Senate Bill S858

Signed By Governor
2021-2022 Legislative Session

Relates to wage theft

download bill text pdf

Sponsored By

Archive: Last Bill Status - Signed by Governor


  • 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

Do you support this bill?

Please enter your contact information

Home address is used to determine the senate district in which you reside. Your support or opposition to this bill is then shared immediately with the senator who represents you.

Optional services from the NY State Senate:

Create an account. An account allows you to officially support or oppose key legislation, sign petitions with a single click, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.

Include a custom message for your Senator? (Optional)

Enter a message to your senator. Many New Yorkers use this to share the reasoning behind their support or opposition to the bill. Others might share a personal anecdote about how the bill would affect them or people they care about.
Actions
Votes

co-Sponsors

2021-S858 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:
A1893
Law Section:
Labor Law
Laws Affected:
Amd §§193 & 198, Lab L
Versions Introduced in 2019-2020 Legislative Session:
S5777, A7841

2021-S858 (ACTIVE) - Summary

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

2021-S858 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2021-S858 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                    858
 
                        2021-2022 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                                (PREFILED)
 
                              January 6, 2021
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sens.  GOUNARDES,  BIAGGI,  GAUGHRAN,  JACKSON, KRUEGER,
   MYRIE, SEPULVEDA, SKOUFIS -- 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:

  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
              

Comments

Open Legislation is a forum for New York State legislation. All comments are subject to review and community moderation is encouraged.

Comments deemed off-topic, commercial, campaign-related, self-promotional; or that contain profanity, hate or toxic speech; or that link to sites outside of the nysenate.gov domain are not permitted, and will not be published. Attempts to intimidate and silence contributors or deliberately deceive the public, including excessive or extraneous posting/posts, or coordinated activity, are prohibited and may result in the temporary or permanent banning of the user. Comment moderation is generally performed Monday through Friday. By contributing or voting you agree to the Terms of Participation and verify you are over 13.

Create an account. An account allows you to sign petitions with a single click, officially support or oppose key legislation, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.