New York bill: Steal workers’ wages and you go to jail

In the halls of the New York State Capitol this session there has been success for a number of major pro-worker bills. | Wikipedia (CC)

ALBANY, N.Y.—Steal your workers’ wages and you could go to jail.

That’s the point of a bill strengthening New York’s anti-wage theft law, making it grand larceny with potential jail terms, which is headed for Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul’s desk.

The bipartisan measure, which passed the state Assembly by a 140-4 vote, would add the jail sentences to the current fines for wage theft, of at least $20,000 per occurrence.

“This bill amends the penal law to update the definition of larceny to include wage theft, to allow for the aggregation of multiple instances of wage theft against a worker into a single larceny count and to clarify that wage theft includes the non-payment of minimum wage rate and/overtime, as well as underpayment of wages promised if greater than the minimum wage,” an end-of-the-session summary from the state AFL-CIO says.

Aggregating multiple wage thefts into one felony larceny count “would help prosecutors identify habitual offenders,” Harvard University’s On Labor blog commented.

The length of the jail terms is unclear. According to a pro-worker legal website, wage theft as a grand larceny felony could be anything from a first-degree to a fourth-degree felony.

First degree grand larceny felons face terms of three years to 25 years for repeat offenders and one year to eight and a third years for first offenders. Fourth degree terms can range from probation to four years.

Making wage theft a felony was one of a raft of pro-worker bills the Democratic majorities in Albany pushed through in their 2023 session, which ends June 30, the state AFL-CIO says.

Others include an increase in the state minimum wage to $17 an hour, with indexing afterwards “so low-wage workers don’t have to come to Albany with a tin cup every five or ten years,” state federation Legislative Director Mike Neidl said on a podcast.

And a third measure bans employers from disciplining workers who refuse to attend so-called “captive audience meetings”—sessions during organizing drives where bosses, and their union-busters, often harangue workers against unionizing. Minnesota’s new “trifecta” of DFL Gov. Tim Walz, an Education Minnesota member, and the newly DFL-run state legislature approved that law, too.

“Right now, employers are allowed to hold meetings on just about anything,” including unionization, religious issues, and more, Neidl told his podcast interviewer. “They can still hold these meetings,” he elaborated. “But if the employee finds the information is offensive, they can refuse to participate and can’t be disciplined or terminated in any way for doing so.” The text of the bill (A6604) has no penalties for law-breakers, however.

There’s also an absolute ban on non-compete contracts, which have spread from white-collar occupations—such as Wall Street financiers—all the way down to fast-food workers. Both that ban and the captive audience legislation take effect once Hochul signs them, Neidl said.

Two-person crews required on trains

Still, another measure adds New York to the ever-lengthening list of key states that now will require two-person crews on all freight trains. For freight traffic, New York, like Illinois and Nevada, is a keystone state in the nationwide push by rail unions for two-person crews as a safety measure.

All rail freight traffic from New England, plus New York’s own traffic, must go through New York, just as virtually all freight traffic from the Northeast and Midwest—and elsewhere—goes through Chicago. And Nevada, for freight rail lines, is the gateway to California.

Unions strongly supported the wage theft legislation, as did Make The Road New York, which has pushed crackdowns on wage theft for at least a decade. “It’s time that New York became a leader in the nationwide fight against wage theft,” Executive Director Andrew Friedman previously stated.

“The Wage Theft Prevention Act would accomplish just that. Increased damages, stronger criminal penalties for egregious violations, and better protections for whistleblowers would change the calculation of bad actors. New Yorkers could rest assured that a good day’s work would earn them a good day’s pay.”

The Economic Policy Institute, in a recent study, calculated that wage theft nationwide costs workers an estimated $3 billion a year in lost pay and lost overtime pay. One form of wage theft is outright refusal to pay. The other is to pay subminimum wages and/or deny overtime pay.

Wage theft is especially rampant in industries, such as construction and hospitality, with large shares of foreign-born workers—including green-card holders and workers who technically are not legal migrants but have been in the U.S. for years. Most are workers of color and many have limited English and have trouble understanding when unscrupulous bosses rob them.

Bosses can range from mom-and-pop firms to fast food franchises to the biggest developers in the Big Apple. In one notorious case from New Jersey several decades ago, the developer/builder of Atlantic City’s Taj Mahal casino refused to pay workers—including union workers working for his subcontractors—their wages and overtime pay. Those workers were mostly white.

The unions had to sue and eventually, workers got 40 cents on the dollar, years later. The developer? Donald Trump.

“Rampant wage theft takes money away from families who earned it and desperately need it…to spend on rent, food, school supplies, and clothing,” Friedman continued. “Wage thieves benefit from an unfair competitive advantage over those businesses that do right by their employees and follow the law,” Friedman added.

Meanwhile, More Perfect Union, an independent pro-worker group, posted on its Twitter feed an article about an app, Reclamo, originally created to help migrant workers, making it easier to file wage theft claims. “By answering questions with a worker advocate users can put together a case and file legal claims in an hour,” it read. “The app has already helped workers recover $1 million in lost wages. Usually, the process would take multiple meetings with an attorney but this app is meant to level the playing field.”

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CONTRIBUTOR

Mark Gruenberg

Award-winning journalist Mark Gruenberg is head of the Washington, D.C., bureau of People's World. He is also the editor of the union news service Press Associates Inc. (PAI). Known for his reporting skills, sharp wit, and voluminous knowledge of history, Mark is a compassionate interviewer but tough when going after big corporations and their billionaire owners.