NY wage-theft prevention law passes

ALBANY -- A measure that toughens penalties on bosses who illegally withhold workers' pay got final legislative approval Tuesday.

The Assembly, voting 82 to 40, approved the Senate version of the Wage Theft Prevention Act, which had passed earlier in the day.

The law would allow a court or the New York Labor Department to force employers to pay back wages plus another 100 percent in damages, up from 25 percent currently.

Sen. Diane Savino (D-Staten Island), sponsor of the bill, says Gov. David Paterson is expected to sign it.

One survey introduced during debate estimates that New York City employers shortchange their low-wage workers by almost $1 billion a year.

The legislation would protect workers from unscrupulous employers who steal their earnings by paying less than minimum wage, misclassifying them as independent contractors, forcing them to work off the clock and various other schemes. It also would increase penalties and strengthen enforcement of laws protecting workers from nonpayment and underpayment of wages, according to a publication on www.nysenate.gov, the State Senate website.

"They say New York is the safest big city," said Savino. "Tell that to thousands of workers that are robbed every week by their employers."

A survey of low wage workers in New York City by the National Employment Law Project indicated they are shorted $18.4 million per week or almost $1 billion a year. Underpaying low-wage workers in the city's big restaurant and retail industries was common, with significant wage violations against domestic workers and care givers, janitors, security guards, garment workers and various small businesses.

The New York Labor Department reported recovering and disbursing a record $28.8 million to nearly 18,000 New York workers in 2009. A law enacted last year increased the civil penalties against employers who retaliate against workers for reporting violations.

"Not paying money owned, that's theft, that's wage theft," said Assemb. Rory Lancman (D-Flushing), a co-sponsor of the legislation.

In the final days before passage, dozens of members from Brooklyn-based advocacy group Make the Road New York lobbied Monday, hoping one version would be enacted.

Med Dahltu, of Brooklyn, said he worked six days a week at a shoe store in Manhattan for three years, 10 hours a day, six days a week, and didn't get overtime. He said a workers' lawsuit has been pending in court for two years, and their store branch closed and laid off everyone.