Requires car wash workers in Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester counties and in a city with a population of one million or more to be paid the minimum wage without allowance for gratuities.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A6346C
SPONSOR: Crespo TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the labor law, in relation to the
payment of the minimum wage to certain car wash workers
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
The purpose of this bill is to ensure that car wash workers in Nassau,
Suffolk, and Westchester counties and in New York City are paid minimum
wage.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
This bill would require that car wash workers employed in Nassau,
Suffolk, or Westchester County or in a city with a population of one
million or more be paid the minimum wage set forth in statute with no
allowance for gratuities. A "car wash worker" would be defined an
employee who is primarily engaged in the washing, vacuuming, or general
cleaning of motor vehicles.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ORIGINAL AND AMENDED VERSION (IF APPLICABLE):
Amended to apply to car wash workers in the counties of Nassau, Suffolk,
and Westchester.
JUSTIFICATION:
At a time when we are fighting to raise minimum wage for the working
poor in our state, it is hard to fathom that there are people out there
attempting to survive off of less than the state's minimum, in areas
where minimum wage jobs cause homelessness and hunger. It is time to not
only create a wage that makes it possible for our families to live. We
must also make sure that all occupations are considered and, encompassed
in that change.
Eight workers at the Vegas Auto Spa on Seventh Ave. in Park Slope,
Brooklyn say they were paid less than minimum wage - sometimes as little
as $4.50 an hour - and didn't get overtime for working as much as 90
hours a week (NY Daily News 10/7/14).
"On busy days we wash between 500 and 800 cars," one worker stated. "I
used to work 60 to 84 hours a week, seven days a week, at least 12 hours
a day. When I first started at Hi-Tek in 2008, I made $5 an hour, flat,
plus tips. In 2010 it was raised to $5.50 and in January of this year it
went up to $5.65. Until January we never got paid overtime. We don't
get paid holidays, vacation, or sick days. We rarely get more than a
couple of minutes to eat lunch, have coffee or a snack. On a good day I
get $30 in tips but most days I get only $10." (Brooklyn rail.org -
09/3/12)
At Broadway Bridge Car Wash, some of the workers earned as little as
$3.75 an hour when.the minimum wage was $6.75 and $4.00 when it was
$7.15. They took home as little as $270 a week and were often forced to
share tips with non-service employees.
(http://www.crainsnewyork.com/) Report by the NYS Labor Law Summary for
Carwashes
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2018: A.10612 (Espinal) - Ordered to Third Reading
2017: A.2967-A
(Moya) - Passed Assembly
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
None.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This bill would take effect 30 days after enactment.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
6346--C
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
March 6, 2019
___________
Introduced by M. of A. CRESPO, SIMOTAS, REYES, BLAKE, RIVERA, ORTIZ,
SIMON, ROZIC, BENEDETTO, D. ROSENTHAL, JOYNER, CRUZ, BICHOTTE, ABBATE,
M. G. MILLER, COLTON, HEVESI, BARRON, SOLAGES, ABINANTI, JEAN-PIERRE,
TAYLOR -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. DenDEKKER -- read once and
referred to the Committee on Labor -- reported and referred to the
Committee on Codes -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered
reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee -- again
reported from said committee with amendments, ordered reprinted as
amended and recommitted to said committee -- again reported from said
committee with amendments, ordered reprinted as amended and recommit-
ted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the labor law, in relation to the payment of the minimum
wage to certain car wash workers
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 651 of the labor law is amended by adding a new
2 subdivision 10 to read as follows:
3 10. "Car wash worker" means any employee in Nassau, Suffolk, or West-
4 chester county or in a city with a population of one million or more
5 primarily engaged in the washing, vacuuming or general cleaning of motor
6 vehicles. "Car wash worker" shall not include volunteers engaged in the
7 washing of cars for fundraising or other charitable purpose.
8 § 2. Section 652 of the labor law is amended by adding a new subdivi-
9 sion 7 to read as follows:
10 7. Notwithstanding any provision of this article relating to the
11 inclusion of an allowance for gratuities in the determination of the
12 minimum wage, an employee who is a car wash worker in Nassau, Suffolk,
13 or Westchester county or in a city with a population of one million or
14 more shall receive the minimum wage set forth in subdivision one of this
15 section with no such allowance for gratuities.
16 § 3. This act shall take effect on the thirtieth day after it shall
17 have become a law.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD09985-07-9
