According to a report from the National Employment Law Project, wage theft in New York accounts for almost $1 billion in lost wages owed to New Yorkers every year. In an effort to curb this, New York enacted the Wage Theft Accountability Act (“WTAA”) on September 6, 2023, which took effect immediately after being signed into law by Governor Hochul. The new law amends New York's Penal Law to include “wage theft” in the definition of “larceny.” Under the Penal Law, larceny is committed when “property” is taken with the intent to deprive another person of that property, or with the intent to appropriate the property to oneself or another. Under the WTAA, “wage theft” occurs when a person is hired to perform services, and the person who performed such services is not paid wages in accordance with the higher of either the minimum wage and overtime rates, or the promised wage and overtime rates for the work performed. The Act makes clear that all withheld wages that constitute wage theft, including underpayments, can be aggregated into one larceny count under the Penal Law.
It remains to be determined whether the WTAA applies to withheld payments owed to independent contractors in addition to employees, although the use of the term “wages” in the statute does suggest that it may be so limited to employees.
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