New York State Wage Theft Prevention Act: Compliance With The Annual Notice Requirement
Quick Summary. New York State enacted the Wage Theft Prevention Act earlier this year. Among its requirements, the Act requires annual notice and acknowledgment of pay rates and paydays be given to all employees within a set period each year.
Download the regulatory update with related attachments.
Make Plans for Compliance Between January to February 1, 2012
Effective April 9, 2011, New York State enacted the Wage Theft Prevention Act. In addition to other requirements, the Act mandates that employers give every New York employee an annual notice and acknowledgment of their respective pay rates and paydays. The notices must be provided to all New York employees between January 1 and February 1. The annual notice requirement is not satisfied if notice is given at any other time. We recommend using the New York State Department of Labor's templates. Links to the two most common forms, for use with hourly and exempt employees, are included for your convenience.
In order to provide proper notice in accordance with the Act, employers must determine whether each of their employees should be classified as an "exempt" or "non-exempt" worker. This is a rigorous, fact based determination that is governed by numerous considerations specified in several applicable regulations. The IRS and federal and state regulatory bodies have recently stepped up their efforts to enforce these regulations to ensure proper classification, which has resulted in an increase in the number of investigations and enforcement actions. We recommend that you give careful consideration to the applicable regulations before making any determination of an employee's "exempt" or "non-exempt" status and we are available to guide you in that effort.
Links to Related Attachments
- Notice and Acknowledgment for Hourly Rate Employees of Pay Rate and Payday Under Section 195.1 of the New York State Labor Law
- Notice and Acknowledgment for Exempt Employees of Pay Rate and Payday Under Section 195.1 of the New York State Labor Law
Contact
Please do not hesitate to contact Scott R. Matthews at (212) 237-1025 or smatthews@windelsmarx.com, with any questions or comments.
Employment and Employee Benefits
Windels Marx takes an interdisciplinary approach to this fast-growing area of the law, teaming corporate, tax, Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), fiduciary, regulatory, and litigation attorneys in a best-practices approach to meeting our clients' needs. We provide technically sophisticated, solution-oriented services to employers, fiduciaries, financial institutions, and senior executives, ranging from counseling and compliance planning to internal investigations and litigation before federal and state courts and regulatory agencies. We also provide our clients with timely in-house training programs and seminars for management, human resources, and legal professionals.
