The New York State Senate

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

                                  7841

                       2019-2020 Regular Sessions

                          I N  A S S E M B L Y

                              May 24, 2019
                               ___________

Introduced  by M. of A. SIMON -- read once and referred 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:

  Section  1.  Legislative  findings.  Article  6  of the labor law, and
sections 193 and 198(3) in particular, reflects New York's  longstanding
policy  against  the  forfeiture  of earned but undistributed wages. The
purpose of this remedial amendment is to clarify that: (a) the unauthor-
ized failure to pay wages, benefits and wage supplements has always been
encompassed by the prohibitions  of  section  193,  see,  e.g.,  Ryan  v
Kellogg  Partners Inst. Servs., 19 N.Y. 3d 1, 16 (2012) (correctly hold-
ing that employer's  neglect  to  pay  sum  that  constitutes  a  "wage"
violated section 193); and (b) consistent with established principles of
statutory  construction,  section  193 should be harmonized with section
198(3)'s guarantee that "All employees shall have the right  to  recover
full  wages,  benefits  and  wage supplements and liquidated damages." A
wage is either owed or it is not. Employers have  a  statutory  duty  to
provide  employees  with enough information to know how their employment
compensation is calculated. The legislature thus finds  that  it  has  a
responsibility to harmonize these two sections of the labor law to clar-
ify  for  the courts once and for all that wage theft remains completely
and without exception in violation of  statute  and  all  employees  are
entitled to full wages, benefits and wage supplements earned.
  §  2.  This  act shall be known and may be cited as the "No wage theft
loophole act".
  § 3. Section 193 of the labor law is amended by adding a new  subdivi-
sion 5 to read as follows:
  5. THERE IS NO EXCEPTION TO LIABILITY UNDER THIS SECTION FOR THE UNAU-
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

A. 7841                             2

  §  4.  Subdivision  3  of  section 198 of the labor law, as amended by
chapter 2 of the laws of 2015, is amended to read as follows:
  3.  Notwithstanding  any  other provision of law, an action to recover
upon a liability imposed by this article must be  commenced  within  six
years.  The  statute  of  limitations  shall  be tolled from the date an
employee files a complaint with the  commissioner  or  the  commissioner
commences  an  investigation,  whichever  is  earlier, until an order to
comply issued by the commissioner becomes final, or  where  the  commis-
sioner does not issue an order, until the date on which the commissioner
notifies  the complainant that the investigation has concluded. Investi-
gation by the commissioner shall not be a  prerequisite  to  nor  a  bar
against a person bringing a civil action under this section. All employ-
ees  shall  have  the  right  to  recover  full wages, benefits and wage
supplements and liquidated damages accrued during the six years previous
to the commencing of such action, whether such action is  instituted  by
the  employee or by the commissioner. THERE IS NO EXCEPTION TO LIABILITY
UNDER THIS SECTION FOR THE UNAUTHORIZED FAILURE TO PAY  WAGES,  BENEFITS
OR WAGE SUPPLEMENTS.
  § 5. This act shall take effect immediately.