Senate Bill S5777

2019-2020 Legislative Session

Relates to wage theft

download bill text pdf

Sponsored By

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Assembly Committee


  • Introduced
    • In Committee Assembly
    • In Committee Senate
    • On Floor Calendar Assembly
    • On Floor Calendar Senate
    • Passed Assembly
    • Passed Senate
  • Delivered to Governor
  • Signed By Governor

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2019-S5777 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:
A7841
Current Committee:
Assembly Labor
Law Section:
Labor Law
Laws Affected:
Amd §§193 & 198, Lab L
Versions Introduced in 2021-2022 Legislative Session:
S858, A1893

2019-S5777 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Relates to clarifying provisions prohibiting wage theft; provides that there are no exceptions to liability for failure to pay wages.

2019-S5777 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2019-S5777 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   5777
 
                        2019-2020 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                               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:

   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
              

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