Employees at Santasiero’s, 1329 Niagara St., share concern
over Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s proposal to eliminate the tip credit and raise hourly
wages for servers. Cuomo says on his website that a raise in wages for
employees reliant on tips to supplement their income will combat the significant
fluctuation of wages from day to day that results in underpaid workers. The
Department of Labor, led by Commissioner Roberta Reardon, began hearings to examine
the issue of tip credits, with testimony from workers and businesses alike in
March. The hearings will continue across the state until the end of June. John Brands
Jr., head of operations at Santasiero’s, says that Cuomo’s proposal will hurt
not only the bottom line for small businesses but will result in fewer jobs,
because employee’s hourly wages will become unsustainable. “To supplement the
wage, we’re going to have to increase our prices so we would see a
drop off in business and probably need less servers,” Brands said. Santasiero’s
waitress, Caitlyn Stein has years of experience working in the health care
field and says that tips are more beneficial to her than a higher flat rate
wage. By Tara Hark and Max Wagner
