14/06/2021
New York state legislature passes construction wage theft bill | Construction Dive
BRIEF
New York state legislature
passes construction wage theft
bill
Published June 8, 2021
Zachary Phillips
Associate Editor
Dive Brief:
The New York State Senate and State Assembly passed
legislation Wednesday that could shift liability to general
contractors for wage theft cases on private construction
projects.
In a usual wage theft case, a worker files suit against whomever
directly employs them, such as a subcontractor, to recover
unpaid wages. With this bill, sponsored by state Sen. Jessica
Ramos, general contractors are directly liable, as a way to
incentivize them to police their subcontractors' wage practices,
as well as their own.
The bill will be delivered to Gov. Andrew Cuomo's desk for him
to either sign into law or veto. It would make New York the sixth
state, in addition to Washington, D.C., to adopt this type of
protective wage theft for construction workers.
Dive Insight:
Under the legislation, the contractor — defined as the construction
manager, general/prime contractor or joint venture which entered
into contract with the owner — will be liable for unpaid wages
owed to a worker by any subcontractor on any level of the project.
However, subcontractors would not be liable for unpaid workers
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