The Empire State is huge. Even just its biggest city, New York City, which is quite literally the city that never sleeps is huge but add in the rest of the state and her major cities and you have a lot of people and a lot of businesses. And whether it’s gourmet haute cuisine, holes in the wall, or farm-to-table joints out in the country, New York has it’s share of restaurants and food service establishments. If you are involved in the restaurant business, there are some special minimum wage and labor posting requirements you should be aware of.

The New York State Department of Labor has a special minimum wage notice entitled “Attention Miscellaneous Industry Employees” that you must post in your business. In addition, if you are a restaurant you must post two additional notices in a conspicuous area where your employees can see them: LS 605 – Deductions from Wages and LS 204 – Tip Appropriation.

Let’s go through them.

Attention employees Minimum Wage Information

The rates on this notice are effective 12/31/2018-12/30/2019.

New York City Minimum Wage (Large Employers) $15; Tipped Workers $12

New York City Minimum Wage (Small Employers) $12; Tipped Workers $11.10

Long Island and Westchester County Minimum Wage $12; Tipped Workers at least $9.05 or $10.20

Remainder of New York State Minimum Wage $11.10; Tipped Workers at least $8.40 or $9.45

LS 605 – Deductions from Wages

No employer shall make any deduction from the wages of an employee except where in accordance with the law and where expressly authorized.

LS 204 – Tip Appropriation

According to Section 196-d of the NYS Labor Law, no employer or his agent shall demand, accept, or retain any part of a gratuity meant for the employee.