Empowers the commissioner of labor to issue stop-work orders against employers for misclassification of employees as independent contractors or for providing false, incomplete, or misleading information to an insurance company on the number of employees of such employer.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
7886--A
IN SENATE
January 3, 2024
___________
Introduced by Sens. HARCKHAM, HINCHEY, RAMOS -- read twice and ordered
printed, and when printed to be committed 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 issuing stop-work orders
for misclassification of employees
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The labor law is amended by adding a new section 45 to read
2 as follows:
3 § 45. Misclassification of employees; stop-work orders. 1. If the
4 commissioner determines, after an investigation pursuant to the
5 provisions of this chapter, that an employer has knowingly misclassified
6 employees as independent contractors or provided false, incomplete, or
7 misleading information to an insurance company on the number of employ-
8 ees of such employer, the commissioner shall notify such employer in
9 writing of their intention to issue a stop-work order. Such notice
10 shall:
11 a. be served in a manner consistent with section three hundred eight
12 of the civil practice law and rules;
13 b. notify such employer of their right to a hearing;
14 c. notify such employer that they shall have seventy-two hours to
15 address the violation or violations before the stop-work order will be
16 issued; and
17 d. state the factual basis upon which the commissioner has based their
18 decision to issue a stop-work order and how such employer shall come
19 into compliance.
20 2. a. After receipt of such notice, the employer shall have seventy-
21 two hours to come into compliance and to notify the commissioner of such
22 compliance. Within seventy-two hours after the employer's opportunity to
23 come into compliance, if the employer has not come into compliance, the
24 commissioner shall issue a stop-work order requiring the cessation of
25 all business operations of the employer at every site at which the
26 violation occurs.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD13916-02-4
S. 7886--A 2
1 b. A stop-work order shall take effect when served upon the employer
2 or when served at the worksite.
3 c. A stop-work order shall remain in effect until the commissioner
4 issues an order releasing the stop-work order upon finding that the
5 employer has come into compliance and has paid any penalty assessed.
6 3. An employer who is subject to a stop-work order shall have the
7 right to apply to the commissioner, not more than ten days after the
8 order is issued, for a hearing to contest whether the employer committed
9 the violation on which the order was based.
10 4. Failure or refusal to comply with a stop-work order issued by the
11 commissioner shall, in addition to any other penalties authorized by
12 law, result in the assessment of a penalty of not less than one thousand
13 dollars and not more than five thousand dollars for each day the employ-
14 er is found not to be in compliance.
15 5. An employee affected by a stop-work order pursuant to this section
16 shall be paid their regular rate for the period the stop-work order is
17 in place or the first ten days the employee would have been scheduled to
18 work if the stop-work order had not been issued, whichever is less, by
19 the employer that was served the stop-work order.
20 6. Stop-work orders and any additional penalties imposed under this
21 chapter against a corporation, partnership or sole proprietorship shall
22 be effective against any successor entity that has one or more of the
23 same principals or officers as the corporation, partnership or sole
24 proprietorship against which the stop-work order was issued and are
25 engaged in the same or equivalent trade or activity.
26 7. For the purposes of this section, there shall be a rebuttable
27 presumption of unlawful retaliation if an employer in any manner
28 discriminates, retaliates, or takes any adverse action against any
29 employee within ninety days of the employee initiating a complaint
30 pursuant to this article.
31 8. The commissioner shall promulgate any rules and regulations neces-
32 sary to carry out the provisions of this section.
33 § 2. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
34 it shall have become a law.
