Bill Text: NY S01675 | 2017-2018 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Increases civil and criminal penalties for failure to pay wages or to differentiate the rate of pay based on sex; directs the commissioner of labor to study and report upon wage differential among men and women, and between minorities and non-minorities.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2018-01-03 - REFERRED TO LABOR [S01675 Detail]

Download: New_York-2017-S01675-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                          1675
                               2017-2018 Regular Sessions
                    IN SENATE
                                    January 10, 2017
                                       ___________
        Introduced  by  Sen.  LITTLE -- 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 increasing the  fines  for
          employers  not  lawfully paying the wages of his or her employees; and
          to direct the commissioner of labor to issue a report on wage  differ-
          ential among men and women and between minorities and non-minorities
          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
     1    Section 1. Section 197 of the labor law, as amended by chapter 564  of
     2  the laws of 2010, is amended to read as follows:
     3    §  197.  Civil penalty. Any employer who fails to pay the wages of his
     4  employees or shall differentiate in rate  of  pay  because  of  sex,  as
     5  provided  in  this article, shall forfeit to the people of the state the
     6  sum of [five hundred] one thousand dollars for each such failure, to  be
     7  recovered  by  the commissioner in any legal action necessary, including
     8  administrative action or a civil action.
     9    § 2. Subdivision 1 of section 198-a of the labor law,  as  amended  by
    10  chapter 564 of the laws of 2010, is amended to read as follows:
    11    1.  Every  employer who does not pay the wages of all of his employees
    12  in accordance with the provisions of this chapter, and the officers  and
    13  agents of any corporation, partnership, or limited liability company who
    14  knowingly  permit  the  corporation,  partnership,  or limited liability
    15  company to violate this chapter by failing to pay the wages  of  any  of
    16  its employees in accordance with the provisions thereof, shall be guilty
    17  of  a  misdemeanor  for  the  first offense and upon conviction therefor
    18  shall be fined not less than [five hundred] one thousand nor  more  than
    19  [twenty]  twenty-five  thousand  dollars or imprisoned for not more than
    20  one year, and, in the event that any second or subsequent offense occurs
    21  within [six] five years of the date of conviction for a  prior  offense,
    22  shall  be  guilty  of a felony for the second or subsequent offense, and
    23  upon conviction therefor, shall be fined not less  than  [five  hundred]
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD00035-01-7
        S. 1675                             2
     1  one  thousand  nor  more  than  [twenty] twenty-five thousand dollars or
     2  imprisoned for not more than one year plus one day, or punished by  both
     3  such  fine  and  imprisonment, for each such offense. An indictment of a
     4  person  or corporation operating a steam surface railroad for an offense
     5  specified in this section may be found and tried in  any  county  within
     6  the state in which such railroad ran at the time of such offense.
     7    §  3. The commissioner of labor, in consultation with the empire state
     8  development corporation, department of civil  service  and  other  state
     9  agencies, together with the New York state business council and New York
    10  state AFL-CIO, a statewide women's economic empowerment organization and
    11  any  other  group  or  organization  that  the commissioner of labor may
    12  consult with, shall issue or cause to be issued to the governor,  tempo-
    13  rary president of the senate, speaker of the assembly and the respective
    14  chair  of  the labor committee in the senate and assembly a report on or
    15  before May 1, 2018 on issues relating to the wage  differential  between
    16  men  and women and between minorities and non-minorities in the same job
    17  and jobs that are dissimilar but that required equivalent composites  of
    18  skill,  welfare,  responsibility  and  working in the New York state job
    19  market. Such report shall include, but not be limited to:
    20    (a) researching the trends in this area  in  the  public  and  private
    21  sector including labor organizations within the state;
    22    (b)  identifying the major issues relating to wage differential within
    23  the public and private sector including cost to the state, local govern-
    24  mental units and private sector  businesses  for  compliance  with  wage
    25  differential compliance;
    26    (c)  providing  legislative  and policy recommendations regarding wage
    27  differential including sanctions and penalties;
    28    (d) issues concerning the enforcement and adequacy  of  current  state
    29  laws related to such issues, including section 194 of the labor law;
    30    (e)  laws and policies in other states that deal with the wage differ-
    31  ential and with wage discrimination; and
    32    (f) investigation of the relative weight of discrimination  and  other
    33  factors that may lead to the wage differential.
    34    § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.