Over a decade after a law was passed to curtail wage theft, New Yorkers still struggle to find justice for day laborers and other workers who have experienced wage theft, and the employers who withhold their earnings.
On Thursday, state lawmakers held a joint hearing in lower Manhattan to examine methods to address wage theft in New York State, which estimates have put at $1 billion in New York City alone.
“The situation is just untenable,” state Sen. Jessica Ramos, D-Queens, told USA TODAY Network New York outside of the hearing room. “This is millions of dollars that are missing from neighborhoods like mine.”
Lawmakers are again considering the Securing Wages Earned Against Theft, or SWEAT, bill, which Ramos has sponsored with Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal, D-Manhattan, who has pushed for the legislation for nearly a decade.
The hearing followed a USA TODAY Network New York investigation that examined how several day laborer centers and multiple workers across Westchester County filed criminal charges against one contractor for withholding tens of thousands of dollars of unpaid wages.
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