Assemblyman Democrat Sheldon Silver introduced new legislation to increase New York State’s minimum wage today. The proposed law will increase the current $7.25 an hour to $8.50 an hour and become permanently fixed to the inflation rate by 2014. Silver said the increase would "give flight to the American dream." more ›

City Council Speaker and presumptive mayoral candidate Christine Quinn announced a compromise on the controversial living wage bill yesterday. While it would require companies who receive substantial tax benefits from the city to raise employee wages to $10/hour with benefits or $11.50/hour without, according to Crain's the law would only apply to direct employees of the companies who receive benefits, not their tenants, thus significantly narrowing the initial scope of the legislation. more ›

A new report analyzing wages and rent nationwide found that there isn't a single county in the U.S. where someone earning minimum wage can afford a one-bedroom apartment. And that goes double for NYC, where even people making, say, $17.46 an hour (the mean wage of renters in the Bronx) can pretty much forget about living alone. If you earn that much per hour, you'll have to work 50 hours a week, 52 weeks a year to afford rent on a studio with a "fair market rent" of $1,129. ("Affordability" is defined as paying no more than than 30% of income for housing costs.) more ›

Rick’s Cabaret on 33rd Street is claiming two of its former dancers lack the "moral character" to head a $5 million-plus class-action lawsuit against the nudie bar. More than 200 strippers say that Rick’s short-changed them while they worked there and are demanding it pay up. Now the club is launching its own attack on the two women who represent the pole-dancing army. more ›

Earlier this month word came in that a Manhattan judge had ordered Jay-Z's 40/40 club management to turn over records of all employees in the past three years, for a class-action lawsuit filed by a former waitress. The suit claims the workers never received overtime or minimum wage. Now The NY Post reports that the club's general manager, Desiree Gonzalez, has told (ahem, threatened) some employees who might join in the suit. Allegedly she warned that she would "[bleep] up his tax life" to one, and told another she'd "lock him up" if he failed to sign a release from the suit. more ›