Assembly Bill A7958

2017-2018 Legislative Session

Enacts the Empowering People in Rights Enforcement (EMPIRE) Worker Protection Act

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Archive: Last Bill Status - In Assembly Committee


  • Introduced
    • In Committee Assembly
    • In Committee Senate
    • On Floor Calendar Assembly
    • On Floor Calendar Senate
    • Passed Assembly
    • Passed Senate
  • Delivered to Governor
  • Signed By Governor

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2017-A7958 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Senate Version of this Bill:
S6426
Current Committee:
Assembly Labor
Law Section:
Labor Law
Laws Affected:
Add Art 33 §§960 - 963, Lab L
Versions Introduced in Other Legislative Sessions:
2019-2020: A2265, S1848
2021-2022: A5876, S12
2023-2024: A1893, S541

2017-A7958 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Enacts the "Empowering People in Rights Enforcement (EMPIRE) Worker Protection Act"; relates to the delegation of state enforcement authority to private actors; authorizes an aggrieved employee or employees or a representative organization to initiate a public enforcement action on behalf of the commissioner for any provision of the labor law, or any regulation promulgated thereunder, that provides for a civil penalty to be assessed and collected by the commissioner for a violation of the labor law.

2017-A7958 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   7958
 
                        2017-2018 Regular Sessions
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                               May 23, 2017
                                ___________
 
 Introduced by M. of A. JOYNER -- read once and referred to the Committee
   on Labor
 
 AN  ACT  to amend the labor law, in relation to enacting the "Empowering
   People in Rights Enforcement (EMPIRE) Worker Protection Act"
 
   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

   Section  1.  Short  title. This act shall be known and may be cited as
 the "Empowering People in Rights Enforcement (EMPIRE) Worker  Protection
 Act".
   §  2. Legislative findings. 1. The legislature finds and declares that
 violations of the labor law are often systemic, affecting many workers.
   2. The legislature further finds and declares that despite  the  labor
 law's  strong  protections  for  workers,  limits on the availability of
 public enforcement resources have deleterious effects on the marketplace
 by allowing abuses targeting workers to persist unprosecuted. To  ensure
 the  robust enforcement of the labor law, while minimizing the outlay of
 scarce state funds, this act allows private individuals to bring  public
 enforcement actions in certain contexts in which the state does not have
 the means to fully enforce labor law protections.
   3.  The legislature further finds and declares that the purpose of the
 EMPIRE Worker Protection Act is to create a means of empowering citizens
 as private attorneys general to enforce the New York labor law.
   4. The legislature further finds and declares that the purpose of  the
 EMPIRE  Worker  Protection  Act  is  to  incentivize  private parties to
 recover civil penalties for the government that otherwise may  not  have
 been  assessed and collected by overburdened state enforcement agencies.
 Such representative actions are an efficient mechanism to limit systemic
 violations, will enforce the rights of more workers, and can benefit the
 department of labor with enhanced resources.
   5. The legislature further finds and declares that the purpose of  the
 EMPIRE Worker Protection Act is to benefit those employers who are oper-

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

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