§ 345. Violations, penalties, procedures. 1. Any manufacturer or
contractor in the apparel industry who has failed to comply with the
registration requirements of section three hundred forty-one of this
article shall be deemed to have violated this article.

2. Any manufacturer or contractor in the apparel industry who has
failed to comply within the time specified by law with an order issued
by the commissioner to comply with the registration requirements of
section three hundred forty-one of this article shall be deemed to have
violated this article.

3. Any manufacturer or contractor in the apparel industry who
contracts for the performance of any apparel industry service, as
defined in section three hundred forty of this article, with any other
manufacturer or contractor who is required to register, but whom the
manufacturer or contractor knows has failed to register, failed to renew
its registration or has had its registration revoked by the commissioner
shall be deemed to have violated this article.

4. (a) The commissioner may impose a civil penalty upon a manufacturer
or contractor of up to one thousand five hundred dollars for the initial
violation of subdivision one, two or three of this section and up to
three thousand dollars for the second or subsequent violation of
subdivision one, two or three of this section. Instead of, or in
addition to, such civil penalty, the commissioner may assess and collect
an administrative penalty of not more than two hundred fifty dollars for
the first violation and of not more than five hundred dollars for each
subsequent violation. No administrative penalty shall be levied pursuant
to this paragraph unless the commissioner provides the violator with
notification of the violation and of the penalty by certified mail and
with an opportunity to request a hearing within fifteen days following
receipt of such notice. If a hearing is requested, the commissioner may
issue a final order upon such hearing and a finding that a violation has
occurred. If no hearing is requested, such notice shall become a final
order upon the expiration of such fifteen-day period. Payment of such
administrative penalty is due when a final order is issued or when the
notice becomes a final order. Any administrative penalty imposed
pursuant to this paragraph may be recovered with costs upon an appeal to
the appellate division of the supreme court pursuant to article
seventy-eight of the civil practice law and rules and upon a final
determination that the finding of the commissioner was in error. Any
civil or administrative penalty paid pursuant to this subdivision shall
be applied to enforcement and administrative costs of the special task
force. In assessing the amount of the penalty, the commissioner shall
give due consideration to the size of the manufacturer's or contractor's
business, its good faith, the gravity of the violation, the history of
previous violations of this article and the manufacturer's or
contractor's compliance with the recordkeeping or other provisions of
this chapter.

(b) The order imposing such civil penalty may be served personally or
by certified mail. Such order shall be in writing and shall describe the
nature of the violation, including reference to the provisions of
subdivision one, two or three of this section alleged to have been
violated.

5. (a) An order issued under this section shall be final and not
subject to review by any court or agency unless review is had pursuant
to section one hundred one of this chapter.

(b) Provided that no proceeding for administrative or judicial review
as provided in this chapter shall then be pending and the time for
initiation of such proceeding shall have expired, the commissioner may
file with the county clerk of the county where the employer resides or
has a place of business the order of the commissioner or the decision of
the industrial board of appeals containing the amount of the civil
penalty. The filing of such order or decision shall have the full force
and effect of a judgment duly docketed in the office of such clerk. The
order or decision may be enforced by and in the name of the commissioner
in the same manner, and with like effect, as that prescribed by the
civil practice law and rules for the enforcement of a money judgment.

6. If any manufacturer or contractor shall have failed to comply
within twenty days of an order by the commissioner to register or renew
registration, the commissioner may seek to enjoin such unlawful
activity, pursuant to the civil practice law and rules.

7. (a) No manufacturer or contractor shall perform services or hold
itself out as being able to perform services as a registered
manufacturer unless such manufacturer or contractor holds a valid
registration pursuant to this article. The intentional failure of an
apparel manufacturer or contractor to comply with the registration
requirements of section three hundred forty-one of this article shall be
a class B misdemeanor. The officers and agents of any corporation who
knowingly permit such corporation to violate the registration
requirements of section three hundred forty-one of this article shall be
guilty of a class B misdemeanor.

(b) A manufacturer or contractor which knowingly violates paragraph
(a) of this subdivision within three years of having been found guilty
of violating this subdivision shall be guilty of a class A misdemeanor,
as defined in the penal law.

8. (a) The commissioner may, after a hearing thereon, require, as a
condition of continued registration, the payment of a surety bond or may
revoke the registration of any manufacturer or contractor for any period
ranging from thirty days to one year upon being found guilty of a second
violation of the same provision of this article within any two-year
period. In assessing whether to require a surety bond or revoke such
registration, the commissioner shall give due consideration to the size
of the manufacturer's or contractor's business, its good faith, the
gravity of the violation, the history of previous violations and the
manufacturer's or contractor's compliance with the recordkeeping or
other provisions of this chapter.

(b) Such surety bond shall be payable to the state and shall be for
the benefit of production employees damaged by any failure of a
manufacturer or contractor to pay wages or benefits or otherwise comply
with the provisions of this chapter. Such surety bond shall be in the
sum and form that the commissioner shall deem to be necessary to protect
such production employees but shall in no case exceed twenty-five
hundred dollars per production employee.

9. Any manufacturer or contractor who contracts, for the second time
within any three year period, for the performance of any apparel
industry service, as defined in section three hundred forty of this
article, with any other manufacturer or contractor whom the manufacturer
or contractor knows has failed to comply with the registration
requirements of section three hundred forty-one of this article shall,
if such other manufacturer or contractor has failed to pay any civil
penalty assessed under subdivision one of section three hundred
forty-five of this article, be liable to pay a civil penalty equal to
the civil penalty that such other manufacturer or contractor has been
assessed. Nothing herein shall affect the right of any manufacturer to
possess or repossess any apparel, or sections or components of apparel,
that are located at any contractor with whom it has contracted.

10. (a) Any manufacturer or contractor in the apparel industry who
ships, delivers or sells any apparel or sections of apparel; who knew or
should have known that such goods were produced in violation of article
six or nineteen of this chapter, shall be deemed to have violated this
article;

(b) Any retailer who sells any apparel or sections of apparel, who
knew or should have known that such goods were produced in violation of
article six or nineteen of this chapter, shall be deemed to have
violated this article. Except that no violation of this article shall be
deemed to have occurred if the retailer acquired the apparel or sections
of apparel without notice from the commissioner of any violations of
article six or nineteen of this chapter and with the written or
electronically transmitted assurance of such manufacturer or contractor,
given before or after production, whether as part of the retailer's
vendor approval process, purchase contract requirements, electronically
transmitted purchase order acknowledgments or invoices, or otherwise,
that such goods would be, or were, produced in compliance with this
article or, generally, all applicable laws; and

(c) Subject to the exceptions in paragraph (b) of this subdivision,
the supreme court of the state shall have jurisdiction, upon petition of
the attorney general, to restrain the shipping, delivery, sale or
purchase by any manufacturer, contractor or retailer of apparel or
sections of apparel upon a showing that such apparel or sections of
apparel were, during the previous one hundred eighty days, produced in
violation of article six or nineteen of this chapter or sold in
violation of paragraph (a) or (b) of this subdivision. Such proceeding
shall be brought in the county in which the violation is alleged to have
taken place. In any such proceeding the court may make allowances to the
attorney general provided in paragraph six of subdivision (a) of section
eighty-three hundred three of the civil practice law and rules. In
connection with such application, the attorney general is authorized to
take proof and make a determination of the relevant facts and to issue
subpoenas in accordance with the civil practice law and rules.