news article

New York State Minimum Wage/Salary Increase effective January 1, 2026

September 11, 2025 / By Tracy Rickett, UNY Human Resources Manager / .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Effective January 1, 2026, New York State is increasing the minimum wage and minimum exempt salary amounts. The new amounts for New York State (excluding New York City, Long Island, and Westchester) are:

MINIMUM WAGE: $16.00/hour

MINIMUM EXEMPT SALARY: $1,199.10 per week / $62,353.20 per year

Employers within the Upper New York Conference, regardless of the number of employees, must pay non-exempt staff minimum wage. Non-exempt employees are entitled to overtime pay under the state and federal wage and hour laws. Overtime pay for non-exempt employees is calculated as time and one-half their regular rate of pay for all hours worked over 40 hours in a workweek (i.e., a $16.00/hr. employee working overtime, would be entitled to $24.00/hr. overtime pay).

An updated NYS Minimum Wage poster must be posted at your work site for your employees by January 1, 2026. Once the updated poster is available, the Conference office will post it on our Church Employer webpage Employment Law Compliance and Posters. Please click this link for more information on the change to NYS Minimum Wage.

Churches should review their wage and hour practices to ensure that their employees are classified properly as non-exempt or exempt and that current minimum wage and minimum exempt salary levels are being paid to employees.

Please note: Clergy salary is exempt from state and federal wage and hour requirements. Minimum base compensation for clergy is determined by the Commission on Equitable Compensation. It is listed in the Clergy Support Policies and can be located here.

If you have any questions on this topic, please contact Tracy Rickett, Human Resources Manager, at 315-898-2017 or TracyRickett@unyumc.org.