2021 New York State Minimum Wage, Tip Credit and Exempt Salary Changes
Employers in New York are subject to different minimum wages, allowable tip credits, and minimum exempt employee salaries based on where employees work and what kind of work they do. The wage increases listed below took effect on December 31, 2020.
Minimum Wage in Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester Counties The minimum wage in these counties will increase to $14 per hour.
Minimum Wage in the Rest of the State The statewide minimum wage will increase to $12.50 per hour. This applies to employees outside of New York City and Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester Counties, except for fast food employees.
(New York City’s minimum wage previously increased to $15 and applies to all workers in NYC.)
Minimum Wage for Fast Food Employees The minimum wage for fast food employees working outside of New York City will increase to $14.50 per hour. The final scheduled increase to $15.00 per hour will take effect on July 1, 2021
Tipped Employee Minimum Cash Wage The minimum cash wage for tipped employees will increase as follows:
Service employees (other than at resort hotels) covered by the Hospitality Wage Order:
Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester counties: $11.65
The rest of the state: $10.40
(New York City’s minimum previously increased to $12.50)
Food service employees:
Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester counties: $9.35
The rest of the state: $8.35
(New York City’s minimum previously increased to $10.00)
Tip Credit Eliminated in Miscellaneous Industries Employers of employees covered by the Minimum Wage Order for Miscellaneous Industries won’t be able to take a tip credit as of December 31, 2020.
Exempt Administrative and Executive Minimum Salaries The minimum salary for exempt executive and administrative employees in New York will increase as follows:
Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester counties: $1,050 per week, which equals $54,600 per year.
The rest of the state outside New York City: $937.50 per week, which equals $48,750 per year.
(The minimum in New York City previously increased to $1,125 per week.)
(HR On the Move Article)
Now is the opportunity to review payrates and job descriptions. Is the position truly an exempt executive or administrative position? Ensure that job duties align with requirements under the Fair Labor Standards Act. I am happy to work with any organization to determine exempt vs. non-exempt duties and responsibilities. Continue to monitor for any significant changes at the federal level in 2021 as well, minimum wage has not been increased federally since July 2009.
Published by Mathew W. Burr, MBA, MHRIR, GPHR, SHRM-SCP, SPHR, CPHR
Matthew Burr has over eleven years of experience working in the human resources field, starting his career as an Industrial Relations Intern at Kennedy Valve Manufacturing to most recently founding and managing a human resource consulting company; Burr Consulting, LLC. Prior to founding the consulting firm, the majority of his career was spent in manufacturing and healthcare. He specializes in labor and employment law, conflict resolution, performance management, labor and employment relations. Matthew has a generalist background in HR and provides strategic HR services to his clients, focusing on small and medium sized organizations. In July 2017, Matthew started as an Associate Professor of Business Administration at Elmira College and was promoted into the Continuing Education & Business Administration Department Liaison role in July 2018. He teaches both undergraduate and graduate level business courses at Elmira College. Matthew is also the SHRM Certification Exam Instructor at the college, his students currently have an 80% pass rate on the SHRM-SCP and 92.3% pass rate on the SHRM-CP. Matthew works as a trainer Tompkins Cortland Community College, Corning Community College, Broome Community College and Penn State University. He also acts as an On-Call Mediator and Fact-Finder through the Public Employment Relations Board in New York State, working with public sector employers and labor unions.
Matthew has publications at the Cornell HR Review, Business Insider, New York State Bar Association, Expert 360 (in Australia). In early 2017, he published his first book, “$74,000 in 24 Months: How I killed my student loans (and you can too!).”
Matthew has an associate's degree in business administration from Tompkins Cortland Community College, a Bachelor of Science degree in business management from Elmira College, a master's degree from the University of Illinois School of Labor and Employment Relations in Human Resources & Industrial Relations and a Master’s in Business Administration specializing in entrepreneurship from Syracuse University. He currently holds a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt, Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR), Global Professional in Human Resources (GPHR) and the Society of Human Resource Management Senior Certified Professional (SHRM-SCP) certifications.
Matthew has been featured on CNN Money, Fast Company, Fits Small Business, Magnify Money, My Twin Tiers, Namely, Student Loan Hero, Smart Sheet and CEO Blog Nation.
View all posts by Mathew W. Burr, MBA, MHRIR, GPHR, SHRM-SCP, SPHR, CPHR
