Bill Text: NY S00858 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relates to clarifying provisions prohibiting wage theft; provides that there are no exceptions to liability for failure to pay wages.

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 10-2)

Status: (Passed) 2021-08-19 - SIGNED CHAP.397 [S00858 Detail]

Download: New_York-2021-S00858-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                           858

                               2021-2022 Regular Sessions

                    IN SENATE

                                       (Prefiled)

                                     January 6, 2021
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  Sens.  GOUNARDES,  BIAGGI,  GAUGHRAN,  JACKSON, KRUEGER,
          MYRIE, SEPULVEDA, SKOUFIS -- read twice and ordered printed, and  when
          printed to be committed to the Committee on Labor

        AN ACT to amend the labor law, in relation to wage theft

          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section 1. Legislative findings. Article  6  of  the  labor  law,  and
     2  sections  193 and 198(3) in particular, reflects New York's longstanding
     3  policy against the forfeiture of earned  but  undistributed  wages.  The
     4  purpose of this remedial amendment is to clarify that: (a) the unauthor-
     5  ized failure to pay wages, benefits and wage supplements has always been
     6  encompassed  by  the  prohibitions  of  section  193,  see, e.g., Ryan v
     7  Kellogg Partners Inst. Servs., 19 N.Y. 3d 1, 16 (2012) (correctly  hold-
     8  ing  that  employer's  neglect  to  pay  sum  that  constitutes a "wage"
     9  violated section 193); and (b) consistent with established principles of
    10  statutory construction, section 193 should be  harmonized  with  section
    11  198(3)'s  guarantee  that "All employees shall have the right to recover
    12  full wages, benefits and wage supplements  and  liquidated  damages."  A
    13  wage  is  either  owed  or it is not. Employers have a statutory duty to
    14  provide employees with enough information to know how  their  employment
    15  compensation  is  calculated.  The  legislature thus finds that it has a
    16  responsibility to harmonize these two sections of the labor law to clar-
    17  ify for the courts once and for all that wage theft  remains  completely
    18  and  without  exception  in  violation  of statute and all employees are
    19  entitled to full wages, benefits and wage supplements earned.
    20    § 2. This act shall be known and may be cited as the  "No  wage  theft
    21  loophole act".
    22    §  3. Section 193 of the labor law is amended by adding a new subdivi-
    23  sion 5 to read as follows:

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD01120-01-1
        S. 858                              2

     1    5. There is no exception to liability under this section for the unau-
     2  thorized failure to pay wages, benefits or wage supplements.
     3    §  4.  Subdivision  3  of  section 198 of the labor law, as amended by
     4  chapter 2 of the laws of 2015, is amended to read as follows:
     5    3. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, an  action  to  recover
     6  upon  a  liability  imposed by this article must be commenced within six
     7  years. The statute of limitations shall  be  tolled  from  the  date  an
     8  employee  files  a  complaint  with the commissioner or the commissioner
     9  commences an investigation, whichever is  earlier,  until  an  order  to
    10  comply  issued  by  the commissioner becomes final, or where the commis-
    11  sioner does not issue an order, until the date on which the commissioner
    12  notifies the complainant that the investigation has concluded.  Investi-
    13  gation  by  the  commissioner  shall  not be a prerequisite to nor a bar
    14  against a person bringing a civil action under this section. All employ-
    15  ees shall have the right  to  recover  full  wages,  benefits  and  wage
    16  supplements and liquidated damages accrued during the six years previous
    17  to  the  commencing of such action, whether such action is instituted by
    18  the employee or by the commissioner. There is no exception to  liability
    19  under  this  section for the unauthorized failure to pay wages, benefits
    20  or wage supplements.
    21    § 5. This act shall take effect immediately.