Updated New York Reporting Requirements

April 6th, 2011 Posted by Cara

employers must update their practices by April 9, 2011 under a new with stringent recordkeeping requirements.

 

The New York State Wage Theft Prevention Act imposes severe penalties on employers who do not comply.

 

In the past, section 195 of the New York Labor Law required employers to notify new employees of their rate rate and payday. The new greatly expands that requirement. It also requires that employees be given written notice of any change in terms of wages at least seven days in advance. In addition, it increases the damages for unpaid wages from 25% to 100% and imposes fines of up to $20,000 on employers for wage violations. Apr

 

Starting on April 9, 2011, New York employers will be required to provide notices to current employees each year. Even more restrictive, the requires that the notices be in English and in any language that the designates as his or her primary language. Apparently, that means if an claims Navaho or Klingon is his primary language, the employer must furnish a copy in Navaho or Klingon.

 

Those notices must include:

 

·         Whether the employee’s wages are based on the hour, week, shift, day, commission, piece rate or salary basis – or another basis.

 

·         The employee’s (more…)

New York Increases Tipped Minimum Wage to $5.00

February 2nd, 2011 Posted by Cara

The Department of Labor recently issued a wage order for the hospitality industry. The action is a response to continued violations by employers including misappropriation and violations. Many of the provisions are more strict than those required by the federal FLSA or Fair Labor Standards .

 

The new regulations went into effect on January 1, 2011. However, the will implement only limited enforcement through February 28, 2011.

 

The new wage order strictly limits a New York employer can take, in accordance with other recent policies. In addition, hospitality employees must be hourly. While federal law permits an employer to non- workers on a salary basis, the New York Hospitality Wage Order does not.

 

Important features of the new hospitality wage order:  

  • Servers and other foodservice employees must be paid at least $5.00 per hour, an increase of 35 cents per hour from $4.65. The new maximum tip credit is $2.25 per hour.
  •  Tipped employees who are not in foodservice, such as delivery persons and bellmen, must be paid at least $5.65 per hour, an increase of (more…)

New York Discrimination Law

June 2nd, 2010 Posted by Cara

Employers in New York City have even greater liability for random acts by rouge managers, than in other parts of the country under a recent court ruling that makes it even more difficult for employers to defend against charges of illegal .

 

The New York Court of Appeals ruled in Zakrzewska v. the New School that simply having an anti-discrimination policy in place is not enough to prevent successful claims. In that suit, Dominika Zakrzewska alleges that she was sexually harassed while a student at The New School. In 2003, Zakrzewska began working in the school computer lab as a freshman. Her immediate supervisor, Kwang-Wen Pan, sent (more…)

New York Uniform, Meals and Lodging Rules

February 10th, 2010 Posted by Amelia

employers need to be aware of several recent changes in the Wage and Hour regulations, including rules regarding maintenance of , and .

 

This comes on the heels of news that the New York Department of Labor reached a settlement on January 27, 2010 with a Queens supermarket for not paying grocery baggers at all. Apparently, the food store required baggers to work for tips only, without any wages.  When one complained that this was illegal, he was terminated.

 

The supermarket paid more than $300,000 in back wages to three baggers and reinstated the employee, under the terms of the settlement. 

 

“It continues to frustrate me how employers can continue to flaunt the and simply not their workers. We are glad that the employer agreed to workers the wages they owe them, and to reinstate the worker they fired,” Labor Commissioner Smith said.

 

The wage and hour changes proposed by the wage board were (more…)

New York Non-Exempt Employee Rules

February 3rd, 2010 Posted by Amelia

The New York Labor Commissioner recently issued a ruling that non- employees must be paid an rate. This is in contrast to the federal FLSA and most laws, which permit an employer to any worker (exempt or ) by salary, as long as applicable and laws are followed. It applies to almost every employer in .

 

Although this new ruling has not yet gone into effect, every New York employer should be aware of it. As soon as the Labor Commissioner finalizes regulations, they will be published in 10 New York newspapers. Thirty days after publication, the new rules will go into effect.

 

When that happens, only exempt employees can be paid on a salaried basis under New York law. Because the Labor Commissioner has not yet (more…)

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