S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   4473
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             February 5, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sens.  RAMOS,  HOYLMAN-SIGAL,  SALAZAR -- 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 liquidated damages for
   labor law violations
 
   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 "labor law enforcement parity act".
   § 2. Legislative Findings. 1. The legislature finds and declares  that
 it  has  always  been its intention that the remedies provided under the
 labor law be fully and equally enforceable in  both  state  and  federal
 court.  However,  some  state  courts  have  misconstrued the liquidated
 damages available for violations of the labor law as penalties,  despite
 the fact that the legislature amended the labor law's liquidated damages
 provision  in  2009  and  2010 to bring it in line with the compensatory
 purposes of the Fair Labor Standards Act's liquidated damages provision.
 As a result, while employees have been able to recover the  full  amount
 of  compensatory  liquidated  damages  owed  to  them  in  federal court
 actions, they are not always able to  do  so  in  state  court  actions.
 Accordingly,  the  first  purpose  of  this  bill is to clarify that all
 liquidated damages available for violations of the labor law, which  are
 generally  an amount equal to the unpaid or underpaid wages, are compen-
 satory in nature and not penalties.
   2.  The legislature further finds and declares that both  federal  and
 state  courts  have recently misconstrued the purposes of New York Labor
 Law § 195. Despite allowing claims for violations  of  the  labor  law's
 wage  notice  and  wage  statement  provisions to proceed for years, and
 allowing workers to recover the full statutory  damages  provided  under
 the  labor  law  for  these  violations,  some federal courts have begun
 dismissing these claims for lack of Article III standing, claiming  that

  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD06533-01-5
              

 S. 4473                             2
 
 these  violations  do  not cause workers any concrete injury. Meanwhile,
 some state courts have misconstrued the statutory damages available  for
 violations of the wage notice and wage statement provisions as penalties
 and  have  thus  not  allowed  workers  to recover the statutory damages
 provided, even though they have been able  to  do  so  in  many  federal
 courts.  Accordingly, the second purpose of this bill is to clarify that
 the statutory damages available for violations of the  wage  notice  and
 statement  provisions  of  the  law  are not punitive in nature, and are
 instead designed to compensate workers for their employer's  failure  to
 prevent wage theft in the first place, and the harms employees suffer as
 a  result, including being unable to discover, identify, and remedy wage
 theft promptly and possible loss of valid wage theft claims due  to  the
 passage of the statute of limitations, the stress and uncertainty caused
 by  unclear pay details, which can significantly impact their ability to
 make informed employment choices, effectively manage their finances, and
 plan for personal, familial, or social commitments.
   § 3. Subdivision 3 of section 198 of the  labor  law,  as  amended  by
 chapter 397 of the laws of 2021, is amended to read as follows:
   3.  Notwithstanding  any  other provision of law, an action to recover
 upon a liability imposed by this article must be  commenced  within  six
 years.    The  statute  of  limitations shall be tolled from the date an
 employee files a complaint with the  commissioner  or  the  commissioner
 commences  an  investigation,  whichever  is  earlier, until an order to
 comply issued by the commissioner becomes final, or  where  the  commis-
 sioner does not issue an order, until the date on which the commissioner
 notifies  the complainant that the investigation has concluded. Investi-
 gation by the commissioner shall not be a  prerequisite  to  nor  a  bar
 against a person bringing a civil action under this section. All employ-
 ees  shall  have  the  right  to  recover  full wages, benefits and wage
 supplements, STATUTORY DAMAGES, and liquidated  damages  accrued  during
 the  six  years  previous to the commencing of such action, whether such
 action is instituted by the employee or by the  commissioner,  INCLUDING
 IN  A  CLASS  ACTION.    There  is  no exception to liability under this
 section for the unauthorized failure to  pay  wages,  benefits  or  wage
 supplements.
   §  4.  Subdivision  1  of  section 663 of the labor law, as amended by
 chapter 564 of the laws of 2010, is amended to read as follows:
   1. By employee. If any employee is paid by [his or her]  SUCH  EMPLOY-
 EE'S  employer  less than the wage to which [he or she] SUCH EMPLOYEE is
 entitled under the provisions of this article, [he or she] SUCH EMPLOYEE
 shall recover in a civil action the amount of  any  such  underpayments,
 together with costs all reasonable attorney's fees, prejudgment interest
 as  required  under  the  civil  practice  law and rules, and unless the
 employer proves a good faith basis to believe that its  underpayment  of
 wages was in compliance with the law, an additional amount as liquidated
 damages  equal to one hundred percent of the total of such underpayments
 found to be due, INCLUDING IN A CLASS ACTION. Any agreement between  the
 employee,  and  the employer to work for less than such wage shall be no
 defense to such action.
   § 5. This act shall take effect immediately and  shall  apply  to  all
 actions  concerning  labor  law  violations that occurred within the six
 years prior to this act's effective date.