BILL NUMBER: S7539
SPONSOR: RAMOS
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the civil practice law and rules, in relation to grounds
for attachment; to amend the business corporation law, in relation to
streamlining procedures where employees may hold shareholders of non-
publicly traded corporations personally liable for wage theft; to amend
the limited liability company law, in relation to creating a right for
victims of wage theft to hold the ten members with the largest ownership
interests in a company personally liable for wage theft; and to amend
the labor law, in relation to penalties for certain wage violations
 
PURPOSE:
This bill amends sections of the law (Attachment under the Civil Prac-
tice Law and Rules; the Business Corporations Law; the Limited Liability
Company Law; and Labor Law) to strengthen current laws to increase the
likelihood that victims of "wage theft" will be able to secure payment
of unpaid wages for work already performed from their employers.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Sections one through four amend the civil practice law and rules to
create a new ground for attachment, allowing victims of wage theft to
seek attachment of the employers' assets during the pendency of a court
action.
Sections five and six amend the business corporation law to streamline
the procedures pursuant to which employees can hold the largest share-
holders of non-publicly traded corporations personally liable for wage
theft.
Sections seven and eight amend the limited liability company law to
streamline the procedures pursuant to which employees can hold the ten
members with the largest ownership interest in the company personally
liable for wage theft.
Sections nine and ten amend labor law.
Section eleven sets forth the effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
This bill is needed to increase the likelihood that victims of wage
theft will be able to secure payment of wages due and owing from their
employers. This bill removes obstacles under current law that make it
almost impossible for an employee with a wage theft claim to get an
attachment order preventing the transfer of the employer's property,
even after showing a judge that they're likely to win on their wage
claim. The bill also removes procedural obstacles to obtaining a judg-
ment against the top shareholders of a closely-held corporation or the
members of an LLC. The law currently seems to allow employees to pursue
claims against the people who have gained from the wage theft, but in
practice, it makes it almost impossible for employees to do that. The
current law requires employees to somehow figure out who those people
are within a very short time period and with no publicly available
information to use. The bill removes those barriers.
The bill also adds language allowing employees to enforce judgments in
wage cases against successor businesses that operate the same business
supposedly under different ownership after a wage claim is won. Right
now, the law only gives the commissioner the power to do that. The bill
would allow private litigants to use the same language to enforce their
judgments.
 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New Bill
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the thirtieth day after it shall have
become a law.

Statutes affected:
S7539: 6210 civil practice law, 6211 civil practice law, 624 business corporation law, 609 limited liability company law, 1102 limited liability company law, 218 labor law, 218(5) labor law, 219 labor law, 219(4) labor law