As a small-business owner, and the Ranking Minority Member on the Small Business Committee, I am very disappointed in the Labor Department’s decision to raise the wage of tipped workers 50 percent. Such an immediate shock to family-owned restaurants and similar establishments will assuredly cost people their jobs. As New York continues to drown in burdensome red tape and an outdated tax structure, we cannot afford to make this state even more unfriendly to the small-business owner. A gradual, phased-in approach as requested by the Restaurant Association would have been the only appropriate way to raise this wage. The state did not consult our small business associations; again, showing the arrogance of the Cuomo Administration and state agencies. Albany cannot continue the legacy of enacting arbitrary reforms without hearing from the proper organizations.