New York State minimum wage January 1, 2027

By Tracy Rickett, UNY Human Resources Manager | Email

Starting on January 1, 2027, New York State’s minimum wage will no longer be determined by fixed legislative increases. Instead, the minimum wage annual increase is based on the three-year moving average of the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) for the Northeast Region. The law includes “off-ramp” conditions that prevent an increase if specified economic conditions are met.

On January 1, 2027, the state minimum wage will remain at $16.00 per hour (excluding New York City, Long Island, and Westchester County). This is because one of the “off-ramp” conditions was met in the event of specified economic or budget conditions, preventing an inflationary increase.

Governor Hochul is proposing a change to the law’s “off-ramp” provisions that would allow workers to receive an inflation-based wage increase. If approved by the State Legislature, new rates would take effect on March 1, 2027. We will monitor developments to Gov. Hochul’s proposed change and provide updates accordingly.

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).

To date, there has been no announcement regarding the state minimum exempt salary for 2027 which is currently $1,199.10 per week / $62,353.20 per year.

A NYS Minimum Wage poster must be posted at your work site for your employees. The NYS Minimum Wage poster is available here. Please click this link for more information on 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.