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

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 employee 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 law and simply not pay their workers. We are glad that the employer agreed to pay 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…)

Under section 202-j of the New York Labor Laws, employers are required to give workers up to 3 hours of unpaid leave, each year, for off-premises blood donation, or to hold blood drives at work. Employees must be permitted to take the time off during their regularly scheduled hours, without negative action by the employer or job repercussions. Blood donation leave cannot be carried over, so employees who fail to use the leave in 2008 are not entitled to 6 hours of unpaid leave in 2009.

This New York Employee Blood Donation Leave law is enforced by the New York Department of Labor, Division of Labor Standards.

Any additional time that employees may request for blood donation leave (more…)