S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________
4473
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
I N S E N A T E
February 5, 2025
___________
Introduced by Sens. RAMOS, HOYLMAN-SIGAL, SALAZAR -- 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 liquidated damages for
labor law violations
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. Short Title. This act shall be known and may be cited as
the "labor law enforcement parity act".
§ 2. Legislative Findings. 1. The legislature finds and declares that
it has always been its intention that the remedies provided under the
labor law be fully and equally enforceable in both state and federal
court. However, some state courts have misconstrued the liquidated
damages available for violations of the labor law as penalties, despite
the fact that the legislature amended the labor law's liquidated damages
provision in 2009 and 2010 to bring it in line with the compensatory
purposes of the Fair Labor Standards Act's liquidated damages provision.
As a result, while employees have been able to recover the full amount
of compensatory liquidated damages owed to them in federal court
actions, they are not always able to do so in state court actions.
Accordingly, the first purpose of this bill is to clarify that all
liquidated damages available for violations of the labor law, which are
generally an amount equal to the unpaid or underpaid wages, are compen-
satory in nature and not penalties.
2. The legislature further finds and declares that both federal and
state courts have recently misconstrued the purposes of New York Labor
Law § 195. Despite allowing claims for violations of the labor law's
wage notice and wage statement provisions to proceed for years, and
allowing workers to recover the full statutory damages provided under
the labor law for these violations, some federal courts have begun
dismissing these claims for lack of Article III standing, claiming that
EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD06533-01-5
S. 4473 2
these violations do not cause workers any concrete injury. Meanwhile,
some state courts have misconstrued the statutory damages available for
violations of the wage notice and wage statement provisions as penalties
and have thus not allowed workers to recover the statutory damages
provided, even though they have been able to do so in many federal
courts. Accordingly, the second purpose of this bill is to clarify that
the statutory damages available for violations of the wage notice and
statement provisions of the law are not punitive in nature, and are
instead designed to compensate workers for their employer's failure to
prevent wage theft in the first place, and the harms employees suffer as
a result, including being unable to discover, identify, and remedy wage
theft promptly and possible loss of valid wage theft claims due to the
passage of the statute of limitations, the stress and uncertainty caused
by unclear pay details, which can significantly impact their ability to
make informed employment choices, effectively manage their finances, and
plan for personal, familial, or social commitments.
§ 3. Subdivision 3 of section 198 of the labor law, as amended by
chapter 397 of the laws of 2021, 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, STATUTORY DAMAGES, 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, INCLUDING
IN A CLASS ACTION. There is no exception to liability under this
section for the unauthorized failure to pay wages, benefits or wage
supplements.
§ 4. Subdivision 1 of section 663 of the labor law, as amended by
chapter 564 of the laws of 2010, is amended to read as follows:
1. By employee. If any employee is paid by [his or her] SUCH EMPLOY-
EE'S employer less than the wage to which [he or she] SUCH EMPLOYEE is
entitled under the provisions of this article, [he or she] SUCH EMPLOYEE
shall recover in a civil action the amount of any such underpayments,
together with costs all reasonable attorney's fees, prejudgment interest
as required under the civil practice law and rules, and unless the
employer proves a good faith basis to believe that its underpayment of
wages was in compliance with the law, an additional amount as liquidated
damages equal to one hundred percent of the total of such underpayments
found to be due, INCLUDING IN A CLASS ACTION. Any agreement between the
employee, and the employer to work for less than such wage shall be no
defense to such action.
§ 5. This act shall take effect immediately and shall apply to all
actions concerning labor law violations that occurred within the six
years prior to this act's effective date.
