Bill > S2416

This bill aims to prevent wage theft and hold employers accountable by establishing new rules for "direct companies" and "contracted entities," which are businesses that hire other companies to perform labor or services. Under the bill, a direct company can be held jointly and severally liable, meaning they share legal responsibility, for wages owed by a contracted entity if that entity commits a "wage theft violation," which is defined as a violation of various labor laws related to wages and payment. This shared responsibility extends to penalties and fines if the direct company knew or should have known about the wage theft. The bill also mandates that both direct and contracted companies must post and provide employees with notices in multiple languages detailing wage theft violations, employee rights, and how to seek assistance from the attorney general's office. Furthermore, the director of unemployment assistance or the attorney general can issue "stop work orders" against businesses found to have committed wage theft, requiring them to cease operations until the violation is corrected, though employees affected by such orders will be compensated for lost work time. The bill also clarifies that these new liabilities will only apply to wage theft violations occurring on or after January 1, 2017, and that existing civil and criminal penalties for certain violations will now be solely criminal.