CENTURY CITY, Calif. – On Dec. 10, 2010, The New York Wage Theft Prevention Act (WTPA) was signed into law by Governor David Paterson, and becomes effective on Saturday, April 9, 2011. The law broadens protections to employees and misclassified workers from minimum wage, off-the-clock and overtime violations.
It requires more stringent pay notice requirements and increasing penalties for wage payment, notice and recordkeeping violations by employers.
Human Resources industry leader KMS Software Company has added a new module to its groundbreaking XpressHR™ OnBoarding technology to help New York employers stay compliant with the New York WTPA law.
Human Resources industry leader KMS Software Company has added a new module to its groundbreaking XpressHR™ OnBoarding technology to help New York employers stay compliant with the New York WTPA law.
“The penalties for noncompliance,” stated KMS General Counsel Launice Sills, “are severe; the state is serious about policing and verifying that its employers are not engaged in wage theft among the most vulnerable workers.”
The WTPA requirements are substantial, including:
The WTPA requirements are substantial, including:
- Informing new hires, in writing, of their designated pay date, rate of pay, and overtime rate, if applicable, at the time of hire and again by February 1 of every subsequent year.
- Providing this information both in English and the primary language of the employee.
- The basis of the wage payment (e.g., whether paid by the hour, shift, day, week, salary, piece, or commission, or on another basis).
- The employer's intent to claim allowances (e.g., tip, meal and/or lodging allowances) as part of the minimum wage.
- Provide notice of the employer’s intent to change an employee’s wages a minimum of seven days prior to the change.
- The employer’s name and any “doing business as” names.
- The address of the employer’s main office or principal place of business and mailing address if different.
- The employer’s telephone number.
- Any other information the Commissioner of Labor deems “material and necessary.”
The Department of Labor (DOL) has prepared templates for several common types of pay agreements, including dual language versions in Chinese, Haitian-Creole, Korean, Polish, Russian and Spanish. If the DOL does not make a template in a particular language available, employers may provide notice to that employee in English only.
The new KMS’ XpressHR™ New York Wage Theft Prevention Act module includes all the languages supported by the Department of Labor.
“The New York Wage Theft Prevention Act module is in line with our other XpressHR products,” said KMS Founder, Yolanda Parker. “Our goal was to streamline what could have been an onerous process for employers. Our module is a multi-lingual, easy-to-use compliant process for new and current employees. This is a win-win for New York employers and employees.”
For more information regarding the New York Wage Theft Prevention Act module and any other KMS XpressHR product, please contact KMS by email at nywagelaw@kmssoftware.com or by phone at (323) 302-5820.
About KMS Software Company
KMS Software Company, the pioneer of online-onboarding, is devoted to providing world-class human capital management software that combines process automation and employee engagement technology to strengthen the relationship between employers and employees around the world. Through its highly experienced staff, pioneering technologies, re-engineered processes and SaaS-based software solutions, KMS empowers world-class companies to better engage their most important asset: their people. KMS has a proven track record of delivering onboarding technologies and consulting services to companies operating around the globe.
