Seyfarth Synopsis: New York Governor Kathy Hochul has signed legislation that, effective immediately, adds wage theft to the definition of “larceny” under the state’s penal code, creating potentially harsh penalties for the state’s employers.
Under a recently enacted New York statute, wage theft is considered a form of “larceny” under the state’s penal law. The statute adds to existing criminal penalties for wage theft and allows prosecutors to seek even stronger penalties against violators.
Expanding the Definition of Larceny
Governor Hochul signed the Wage Theft Accountability Act (S2832-A/A154-A) on September 6, 2023. Effectively immediately, the Act amends the Penal Law to include “wage theft” in the definition of “larceny.”
Under the Penal Law, “[a] person steals property and commits larceny when, with intent to deprive another of property or to appropriate the same to himself or to a third person, he wrongfully takes, obtains or withholds such property from an owner thereof.” Penal Law § 155.05(1). The recent amendment revises the definition of “property” to include “compensation for labor or services.” Id. § 155.00(1). It further adds a definition for “workforce,” which “means a group of one or more persons who work in exchange for wages.” Id. § 155.00(10).
Most significantly, the Act adds a subsection that defines larceny by wage theft to mean the following:
A person obtains property by wage theft when he or she hires a person to perform services and the person...
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