Freezes minimum wage automatic escalators and annual inflation adjustments beginning in 2027; repeals the provision of law providing that the minimum wage shall be determined by increasing the then current year's minimum wage rate by the rate of change in the average of the three most recent consecutive twelve-month periods between the first of August and the thirty-first of July, each over their preceding twelve-month periods published by the United States department of labor non-seasonally adjusted consumer price index for the northeast region urban wage earners and clerical workers (CPI-W) or any successor index as calculated by the United States department of labor.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
9309
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
December 10, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. BOLOGNA -- read once and referred to the Commit-
tee on Labor
AN ACT to amend the labor law, in relation to freezing minimum wage
automatic escalators and annual inflation adjustments beginning in
2027; and to repeal certain provisions of such law related thereto
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 1-a of section 652 of the labor law, as added
2 by section 2 of part S of chapter 56 of the laws of 2023, is amended to
3 read as follows:
4 1-a. Annual minimum wage from January 1, 2024 [to December 31, 2026]
5 and thereafter.
6 (a) New York city. Notwithstanding subdivision one of this section,
7 every employer regardless of size shall pay to each of its employees for
8 each hour worked in the city of New York a wage of not less than:
9 $16.00 on and after January 1, 2024,
10 $16.50 on and after January 1, 2025,
11 $17.00 on and after January 1, 2026, or, if greater, such other wage
12 as may be established by federal law pursuant to 29 U.S.C. section 206
13 or its successors or such other wage as may be established in accordance
14 with the provisions of this article.
15 (b) Remainder of downstate. Notwithstanding subdivision one of this
16 section, every employer shall pay to each of its employees for each hour
17 worked in the counties of Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester, a wage of
18 not less than:
19 $16.00 on and after January 1, 2024,
20 $16.50 on and after January 1, 2025,
21 $17.00 on and after January 1, 2026, or, if greater, such other wage
22 as may be established by federal law pursuant to 29 U.S.C. section 206
23 or its successors or such other wage as may be established in accordance
24 with the provisions of this article.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD14114-01-5
A. 9309 2
1 (c) Remainder of state. Notwithstanding subdivision one of this
2 section, every employer shall pay to each of its employees for each hour
3 worked outside the city of New York and the counties of Nassau, Suffolk,
4 and Westchester, a wage of not less than:
5 $15.00 on and after January 1, 2024,
6 $15.50 on and after January 1, 2025,
7 $16.00 on and after January 1, 2026, or, if greater, such other wage
8 as may be established by federal law pursuant to 29 U.S.C. section 206
9 or its successors or such other wage as may be established in accordance
10 with the provisions of this article.
11 § 2. Subdivision 1-b of section 652 of the labor law is REPEALED.
12 § 3. Subdivisions 2, 4 and 5 of section 652 of the labor law, as
13 amended by section 3 of part S of chapter 56 of the laws of 2023, are
14 amended to read as follows:
15 2. Existing wage orders. The minimum wage orders in effect on the
16 effective date of this act shall remain in full force and effect, except
17 as modified in accordance with the provisions of this article; provided,
18 however, that the minimum wage order for farm workers codified at part
19 one hundred ninety of title twelve of the New York code of rules and
20 regulations in effect on January first, two thousand twenty shall be
21 deemed to be a wage order established and adopted under this article and
22 shall remain in full force and effect except as modified in accordance
23 with the provisions of this article or article nineteen-A of this chap-
24 ter.
25 Such minimum wage orders shall be modified by the commissioner to
26 increase all monetary amounts specified therein in the same proportion
27 as the increase in the hourly minimum wage as provided in subdivisions
28 one[,] and one-a[, and one-b] of this section, including the amounts
29 specified in such minimum wage orders as allowances for gratuities, and
30 when furnished by the employer to its employees, for meals, lodging,
31 apparel and other such items, services and facilities. All amounts so
32 modified shall be rounded off to the nearest five cents. The modified
33 orders shall be promulgated by the commissioner without a public hear-
34 ing, and without reference to a wage board, and shall become effective
35 on the effective date of such increases in the minimum wage except as
36 otherwise provided in this subdivision, notwithstanding any other
37 provision of this article.
38 4. Notwithstanding subdivisions one, one-a[, one-b,] and two of this
39 section, the wage for an employee who is a food service worker receiving
40 tips shall be a cash wage of at least two-thirds of the minimum wage
41 rates set forth in subdivision one of this section, rounded to the near-
42 est five cents or seven dollars and fifty cents, whichever is higher,
43 provided that the tips of such an employee, when added to such cash
44 wage, are equal to or exceed the minimum wage in effect pursuant to
45 subdivisions one[,] and one-a[, and one-b] of this section and provided
46 further that no other cash wage is established pursuant to section six
47 hundred fifty-three of this article.
48 5. Notwithstanding subdivisions one, one-a[, one-b,] and two of this
49 section, meal and lodging allowances for a food service worker receiving
50 a cash wage pursuant to subdivision four of this section shall not
51 increase more than two-thirds of the increase required by subdivision
52 two of this section as applied to state wage orders in effect pursuant
53 to subdivisions one[,] and one-a[, and one-b] of this section.
54 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.
