect up to four hours’ pay. These requirements will be a nightmare for ski-resort operators, ice-cream shops, golf-course maintenance managers, car washes and countless other businesses that make personnel decisions based on the weather.

The governor would also like to raise the base wage for tipped workers such as restaurant servers and bartenders, which would effectively eliminate a valuable tip income stream they rely upon to make ends meet. No matter how you slice it, servers will take home less money if the policy is implemented.

A disturbing pattern of job killing

Many small businesses in New York are barely scraping by due to ridiculous taxes and mandates. Adding this scheduling obstacle is another unnecessary and costly obstacle job-creators must navigate. And across the board, servers are preparing for a net loss because of the planned changes to the way tipped workers are compensated.

I’ve spoken to many small-business owners around New York state and the Finger Lakes Region. Their constant theme is one of frustration and anxiety. 

Eric Zimmerman, owner of Eric’s Office in Canandaigua, said “I think Cuomo’s got it in for New York — especially the restaurant industry. We had the increase in the minimum wage and paid family leave two years ago. They doubled my disability insurance costs. As a small place we can’t raise prices to accommodate all this. You talk to people in the business and they say — ‘What are we going to do?’ ”

As far as how servers feel about the tipped-wage proposal? “You cannot find a server that’s for it,” he said.

New York’s economic backbone can only handle so many political stunts and ill-conceived policies before it finally snaps.   

Brian M. Kolb (R,I,C–Canandaigua), a former small-business owner, is the New York Assembly Minority Leader and represents the 131st Assembly District, which encompasses all of Ontario County and parts of Seneca County. Contact him at kolbb@nyassembly.gov