Unpaid Wages
Many individual owners of closely held businesses want to hire an employee for the business, but lack the cash flow to do so. Periodically, owners of a cash-strapped, closely held business in Manhattan, NYC, who want the business to hire a worker, will ask me whether, instead of paying the worker the minimum wage and any overtime pay, the business may…Read More
Under the Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act, N.Y. City Admin. Code § 6-134 (the “New York City Fair Wages Act,” the “Fair Wages Act,” the “Act,” or the “NYCFWA”) and then-New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio's Executive Order No. 7 dated September 30, 2014 ("Executive Order No. 7"), companies or individuals who receive, from New York City or…Read More
On October 29 and October 30, 2012, Hurricane Sandy, a tropical cyclone, struck New Jersey and New York City (including the borough of Manhattan). Hurricane Sandy killed over a hundred people, destroyed thousands of homes and businesses, and left millions without electric power for days or weeks. As a result of Hurricane Sandy and the blackout that the hurricane caused,…Read More
In Manhattan, it is common for the owner of a residential building to furnish the building’s superintendent and the superintendent’s family with an apartment to live in, rent free. This practice raises the question: In New York State, does an employer receive credit toward the minimum wage for the rental value of an apartment provided, rent free, to a worker in…Read More
On May 3, 2023, New York State Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law a state budget for the 2023-2024 fiscal year, N.Y. State Senate Bill 2-23-S4005C, N.Y. State Assembly Bill No. 2023-A03005C ("the Act"). The Act includes a provision, Part S, which, over a period of three years -- depending on the county in which the work is performed --…Read More
Potential clients often ask me questions along the lines of: “My company is just a small employer. Does this [New York State or New York City] statute apply to me?” That is, prospective clients often inquire whether, in light of the number of workers that their businesses employ, their businesses must comply with a particular, labor-related statute enacted by, or a given,…Read More
In general, yes. Employees’ claims for wages, salaries or commissions earned before the filing of a corporate employer’s bankruptcy petition are dischargeable, unless such pre-petition wage claims are debt for “willful and malicious injury by the debtor [the employer] to another entity [the employees] or to the property of another entity [the employees].” 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(6). The case law of the U.S. Court of…Read More