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Two City Council bills that seek stiff regulations to how fast-food restaurants can fire employees were blasted by the business community Tuesday as a “sucker punch” to the COVID-19-ravaged restaurant industry. 

“As we rally to save our restaurants, fight to prevent another full-scale shutdown of the economy and push for a federal aid package, the New York City Council sucker punches the business community by pushing this legislation through,” Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce President Randy Peers railed at an afternoon press conference. 

“This is the ultimate expression of how disconnected the City Council is from the reality the small businesses are facing today.” 

The bills, which the Committee on Civil Service and Labor voted through 5-1 Tuesday, would bar fast-food establishments from firing workers without just cause and require new staff to be canned before longer-tenured workers if layoffs are necessary. 

The lone “no” vote was cast by Queens Councilman Eric Ulrich, who said, “I don’t believe the final version of the bill satisfies a lot of the concerns that the business community has expressed. We all want to support small businesses … but this just feels like another burden that’s being placed on small businesses and restaurants during a very, very difficult time.”

The full Council is set to vote on the measures Thursday.

Business leaders said the bills were tantamount to legislating unionization without bargaining and would further hurt reeling Big Apple businesses. They would only apply to big chain eateries with 30 or more restaurants.

“These bills represent gross municipal overreach, question the authority of New York state and are fundamentally illegal. These bills will drive unemployment and automation and are not what New York City needs now or ever. Collective bargaining by legislation is wrong and sets a precedent for all New York City businesses,” said Michael Brady, CEO of the Bronx’s Third Avenue Business Improvement District. 

“Remove your foot from our necks,” he sneered. 

The bill’s sponsor, Councilman Brad Lander (D-Brooklyn), defended the legislation, which has 29 co-sponsors. 

“It’s no surprise that industry lobbyists are insisting that corporations should be able to fire people at any time, without any reason,” Lander said in a statement. 

“Fast-food workers have been on the frontlines of this pandemic, serving their neighbors, working in tight quarters, taking on new responsibilities for sanitizing, and yet [are] unable to speak up about health and safety issues for fear of losing their jobs. We’re finally on the cusp of giving these essential but long-disrespected workers a modicum of job stability by passing ‘just cause’ legislation,” the pol continued. 

“We should all be able to agree that no one should be fired on a whim. But for years in the fast-food industry, that’s been the norm. Fast-food workers, the majority of whom are women of color, have fought hard to raise wages and demand workplace protections. We owe it to them to end unfair firings that cause constant stress and uncertainty in their lives.”

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