$26.6 Million in Unpaid Wages and Overtime Returned to New Yorkers Last Year

New York, NYJust how prevalent can overtime pay violations be? In one state alone in 2010, workers were shortchanged to the tune of about $26 million. That was in the state of New York, where the New York State Department of Labor (DOL) returned a total of $26.6 million to workers who had been stiffed in terms of wages and unpaid overtime illegally.

The returned amount, according to a January 3 release, represents the second-highest monetary amount recovered in the 110-year history of the department.

The Labor Commissioner for the State of New York indicated that the US economy has simply made a bad situation worse for workers, as employers take advantage of workers in an effort to get through a tough economy. Thus, economic stresses are all too often borne on the backs of workers.

Various overtime laws and statutes governing minimum wage are enforced by the state Division of Labor Standards (DLS). Their efforts will be augmented in April when the Wage Theft Prevention Act (The Act) comes into effect in the state, carrying with it more stringent requirements with an eye on preventing such conduct on the part of employers.

Among the features and provisions of The Act are stronger collection tools and penalties for failure to pay minimum wage. A previous limit of 25 percent for damages collectible for underpayments due (over and above lost wages) will now be increased to 100 percent and brings New York State in line with the highest total allowable under Federal law.

The Department of Labor noted in its release that the DLS disbursed $18.7 million to 19,000 workers shortchanged on wages and overtime pay under overtime rules last year. Highlighted was a $1.9 million settlement with Broadway Bridge Carwash, the operators of which failed according to the release to pay minimum wage and overtime pay according to the provisions of overtime labor laws.

The New York State Labor Department also cited the case of a thoroughbred-racing trainer who allegedly failed to pay backstretch workers at the Saratoga Race Course and repeatedly ignored orders to do so, the Department said. The trainer's license was revoked as a result of the enforcement.

The Labor Department's Bureau of Public Work also did some collecting last year, getting back $7.9 million in underpaid wages and deferred pay for overtime on behalf of 2,650 workers.

"The current recession has made a bad problem even worse," said State Labor Commissioner Colleen C. Gardner, in the release. "The Labor Department will not rest until this crime wave of wage theft is halted in its tracks. Law-abiding employers and hard-working New Yorkers deserve no less."

It should be noted that contractors who are found to contravene overtime rules in the course of their operations risk a debarment from bidding on any Public Work contract in the state for a period of five years following two willful violations within a six-year period, or a single violation involving falsified payroll records or kickbacks.