Between January 1 and February 1, 2012, all private sector employers in New York State will be required to provide each of their New York employees (including executives, managers and supervisors) with the annual notice mandated by the New York State Wage Theft Prevention Act [click here to visit the NYDOL website for notices]. The annual notice must be given during that one-month window; advance notice is ineffective.
The annual notice for each employee must include, among other things, certain information about the employer, the employee’s regular rate(s) of pay, basis of pay, whether the employer intends to claim allowances against the minimum wage, the employer’s regular pay day and, if applicable, the employee’s overtime rate(s) of pay and basis of pay. Employers are required to issue the notice in English and each employee’s primary language, if that primary language is Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Russian, Polish, or Haitian Creole. If an employee’s primary language is something other than the previously-mentioned languages, it will suffice to issue the notice in English only.
Along with providing the notice, employers must obtain a signed and dated acknowledgement from each employee, certifying that the employee received the notice. Employers must retain a copy of each notice and the acknowledgement for six years. Employers that fail to comply with these requirements face penalties and actions by individual employees and/or the New York State Department of Labor.
