Senate Votes to Repeal Business Paperwork Rule

Jefferson County Business Owner Brings Issue to Light

The State Senate today passed a bill, cosponsored by State Senator Patty Ritchie, that repeals a mandate that forces businesses to waste money creating and storing millions of pieces of useless paperwork.

The bill, S.6063-A, repeals part of a 2010 law that requires employers to provide a lengthy and detailed “notice of wages” to every employee annually. The law requires businesses to keep a written acknowledgement of receipt from every employee for six years.

“This law forces companies across New York State to spend money preparing, collecting and storing paperwork that even the Labor Department concedes isn’t necessary,” Senator Ritchie said. “This provision is another example of a solution in search of a problem, and it creates an unneeded and expensive burden on businesses when we should be doing all we can to help them lower costs and create jobs.”

Senator Ritchie said she decided to support the bill after hearing about the new requirement from a local business owner, Robert R. Sturtz, president of Slack Chemical Company in carthage.

"Slack Chemical Company applauds Senator Ritchie’s efforts to reduce unnecessary administrative burdens on business by cosponsoring a bill to eliminate the requirement of employers to provide annual written notice regarding pay to each employee," Mr. Sturtz said.

With 7.3 million people employed in New York State, the requirement means that businesses must create and maintain 51 million pages of paper each year—the equivalent of about 600 trees.

“This law is another example of the former attitude of state government that said that no burden is too great for small businesses and our economy to bear. And it’s a repeal will be another strong sign that, as Gov. Cuomo likes to say, New York is once again open for business and creating jobs.”

The law mandating the paperwork was passed in 2010, one year before Senator Ritchie took office.

The bill was sent to the Assembly, where it is sponsored by Assembly Member Dennis H. Gabryszak.