Our colleagues at Epstein Becker Green have released an advisory that will be of interest, particularly to New York employers: "New York Wage Theft Prevention Act Update: Annual Notice Requirement Is Removed for 2015," by Susan Gross Sholinsky, William J. Milani, Jeffrey M. Landes, Dean L. Silverberg, Nancy L. Gunzenhauser, and Kate B. Rhodes.
Following is an excerpt:
On December 29, 2014, Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the long-awaited amendment (“Amendment”) to the Wage Theft Prevention Act (“WTPA” or “Act”) and a chapter memorandum. Notably, the Amendment and the chapter memorandum abolish the annual notice requirement for 2015. The text of the Amendment states that the law is not effective until 60 days following enactment; however, Governor Cuomo’s chapter memorandum states that it “accelerate[s] the effective date of the notification rules in section 1 of the bill to remove the notice requirement on employers for the 2015 calendar year.” This means that for 2015, employers do not need to provide annual notices of pay rates/pay dates to New York employees.
Further, the governor noted in the chapter memorandum that there were some other issues with the Amendment, which the New York Legislature agreed to address in the next legislative session. He did not address which provisions would require revision.
As a reminder, the WTPA is designed to prevent employers from failing to pay workers’ wages, in two ways. First, it requires written statements setting forth employees’ pay rates and pay dates. Second, the Act provides a civil cause of action against employers that fail to properly disclose or pay wages.