Governor Signs Bill Amending the Wage Theft Prevention Act

Governor Cuomo signed into law amendments to the Wage Theft Prevention Act. The new law includes a number of provisions to strengthen enforcement of State wage and hour laws. Notably, the law also repeals the requirement to distribute annual notices to employees, by Feb. 1, detailing each employee's wage rate. Although the law does not take effect until Fri., Feb. 27, 2015, the Legislature and the Governor have agreed to enact a 'chapter amendment' to make this repeal effective immediately. In anticipation of this chapter amendment, the State Department of Labor (the Department or DOL) issued a statement that it will not require the annual notices in 2015; however, the Department notes that employers must continue to provide wage notices to new employees at the time of hire.

Other provisions of the new law include:

• increased penalties for employers that fail to provide new employees with the required wage notice within 10 days of hire, from $50 per worker, per work week, to $50 per worker, per work day, up to a maximum penalty of $5,000. The employee and DOL may each recover these penalties;
• increased penalties for failing to provide employees with wage statements along with each wage payment. The employee and the DOL each may recover up to $250 from an employer for each work day it does not comply with the wage statement requirement, up to a maximum of $5,000;
• increased penalties for repeat violators of anti-retaliation provisions;
• expanded reporting requirements for repeat violators of various wage and hour requirements;
• an employee's right to a portion of the wages owed and damages collected by DOL;
• violation notice requirements for contractors and subcontractors;
• joint and several personal liability of certain members of limited liability companies for wages owed; and
• the creation of a Wage Theft Prevention Account, to receive funds collected by DOL and support enforcement of the wage and hour provisions of the Labor Law.

These provisions will take effect on Fri., Feb. 27.

The Governor's approval message notes that his approval of the legislation is contingent on the Legislature's agreement to address its "technical and substantive problems," including the effective date of the repeal of the annual wage notice, in subsequent legislation.

Contact: Karen Lipson, klipson@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8383, ext. 124