A.8856 (Gabryszak)/ S.6063-A (DeFrancisco)

STAFF CONTACT :

Director, Center for Human Resources
518.465.7511, ext. 210

BILL

A.8856 (Gabryszak)/ S.6063-A (DeFrancisco)

SUBJECT

Repeal of Annual Employee Pay Notice Requirement

DATE

Support

This bill amends the “job theft prevention act of 2010” and repeals the requirement that each year a written pay notice be provided by all private sector employers to each and every employee in New York State, and that a written acknowledgement of the receipt of such notice be obtained each year from each and every employee by their employer, and be maintained by the employer for six years. The Business Council supports repeal of this annual pay notice mandate.

This mandate would impose new and substantial administrative costs on every private sector employer in the state, from hundreds of dollars for small employers to thousands of dollars for medium size employers to tens of thousands of dollars for large employers, with aggregate costs in the millions of dollars, and will do little to improve overall compliance with the state’s wage laws. This would follow on the heels of the new and substantial administrative costs incurred by the state’s private sector employers in complying with the (i) new employee pay notice provisions and, (ii) additional paycheck stub information requirements of the Wage Theft Prevention Act effective in March of 2011.

As the chart on the rear of this memo shows, the pay information now required by state labor law to be placed on each and every paycheck stub by employers is the same information required on the annual pay notice. The inclusion of this information on every paycheck stub received by an employee on every payday throughout the year provides ample opportunity for questioning, inquiry and follow-up by an employee on any pay information that appears wrong or unclear. Plus, there exists another separate requirement that employers furnish a written explanation of how individual employee wages are computed, if requested by an employee.

The Department of Labor has conceded that wage compliance is an issue for a small percentage of New York State employers, despite the universal application of this annual pay notice requirement.

This type of annual notification requirement should be the exception rather than the rule and be reserved for instances where non-compliance by an employer has been an issue. For example, it could be required in enforcement cases where an employer has engaged in a pattern of non-compliance over a period of time.  As an across the board measure, however, it will add costs and provide little if any additional benefit.

Moreover, this modification to the Wage Theft Prevention Act leaves in place its most significant reforms intended to assure payment of all wages earned by employees.

For these reasons, The Business Council supports enactment of this bill.

Wage Theft Prevention Act

Annual notice requirement    Paycheck stub requirement

Rate(s) of pay
Overtime rate(s) of pay
Basis; by hour, week, salary etc
Allowances, if any
Pay day
Employer name
DBA used by employer
Physical address 
Mailing address, if different
Employer phone #
Employee name

Rate(s) of pay
Overtime rate(s) of pay
Basis; by hour, week, salary etc.
Allowances, if any
Date of check
Employer name

Employer address

Employer phone #
Employee name
Dates covered by paycheck
Gross wages
Deductions
Hours worked in the period
OT hours worked in the period