STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          6077

                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions

                    IN SENATE

                                     March 28, 2023
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  Sen.  MURRAY -- 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  claims  for  manual
          workers

          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section 1. Subdivision 1-a of section 198 of the labor law, as amended
     2  by chapter 362 of the laws of 2015, is amended to read as follows:
     3    1-a. On behalf of any employee paid less than the wage to which he  or
     4  she  is  entitled under the provisions of this article, the commissioner
     5  may bring any legal action necessary, including  administrative  action,
     6  to  collect  such claim and as part of such legal action, in addition to
     7  any other remedies and penalties otherwise available under this article,
     8  the commissioner shall assess against the employer the  full  amount  of
     9  any  such  underpayment, and an additional amount as liquidated damages,
    10  unless the employer proves a good faith basis  for  believing  that  its
    11  underpayment of wages was in compliance with the law, provided, however,
    12  that  the  provisions of this subdivision shall not apply to a violation
    13  of paragraph a of subdivision one of section one hundred  ninety-one  of
    14  this  article, provided that the employer had made full payment of wages
    15  within fourteen calendar days after the end of the  week  in  which  the
    16  wages  were earned, except in instances where an employer was subject to
    17  a commissioner's order issued pursuant to section two  hundred  eighteen
    18  of  this  chapter  to comply with section one hundred ninety-one of this
    19  article. Liquidated damages shall be calculated by the  commissioner  as
    20  no  more  than one hundred percent of the total amount of wages found to
    21  be due, except such liquidated  damages  may  be  up  to  three  hundred
    22  percent  of  the total amount of the wages found to be due for a willful
    23  violation of section one hundred ninety-four of  this  article.  In  any
    24  action  instituted in the courts upon a wage claim by an employee or the
    25  commissioner in which the employee prevails, the court shall allow  such

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD10496-01-3

        S. 6077                             2

     1  employee  to recover the full amount of any underpayment, all reasonable
     2  attorney's fees, prejudgment interest as required under the civil  prac-
     3  tice  law  and rules, and, unless the employer proves a good faith basis
     4  to  believe  that  its  underpayment of wages was in compliance with the
     5  law, an additional amount as liquidated damages  equal  to  one  hundred
     6  percent  of  the  total amount of the wages found to be due, except such
     7  liquidated damages may be up to  three  hundred  percent  of  the  total
     8  amount  of  the wages found to be due for a willful violation of section
     9  one hundred ninety-four of this article.
    10    § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.