Bill Text: NY S07351 | 2011-2012 | 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 2-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2012-06-21 - COMMITTED TO RULES [S07351 Detail]

Download: New_York-2011-S07351-Introduced.html

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                           S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
       ________________________________________________________________________
                                         7351
                                   I N  S E N A T E
                                      May 2, 2012
                                      ___________
       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    S  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    S 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]
   24  ONE  THOUSAND  nor  more  than  [twenty] TWENTY-FIVE thousand dollars or
   25  imprisoned for not more than one year plus one day, or punished by  both
   26  such  fine  and  imprisonment, for each such offense. An indictment of a
        EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                             [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                  LBD15693-01-2
       S. 7351                             2
    1  person or corporation operating a steam surface railroad for an  offense
    2  specified  in  this  section may be found and tried in any county within
    3  the state in which such railroad ran at the time of such offense.
    4    S  3. The commissioner of labor, in consultation with the empire state
    5  development corporation, department of civil  service  and  other  state
    6  agencies,  together with the business council and New York state AFL-CIO
    7  and any other group or organization that the commissioner of  labor  may
    8  consult  with, shall issue or cause to be issued to the governor, tempo-
    9  rary president of the senate, speaker of the assembly and the respective
   10  chair of the labor committee in the senate and assembly a report  on  or
   11  before  May  1, 2013 on issues relating to the wage differential between
   12  men and women and between minorities and non-minorities in the same  job
   13  and  jobs that are dissimilar but that required equivalent composites of
   14  skill, welfare, responsibility and working in the  New  York  state  job
   15  market. Such report shall include, but not be limited to:
   16    (a)  researching  the  trends  in  this area in the public and private
   17  sector including labor organizations within the state;
   18    (b) identifying the major issues relating to wage differential  within
   19  the public and private sector including cost to the state, local govern-
   20  mental  units  and  private  sector  businesses for compliance with wage
   21  differential compliance;
   22    (c) providing legislative and policy  recommendations  regarding  wage
   23  differential including sanctions and penalties;
   24    (d)  issues  concerning  the enforcement and adequacy of current state
   25  laws related to such issues, including section 194 of the labor law;
   26    (e) laws and policies in other states that deal with the wage  differ-
   27  ential and with wage discrimination; and
   28    (f)  investigation  of the relative weight of discrimination and other
   29  factors that may lead to the wage differential.
   30    S 4. This act shall take effect immediately.