What's happening
This bill requires public works contractors to provide detailed, multilingual wage and supplement information to employees and strengthens reporting requirements.
Why it matters
Mandates More Transparent and Detailed Wage Information. Contractors and subcontractors on public works projects must now break down the amounts paid per hour for each wage supplement (such as health or pension benefits) for every job classification, making it easier for workers to understand what they’re actually receiving and to identify discrepancies.
Requires Multilingual Notifications for Workers. Notifications about prevailing wages and supplements, as well as contact information for the state’s fiscal officer, must be provided in both English and the worker’s primary language. This change specifically aims to ensure that non-English-speaking workers are fully informed of their rights and compensation details.
Strengthens Enforcement and Reporting Requirements. Contractors and subcontractors face increased civil penalties for failing to provide required notices or for inaccuracies, including in non-English translations (with some exceptions). There are also new requirements for submitting payroll records—including detailed breakdowns of supplements—to state authorities, with criminal and civil penalties for noncompliance.
Aims to Prevent Wage Theft and Benefit Misrepresentation. By demanding more thorough documentation and proof of legitimate benefit plans, the bill seeks to reduce fraud and abuse in public works contracting, helping ensure workers receive all pay and benefits they are entitled to under the law.
Albany, before your first meeting.
Every bill that moved yesterday, summarized in a sentence and ranked by impact. The Albany Scorecard follows on Sundays.
Free. Unsubscribe in one click. Want alerts on specific bills? Create an account.
Who cares
Public works laborers, workers and mechanics
The bill would require notices at hire and on every pay stub detailing prevailing wages and hourly amounts for each supplement, with primary-language notices where fiscal officer templates are available.
Public works contractors and subcontractors
They would face expanded notice, payroll and benefit-plan documentation requirements, with penalties for notification violations and willful failures to file required payroll records.
Labor commissioner and local fiscal officers
They would receive additional payroll and supplement documentation, while fiscal officers would have to publish bilingual notice templates and require and furnish proof of supplements upon an interested party’s written request.
Temporary help firms
Fiscal officers could waive or alter the bill’s notification requirements for these firms.
Headline styles
Inform Employees on Public Contracts
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
17 Co-sponsors
1 Multi-sponsor
History
- Approval memo.89
- Signed chap.744
- Delivered to governor
- Returned to assembly
- Passed senateVote 49–13
- 3rd reading cal.1824
- Substituted for S5679A
- Referred to rules
- Delivered to senate
- Passed assembly
- Ordered to third reading rules cal.243
- Rules report cal.243
Show 6 earlier actions
- Reported
- Reported referred to rules
- Reported referred to codes
- Print number 2101a
- Amend and recommit to labor
- Referred to labor
Companion bill
The same bill in the other chamber. A bill becomes law when one version passes both houses and the governor signs it, so either number can carry it.
Give Workers More Pay Info
Senate Floor Calendar · Sponsor Diane J. Savino
Full text
4 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
2101--A
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 22, 2019
Introduced by M. of A. WOERNER, D'URSO, SAYEGH, ARROYO, STIRPE, SANTA- BARBARA, LUPARDO, RAMOS -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. DeSTEFANO -read once and referred to the Committee on Labor -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the labor law, in relation to additional information provided to employees on public work contracts
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Paragraph (e) of subdivision 3 of section 220 of the labor law, as amended by chapter 7 of the laws of 2008, is amended to read as follows:
(e) The commissioner shall ensure that all supplements due under this article shall be paid to or on behalf of an employee. (i) The commissioner shall require proof that the pension plan for which any supplement has been paid is qualified as a bona fide plan by the United States internal revenue service. Acceptable proof shall be shown by submission of a determination letter issued by the United States internal revenue service. (ii) The commissioner shall also require any contractor or subcontractor who provides any supplement which is part of a fund, plan or program to furnish to the commissioner proof that the supplement is provided through a fund, plan or program and the amount contributed on the employees' behalf to such fund, plan or program.
§ 2. Subparagraphs (ii) and (iii) of paragraph a of subdivision 3-a of section 220 of the labor law, subparagraph (ii) as separately amended by chapters 7 and 63 of the laws of 2008 and subparagraph (iii) as amended by chapter 8 of the laws of 2008, are amended to read as follows:
(ii) The contractor and every sub-contractor on public works contracts shall post in a prominent and accessible place on the site where the work is performed a legible statement of all wage rates and supplements as specified in the contract to be paid or provided, as the case may be,
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD06045-03-9
A. 2101--A 2
for the various classes of mechanics, workers, or laborers employed on the work. Such posted statement shall be written in plain English and titled, in lettering no smaller than two inches in height and two inches in width, with the phrase "Prevailing Rate of Wages". Such posted statement shall be constructed of materials capable of withstanding adverse weather conditions. The contractor and every sub-contractor shall notify all laborers, workers or mechanics in their employ in writing of the prevailing rate of wage and supplements for their particular job classification. Such notification shall be given to every laborer, worker or mechanic upon hire, on their first pay stub and with every pay stub thereafter, and shall set forth the amounts paid per hour for each supplement provided for his or her particular job classification in accordance with the schedules determined by the fiscal officer. Such notification shall be provided in English and in the language identified by such laborer, worker, or mechanic as his or her primary language. At the beginning of performance of every public works contract, and with the first paycheck after July first of each year, the contractor and every sub-contractor shall notify all laborers, workers, and mechanics in their employ in writing, in English and in the language identified by each laborer, worker, and mechanic as his or her primary language, in accordance with such form as is prescribed by the fiscal officer, of the telephone number and address for the fiscal officer. The notice shall also inform each laborer, worker, or mechanic of his or her right to contact the fiscal officer or some other representative if, at any time while working for the public works contractor or sub-contractor, he or she does not receive the proper prevailing rate of wages or supplements for his or her particular job classification that he or she is entitled to receive under the contract. If after investigation the fiscal officer finds that a contractor or sub-contractor has (1) failed to post or provide any notice required under this subdivision, including having failed to provide any such notice in the language identified by any laborer, worker, or mechanic as his or her primary language, (2) failed to set forth the prevailing wage or the breakdown of supplements on the pay stub, (3) [wilfully] willfully posted the incorrect prevailing wage, or (4) [wilfully] willfully set forth the incorrect prevailing wage or the amounts paid per hour for each supplement on the pay stub, the fiscal officer[,] shall, by an order which shall describe particularly the nature of the alleged violation, assess the contractor or sub-contractor a civil penalty of not more than fifty dollars upon the first finding of a violation, two hundred fifty dollars upon the second finding of a violation, and five hundred dollars for each subsequent violation. In assessing the amount of the penalty, the fiscal officer shall give due consideration to the size of the employer's business, the good faith of the employer, and the gravity of the violation.
The fiscal officer shall prepare templates that comply with the notification requirements of this subparagraph. Each such template shall be dual-language, including English and one additional language. The fiscal officer shall determine, in his or her discretion, which languages to provide in addition to English, based on the size of the New York state population that speaks each language and any other factor that the fiscal officer shall deem relevant. All such templates shall be posted on the fiscal officer's website and made available for downloading by contractors and subcontractors. When any laborer, worker, or mechanic identifies his or her primary language and a template is not made available by the fiscal officer in that language, the contractor or subcontractor shall comply with this subparagraph by providing such
A. 2101--A 3
laborer, worker, or mechanic an English-language notice or acknowledgment. A contractor or subcontractor shall not be penalized for errors or omissions in the non-English portions of any notice provided by the fiscal officer. The fiscal officer shall have discretion to waive or alter the notification requirements of this subparagraph for temporary help firms as defined in section nine hundred sixteen of this chapter.
(iii) The contractor and every sub-contractor shall keep original payrolls or transcripts thereof, subscribed and sworn to or affirmed by him or her as true under the penalties of perjury, setting forth the names and addresses and showing for each worker, laborer, or mechanic the hours and days worked, the occupations worked, the hourly wage rates paid and the supplements paid or provided. Such payrolls or transcripts thereof shall also set forth the amounts paid per hour for each supplement provided in accordance with the schedules determined by the fiscal officer. Where the contractor or sub-contractor maintains no regular place of business in New York state and where the amount of the contract is in excess of twenty-five thousand dollars such payrolls shall be kept on the site of the work. All other contractors or sub-contractors shall produce within five days on the site of the work and upon formal order of the commissioner or his or her designated representative such original payrolls or transcripts thereof, subscribed and sworn to or affirmed by him or her as true under the penalties of perjury, as may be deemed necessary to adequately enforce the provisions of this article. Every contractor, and sub-contractor, shall submit to the department of jurisdiction within thirty days after issuance of its first payroll, and every thirty days thereafter, a transcript of the original payroll record, as provided by this article, subscribed and sworn to or affirmed as true under the penalties of perjury. Every contractor and subcontractor shall submit to the commissioner, and to the fiscal officer, when the fiscal officer is a city comptroller or other analogous officer, within thirty days of its first payroll, and annually thereafter, a transcript of the original payroll record, subscribed and sworn to or affirmed as true under the penalties of perjury, including, documentation of each fund, plan, or program for which any supplement has been paid or provided. Such transcripts and additional information shall be provided on a form promulgated by the department. Any person who [wilfully] willfully fails to file such payroll records with the department of jurisdiction, commissioner, or the fiscal officer shall be guilty of a class E felony. In addition, any person who [wilfully] willfully fails to file such payroll records within the time specified in this subparagraph shall be subject to a civil penalty of up to one thousand dollars per day.
§ 3. Subdivision 6 of section 220 of the labor law, as amended by chapter 230 of the laws of 1984, is amended to read as follows:
6. The fiscal officer[,] may, and on the written request of any interested person shall, require any person or corporation performing such public work to file with such fiscal officer schedules of the supplements to be provided and wages to be paid to such laborers, workmen or mechanics, including information regarding the amounts to be paid per hour for each supplement provided for each particular job classification. The fiscal officer may, and on the written request of any interested party shall, require and furnish proof of any supplements provided or amounts paid to or on behalf of laborers, workers, or mechanics in satisfaction of the obligation to provide supplements under this section. Any such person or corporation shall, within ten days after the receipt of written notice of such requirement, file with the fiscal
A. 2101--A 4
officer such schedules of wages and supplements. An employer may contest a determination by the fiscal officer under paragraphs a and c of subdivision five of this section. The employer must allege and prove by competent evidence, that the actual percentage of workers, laborers or mechanics is below the required thirty per centum and during the pendency of any such contest and until final determination thereof, the work in question shall proceed under the rate established by the fiscal officer.
§ 4. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after it shall have become a law and shall only apply to public work contracts entered into on or after such effective date.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.