New York State Department of Labor Minimum Wage Board Records, 1935-1950
Collection Number: 5381
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives
Cornell University Library
DESCRIPTIVE SUMMARY
Title:
New York State Department of Labor Minimum Wage Board Records, 1935-1950
Repository:
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives
Collection Number:
5381
Abstract:
Minutes and reports of New York State Minimum Wage Boards for the industries of hotels,
restaurants, retail trade, laundry and cleaning service, amusement and leisure, confectionery
and beauty service.
Creator:
New York State Department of Labor
Quanitities:
4 cubic feet
Language:
Collection material in English
New York State enacted its first minimum wage law in 1933 as one of the measures to
combat the depression. It applied to women and minors, and minimum wage rates were
established for laundry service, hotel and restaurant employees. The law was declared
unconstitutional by the state Court of Appeals, and the decision was later upheld
by the Supreme Court of the United States. Later, the Supreme Court upheld a minimum
wage law enacted by the state legislature of Washington, and in 1937, New York State
adopted a second minimum wage law. This law declared it was the public policy of the
State of New York that women and minors employed in any occupation should receive
wages sufficient to provide them with adequate maintenance to protect their health.
The law provided that the Industrial Commissioner at his own discretion, or upon
a petition from 50 or more residents, could initiate an investigation to learn whether
the wages being paid in a particular occupation were sufficient to provide adequate
maintenance. Based upon his findings, the Commissioner could appoint a wage board
composed of three public, three employee and three employer representatives. The economics
data prepared by the Labor Department on conditions in the industry, wages for similar
jobs in other industries, and the cost of living were to be used by the Board.
The Board was required to hold public hearings, after due notice to all interested
parties, to gather additional data. After the hearings, the Board discussed the data
in private hearings and recommends a minimum wage based on the following criteria
established by the law: an amount sufficient to provide adequate maintenance, the
value of the service or class of service rendered, and wages paid in the state for
work of like or comparable character. On an average each Board met for about a six
month period. With its recommendations for a minimum wage, it submitted a report and
the transcript of the public hearings to the Industrial Commissioner. The Commissioner
held public hearings on the rate and then issue a minimum wage order, allowing the
industry ninety days to comply with the order.
In 1944 the law was amended to cover men as well as women and children. In 1947 the
period for compliance was reduced from 90 to 60 days. The policy of the State Labor
Department was to apply the law primarily to industries not covered by the Federal
Wage and Hour Law. By 1956 about 1,260,000 workers were covered by state minimum wage
orders. The first industries to be covered were laundry, beauty service and confectionery
in 1938. The cleaning and dyeing industry was covered in 1939 and hotels and restaurants
in 1940. As the cost of living rose, additional boards were appointed to make new
recommendations for these industries. A wage board number was assigned consecutively
to each industry as the Board was appointed, eleven industries or occupations were
covered by 1962. The additional boards in each group were then assigned a letter,
i.e., the wage order 1-D in the laundry service group would indicate that there have
been five boards in the laundry industry.
Summary: Consist chiefly of minutes and reports of New York State Minimum Wage Boards
for the industries of hotels, restaurants, retail trade, laundry and cleaning service,
amusement and leisure, confectionery and beauty service.
Files consist of the minutes of the public hearings of the New York State Minimum
Wage Boards; the hearings before the industrial commissioner on the following industries:
laundry and cleaning service, beauty service, confectionery, restaurant, and hotel
(1947) and the amusement and leisure industries (1950-1951); and mandatory Board orders
governing minimum wage standards in the hotel industry (1948), amusement and leisure
industry (1951), laundry and cleaning industries (1947) and retail trade (1951).
Additionally, reports of the Boards for the laundry and cleaning industry (1933,
1938), the confectionery industry (1942), the hotel and restaurant industries (1935),
and the amusement and leisure industry (1950-1951), as well as reports of the commissioner
on the laundry and cleaning industry (1933, 1938), retail trade (1945) and the hotel
and restaurant industries (1939-1940).
Also legal documents (briefs, opinions, decisions and resolutions) pertaining to
cases appealed before the New York State Board of Standards and Appeals regarding
Minimum Wage Board mandatory orders to the laundry and cleaning industry (1939), the
restaurant and hotel industries (1941) and retail trade (1946) as well as a dissent
by Eugene Foley (member, Retail Trade Minimum Wage Board) on a 1945 Board report to
the industrial commissioner.
Finally, reports of the New York State Division of Industrial Relations on wages
and hours of work in the N.Y. laundry and cleaning services industry (1937-1945),
and on the operation of the retail trade minimum wage order in N.Y. (1945-1947) and
of the Women's Trade Union League on conditions of women workers in the hotel and
restaurant industry (n.d.)
Access to the collections in the Kheel Center is restricted. Please contact a reference
archivist for access to these materials.
This collection must be used in keeping with the Kheel Center Information Sheet and
Procedures for Document Use.
INFORMATION FOR USERS
New York State Department of Labor Minimum Wage Board Records #5381. Kheel Center
for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Cornell University Library.
Names:
New York (State). Department of Labor.
New York (State). Division of Industrial Relations.
New York (State). Retail Trade Minimum Wage Board.
National Women's Trade Union League of America.
Foley, Eugene
Subjects:
Women -- Employment -- United States.
Hours of labor. Laundry industry. New York (State)
Wages. Cleaning and dyeing industry. New York (State)
Wages. Confectionery industry. New York (State)
Wages. Hotels, taverns, etc. New York (State).
Wages. Laundry industry. New York (State)
Wages. Minimum wage. New York (State)
Wages. Recreation industry. New York (State)
Wages. Restaurants, lunch rooms, etc. New York (State)
Wages. Retail trade. New York (State)
Wages. Women. New York (State)
Working conditions. Hotels, taverns, etc. New York (State).
Working conditions. Restaurants, lunch rooms, etc. New York (State).
CONTAINER LIST
Container
|
Description
|
Date
|
|
Box 1 | Folder 1 |
Beauty Service Volume I
|
1947 |
Scope and Contents
Binder
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 2 |
The Laundry Industry Volume I
|
1946-1947 |
Scope and Contents
Binder
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 3 |
The Laundry Industry Volume II
|
1947 |
Scope and Contents
Binder
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 4 |
Minimum Wage - Laundry Industry
|
1933-1949 |
Box 1 | Folder 5 |
The Laundry Industry Volume III
|
1947 |
Scope and Contents
Binder
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 6 |
The Conditions of Women Workers in the Hotel & Restaurant Industry Findings
|
|
Box 1 | Folder 7 |
Report of the Industrial Commissioner to the Hotel & Restaurant Wage Board
|
1935 |
Scope and Contents
Binder
|
|||
Box 2 | Folder 1 |
Beauty Service Volume II
|
1947 |
Scope and Contents
Binder
|
|||
Box 2 | Folder 2 |
Beauty Service Volume III
|
1947 |
Scope and Contents
Binder
|
|||
Box 2 | Folder 3 |
Report of the Industrial Commissioner to the Cleaning & Dyeing Wage Board
|
1938 |
Scope and Contents
Binder
|
|||
Box 2 | Folder 4 |
The Cleaning & Dyeing Industry Volume I
|
1947 |
Scope and Contents
Binder
|
|||
Box 2 | Folder 5 |
The Cleaning & Dyeing Industry Volume II
|
1947 |
Scope and Contents
Binder
|
|||
Box 2 | Folder 6 |
The Confectionery Industry
|
1947 |
Scope and Contents
Binder
|
|||
Box 3 | Folder 1 |
Restaurant Min. Wage Board
|
1939-1941 |
Box 3 | Folder 2 |
Restaurant Industry Vol. II
|
1946-1947 |
Scope and Contents
Binder
|
|||
Box 3 | Folder 3 |
Verbatim Minutes of the Meetings of the Restaurant Minimum Wage Board
|
1947 |
Scope and Contents
Binder
|
|||
Box 3 | Folder 4 |
The Restaurant Industry Volume IV
|
1947 |
Scope and Contents
Binder
|
|||
Box 3 | Folder 5 |
Restaurant Industry. Minutes of Meetings & Public Hearings
|
1946 |
Scope and Contents
Binder
|
|||
Box 3 | Folder 6 |
Report of the Industrial Commissioner to the Hotel Minimum Wage Board Volume I
|
1940 |
Box 3 | Folder 7 |
Report of the Industrial Commissioner to the Hotel Minimum Wage Board Volume II
|
1940 |
Box 3 | Folder 8 |
The Hotel Industry Volume I
|
1946-1947 |
Scope and Contents
Binder
|
|||
Box 3 | Folder 9 |
The Hotel Industry Volume II
|
1947 |
Scope and Contents
Binder
|
|||
Box 4 | Folder 1 |
The Hotel Industry Volume III
|
1947 |
Scope and Contents
Binder
|
|||
Box 4 | Folder 2 |
Amusement & Recreation. Minimum Wage Board Vol. 1
|
1950 |
Scope and Contents
Binder
|
|||
Box 4 | Folder 3 |
Amusement & Recreation. Minimum Wage Board Vol. II
|
1950 |
Scope and Contents
Binder
|
|||
Box 4 | Folder 4 |
Retail Trade Min. Wage Board
|
1945-1947 |