Proposed Call-In PAY REGULATIONS Update (3/19)
March 1, 2019
NYSCWA Members,
As you should know, the New York State Car Wash Association, (NYSCWA) along with many other businesses as well as The Business Council of New York State, have been fighting the Department of Labor’s Call In/Call Out proposed regulations for more than a year. I was made aware that according to a Department of Labor (DOL) spokesperson the DOL has decided to allow the proposed regulations to expire and not pursue their implementation.
According to an article in The Albany Business Review written by reporter Liz Young, “Department officials said they realized their intention to support workers was being viewed as a one-size-fits-all approach that didn’t work for every industry after holding hearings and taking public comments.” When they revised the rules in December, the results were “praised by opponents and criticized by supporters,” said Jill Aurora, a spokeswoman for the state labor department.
That’s why officials are dropping the proposal for now, she said.
“At this time, due to the constraints of the regulatory process, the best course of action is to let this process expire and re-evaluate in the future, likely in concert with the Legislature, which would have a broader authority and better legal standing than Department of Labor regulations alone to balance the various needs of workers, businesses and industries,” Aurora said in a statement.
I would like to specifically thank Tom Hoffman, Jr. with Hoffman Car Wash, Ron and Brett Benderson with Delta Sonic, Jeff Gold with Buckman’s Car Wash, our NYSCWA Executive Director Suzanne Stansbury, NYSCWA Lobbyist William Crowell and NYS Senator Rich Funkie (R), 55th District, for their tireless efforts to keep the message that these regulations were bad for employees and would ultimately hurt the employees the DOL was trying to protect. The NYSCWA would also like to thank all the operators and employees who wrote letters, called their representatives, and attended hearings in opposition to the regulations.
According to our lobbyist, Bill Crowell, there may have been several external forces that played a key role in the DOL decision to back away from the proposed regulations, however, a key factor was that the NYSCWA helped keep the impact of their regulations as job killers in New York State in the forefront of conversations with legislators and the DOL.
While this is certainly good news, there is a strong likelihood that the proposal will resurface as a legislative issue, and while the prospect of a legislative approach is certainly better than a regulatory one, we must stay focused on the message that these types of policies, whether DOL regulations or laws, pose a threat to jobs in New York State.
Walt Hartl,
NYSCWA President
