Bill Text: NY A00243 | 2017-2018 | General Assembly | Introduced


Bill Title: Specifies conditions for the payment of wages to employees by direct deposit to a payroll debit card.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2018-06-05 - held for consideration in labor [A00243 Detail]

Download: New_York-2017-A00243-Introduced.html


                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                           243
                               2017-2018 Regular Sessions
                   IN ASSEMBLY
                                     January 5, 2017
                                       ___________
        Introduced  by M. of A. PERRY -- read once and referred to the Committee
          on Labor
        AN ACT to amend the labor law, in relation to specifying conditions  for
          the payment of wages to employees by direct deposit to a payroll debit
          card
          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
     1    Section 1. Section 192 of the labor law, as amended by chapter 301  of
     2  the  laws  of 1974, subdivision 1 as added by chapter 475 of the laws of
     3  1981 and renumbered by chapter 170 of the laws of 1994 and subdivision 2
     4  as amended by chapter 304 of the laws of 2007, is  amended  to  read  as
     5  follows:
     6    §  192.  [Cash  payment]  Payment of wages. 1.   Except as provided in
     7  subdivisions two and four of this section, payment of wages shall be  in
     8  lawful  money  of  the  United  States or with checks drawn on financial
     9  institutions where suitable arrangements are made  for  the  cashing  of
    10  such  checks by employees without difficulty and for the full amount for
    11  which they were drawn.
    12    2. No employer shall  without  the  advance  written  consent  of  any
    13  employee directly pay or deposit the net wage or salary of such employee
    14  in a bank or other financial institution.
    15    [2.] An employer may arrange with a financial institution or financial
    16  institutions to pay the wages of an employee by direct deposit, provided
    17  that all of the following conditions are met:
    18    (a)  the employee shall first consent in writing to the direct deposit
    19  of his or her wages;
    20    (b) the employee's consent as provided in paragraph (a) of this subdi-
    21  vision shall be obtained by the employer without intimidation, coercion,
    22  or fear of discharge or reprisal for refusal to accept the direct depos-
    23  it arrangement;
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD06345-01-7

        A. 243                              2
     1    (c) the employee's consent as provided in paragraph (a) of this subdi-
     2  vision shall not be a condition of hire or continued employment;
     3    (d)  the  employee's wages so deposited shall be subject to withdrawal
     4  and other disposition by the employee to the same extent and in the same
     5  manner as if such deposit had been made directly by the employee;
     6    (e) the employee shall be furnished with  a  statement  of  deductions
     7  made  from  his  or  her  wages for each pay period such deductions were
     8  made; and
     9    (f) the employee shall, on timely notice to the employer, be permitted
    10  by the employer to elect not to have his or her wages deposited  in  the
    11  manner  prescribed  in  this subdivision and to be paid his or her wages
    12  directly or as provided in subdivision four of this section.
    13    3. When an employee with direct deposit has his or her account debited
    14  with a check-deposit-return fee with regard to the direct deposit of his
    15  or her wages, the employer shall  reimburse  the  employee  as  soon  as
    16  possible,  but  no  later  than  the  next  regularly  scheduled payday.
    17  Reimbursement by the employer shall be for the full amount of the check-
    18  deposit-return fee and shall not be paid to the employee as wages.
    19    4. No employer shall  without  the  advance  written  consent  of  any
    20  employee directly pay or deposit the net wage or salary of such employee
    21  by  causing  the  amount  of  such employee's wages to be deposited in a
    22  payroll debit card account.  An employer may pay the wages of an employ-
    23  ee by causing the amount of such employee's wages to be deposited  in  a
    24  payroll  debit  card  account, provided that all of the following condi-
    25  tions are met:
    26    (a) the employee shall first consent in writing to the deposit of  his
    27  or her wages in a payroll debit card account;
    28    (b) the employee's consent as provided in paragraph (a) of this subdi-
    29  vision shall be obtained by the employer without intimidation, coercion,
    30  or fear of discharge or reprisal for refusal to accept the payroll debit
    31  card account deposit arrangement;
    32    (c) the employee's consent as provided in paragraph (a) of this subdi-
    33  vision shall not be a condition of hire or continued employment;
    34    (d)  the employee's wages so deposited in a payroll debit card account
    35  shall be subject to withdrawal and other disposition by the employee  to
    36  the  same extent and in the same manner as if such deposit had been made
    37  directly by the employee into  an  account  maintained  in  a  financial
    38  institution in the name of the employee;
    39    (e)  on  at  least  one occasion per pay period, the employee shall be
    40  permitted, using the payroll debit card, to withdraw his or her wages in
    41  full, in lawful money of the United  States,  without  any  fee  to  the
    42  employee and without difficulty;
    43    (f)  the  employee  shall  be furnished with a statement of deductions
    44  made from his or her wages for each  pay  period  such  deductions  were
    45  made; and
    46    (g) the employee shall, on timely notice to the employer, be permitted
    47  by  the  employer to elect not to have his or her wages deposited in the
    48  manner prescribed in this subdivision and to be paid his  or  her  wages
    49  directly or in the manner provided in subdivision two of this section.
    50    5.  An  employer  shall  pay  the  full amount of wages due his or her
    51  employees at least twice during each calendar month, on regular  paydays
    52  designated in advance by the employer.
    53    6.  This section shall not apply to any person employed in a bona fide
    54  executive, administrative, or professional capacity whose  earnings  are
    55  in  excess of nine hundred dollars a week, nor to employees working on a
    56  farm not connected with a factory.

        A. 243                              3
     1    7. As used in this section:
     2    (a)  "check-deposit-return  fee"  means  a charge which results from a
     3  payroll check having been returned due to  insufficient  or  uncollected
     4  funds;
     5    (b)  "direct  deposit"  means  payment  of the wages of an employee by
     6  causing the amount of such  employee's  wages  to  be  deposited  in  an
     7  account  or  accounts maintained in a financial institution or financial
     8  institutions in the name of the employee;
     9    (c) "financial institution" means any  state-chartered  or  federally-
    10  chartered institution authorized to accept deposits in New York; and
    11    (d) "payroll debit card" means a magnetically encoded card issued by a
    12  financial  institution,  which  provides  an  employee with the means of
    13  obtaining the full amount of all wages earned in a pay period in a  form
    14  that  is  equivalent  to  payment  in lawful money of the United States,
    15  payment by check or payment by direct deposit.
    16    § 2. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day  after  it  shall
    17  have become a law.
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