Bill Text: NY S05777 | 2019-2020 | 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: Partisan Bill (Democrat 8-0)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2020-07-23 - referred to labor [S05777 Detail]

Download: New_York-2019-S05777-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          5777

                               2019-2020 Regular Sessions

                    IN SENATE

                                      May 14, 2019
                                       ___________

        Introduced by Sen. GOUNARDES -- 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:
    24    5. There is no exception to liability under this section for the unau-
    25  thorized failure to pay wages, benefits or wage supplements.

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD11710-01-9
        S. 5777                             2

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