A training or “youth” wage won’t be in a final minimum wage deal, Senate Co-President and IDC Leader Jeff Klein told reporters after a legislative leaders meeting with Gov. Andrew Cuomo this morning.

“I know there was talk of a training wage,” Klein said. “Those are off the table, those are not happening.”

But tipped employees won’t be included in the minimum wage increase, Klein said.

“I know there was some confusion on the issue,” Klein said. “If you’re a waiter, you’re not a minimum wage worker because you get tips. So automatically you’re beyond the minimum wage. The other piece is that if indeed you don’t make enough tips then you’re raised to the minimum wage. So it really isn’t an issue.”

The exclusion has angered some advocates of increasing the state’s minimum wage, who believe the workers should be included in the wage increase. As Liz noted in the morning memo today, tipped workers are paid less than the minimum but see their pay augmented by tips. Traditionally their hourly rates have gone up in proportion with the minimum wage increase, but that does not appear to be the case this time.

Update: A Senate coalition source notes the Department of Labor can, under current law, approve minimum wage increases for tipped workers. At the same time, tipped wage workers are guaranteed take-home pay of whatever he prevailing minimum wage is.

The deal would phase in the wage from $7.25 to $9 over three stages, with the final increase taking effect before the end of 2015.

Still, an overall deal on the budget is yet to be reached, despite legislative leaders reporting there’s progress following these meetings.

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said that it’s unlikely a budget could be voted on by lawmakers until Saturday or Sunday “at best.”

Silver has told his members to stay in Albany through the weekend should a deal be reached.

Policy issues, not fiscal ones, have crept into the negotiations beyond just raising the minimum wage. Lawmakers are discussing clarifications to the SAFE Act, as well as overhauling marijuana laws in order to curtail stop and frisk arrests in New York City.

“The governor put them out,” Silver said when asked about the policy issues. “A lot of those issues are important to various segments of the state, to various members of our conferences. It’s important and it’s important to do it as part of the budget.”

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