The National Restaurant Association wants New York State to slam the breaks on a recent agency decision to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour for fast-food chain workers.

The New York Department of Labor announced in September it would require fast-food chains to gradually increase their minimum wage until base pay hit $15 an hour in 2021, the (Binghamton, N.Y.) Press & Sun-Bulletin reported. New York's current minimum wage is $8.75 and hour.

Under New York law, orders by the state Department of Labor can be brought before the Industrial Board of Appeals, which has the authority to review and overturn agency decisions. NRA filed a 26-page appeal calling the labor department's order a "thinly-veiled" attempt by Gov. Andrew Cuomo to bypass the legislature and enact policy.

"New York's robust separation-of-powers doctrine, however, does not allow for such blatant executive overreach," NRA said.

Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi said in a statement, "The governor's action will help lift more than 200,000 New Yorkers out of poverty and ends the backdoor corporate welfare that rewards fast food companies for paying sub-poverty wages," he said. "It's unfortunate, but not surprising that these same corporations will be fighting to protect the status quo."

After the board makes a decision, the losing side then could take the case to court, the newspaper reported. http://press.sn/1KCZtYp

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