Gov — regs won’t work for the city

ALBANY — The Cuomo administration backpedaled Friday on whether newly introduced state labor regulations will negate a recent city law that bans on-call scheduling.

Administration officials initially indicated to the Daily News and other organizations that the new regulations would pre-empt the city’s ordinance, but later changed their stance after receiving protests from a key labor leader.

“The newly released state regulations — which cover many industries, including retail, beauty salons and barbers, construction, and more — work in concert with the city’s ordinance and strengthen protections for workers,” administration spokesman Abbey Fashouer said in a statement issued Friday afternoon.

Fashouer’s statement came after Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union President Stuart Appelbaum expressed alarm at the prospect of the city’s law being superseded.

Appelbaum (bottom) said he was initially told by the administration that the regulation would not impact the city’s law.

“Retail workers do not want the governor to weaken their protections that they fought so hard for in the city’s law,” Appelbaum said earlier in the day.

Ted Potrikus, president of the Retail Council of New York State, which represents retailers, had lauded the new regs because they create a statewide structure instead of a “batch of local laws and/or regulations.”

The regulations introduced by Cuomo (top) stop short of prohibiting what’s known as on-call scheduling, but require most hourly workers to receive an extra two hours’ pay for assignments received without two weeks’ notice.