S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________

                                 7351--A
    Cal. No. 1077

                            I N  S E N A T E

                               May 2, 2012
                               ___________

Introduced  by  Sens.  LITTLE, ROBACH -- read twice and ordered printed,
  and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Labor -- reported
  favorably from said committee, ordered to  first  and  second  report,
  amended  on  second  report,  ordered  to  a  third reading, and to be
  reprinted as amended, retaining its place in the order of third  read-
  ing

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:

  Section  1. Section 197 of the labor law, as amended by chapter 564 of
the laws of 2010, is amended to read as follows:
  S 197. Civil penalty. Any employer who fails to pay the wages  of  his
employees  or  shall  differentiate  in  rate  of pay because of sex, as
provided in this article, shall forfeit to the people of the  state  the
sum  of [five hundred] ONE THOUSAND dollars for each such failure, to be
recovered by the commissioner in any legal action  necessary,  including
administrative action or a civil action.
  S  2.  Subdivision  1 of section 198-a of the labor law, as amended by
chapter 564 of the laws of 2010, is amended to read as follows:
  1. Every employer who does not pay the wages of all of  his  employees
in  accordance with the provisions of this chapter, and the officers and
agents of any corporation, partnership, or limited liability company who
knowingly permit the  corporation,  partnership,  or  limited  liability
company  to  violate  this chapter by failing to pay the wages of any of
its employees in accordance with the provisions thereof, shall be guilty
of a misdemeanor for the first  offense  and  upon  conviction  therefor
shall  be  fined not less than [five hundred] ONE THOUSAND nor more than
[twenty] TWENTY-FIVE thousand dollars or imprisoned for  not  more  than
one year, and, in the event that any second or subsequent offense occurs
within  [six]  FIVE years of the date of conviction for a prior offense,
shall be guilty of a felony for the second or  subsequent  offense,  and

 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
              

                      [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                           LBD15693-02-2

S. 7351--A                          2

upon  conviction  therefor,  shall be fined not less than [five hundred]
ONE THOUSAND nor more than  [twenty]  TWENTY-FIVE  thousand  dollars  or
imprisoned  for not more than one year plus one day, or punished by both
such  fine  and  imprisonment, for each such offense. An indictment of a
person or corporation operating a steam surface railroad for an  offense
specified  in  this  section may be found and tried in any county within
the state in which such railroad ran at the time of such offense.
  S 3. The commissioner of labor, in consultation with the empire  state
development  corporation,  department  of  civil service and other state
agencies, together with the business council and New York state AFL-CIO,
a statewide women's economic  empowerment  organization  and  any  other
group  or  organization that the commissioner of labor may consult with,
shall issue or cause to be issued to the governor,  temporary  president
of  the  senate, speaker of the assembly and the respective chair of the
labor committee in the senate and assembly a report on or before May  1,
2013  on  issues relating to the wage differential between men and women
and between minorities and non-minorities in the same job and jobs  that
are  dissimilar  but  that  required  equivalent  composites  of  skill,
welfare, responsibility and working in the New York  state  job  market.
Such report shall include, but not be limited to:
  (a)  researching  the  trends  in  this area in the public and private
sector including labor organizations within the state;
  (b) identifying the major issues relating to wage differential  within
the public and private sector including cost to the state, local govern-
mental  units  and  private  sector  businesses for compliance with wage
differential compliance;
  (c) providing legislative and policy  recommendations  regarding  wage
differential including sanctions and penalties;
  (d)  issues  concerning  the enforcement and adequacy of current state
laws related to such issues, including section 194 of the labor law;
  (e) laws and policies in other states that deal with the wage  differ-
ential and with wage discrimination; and
  (f)  investigation  of the relative weight of discrimination and other
factors that may lead to the wage differential.
  S 4. This act shall take effect immediately.