New York legislation · 2025-2026 General Assembly
New York S4473: Clarifies that the statutory damages available for certain wage violations are not punitive in nature and are designed to compensate workers
Status: In committee, June 4, 2026
Clarifies that the statutory damages available for certain wage violations are not punitive in nature and are designed to be liquidated damages rather than penalties or to compensate workers for the employer's failure to prevent wage theft and for the harm to employees that results from such failure.
What the bill says
An act to amend the labor law, in relation to liquidated damages for labor law violations.
From the introduced text, February 5, 2025:
AN ACT to amend the labor law, in relation to liquidated damages for labor law violations THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEMBLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: Section 1. Short Title. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "labor law enforcement parity act". § 2. Legislative Findings. 1. The legislature finds and declares that it has always been its intention that the remedies provided under the labor law be fully and equally enforceable in both state and federal court. However, some state courts have misconstrued the liquidated damages available for violations of the labor law as penalties, despite the fact that the legislature amended the labor law's liquidated damages provision in 2009 and 2010 to bring it in line with the compensatory purposes of the Fair Labor Standards Act's liquidated damages provision. As a result, while employees have been able to recover the full amount of compensatory liquidated damages owed to them in federal court actions, they are not always able to do so in state court actions. Accordingly, the first purpose of this bill is to clarify that all liquidated damages available for violations of the labor law, which are generally an amount equal to the unpaid or underpaid wages, are compensatory in nature and not penalties. 2. The …
Sponsors
- Jessica Ramos (D, 13) · primary sponsor
- Brad Hoylman-Sigal (D, 47)
- Robert Jackson (D, 31)
- Julia Salazar (D, 18)
Latest actions
- : ORDERED TO THIRD READING RULES CAL.477
- : SUBSTITUTED FOR A5000
- : REFERRED TO CODES
- : DELIVERED TO ASSEMBLY
- : PASSED SENATE
- : ADVANCED TO THIRD READING
- : 2ND REPORT CAL.
- : 1ST REPORT CAL.353
- : REFERRED TO LABOR
- : RETURNED TO SENATE
Votes
- FLOOR Vote (February 26, 2026): 48 yea, 9 nay, passed
- Senate Labor Committee: COMMITTEE Vote (February 11, 2026): 13 yea, 0 nay, passed
- Labor Committee Vote (February 11, 2026): 13 yea, 0 nay, passed
- FLOOR Vote (June 12, 2025): 50 yea, 9 nay, passed
- Senate Labor Committee: COMMITTEE Vote (May 20, 2025): 13 yea, 0 nay, passed
- Labor Committee Vote (May 20, 2025): 13 yea, 0 nay, passed
Subjects: Labor Law
Common questions
- What is S4473?
- S4473 is a bill in the New York Legislature (2025-2026 General Assembly): Clarifies that the statutory damages available for certain wage violations are not punitive in nature and are designed to compensate workers.
- What does S4473 do?
- In its own words: An act to amend the labor law, in relation to liquidated damages for labor law violations.
- What is the status of S4473?
- In committee as of June 4, 2026. Latest action: ORDERED TO THIRD READING RULES CAL.477 (June 4, 2026).
- Who sponsored S4473?
- Jessica Ramos (D, 13), with 3 co-sponsors.
- Where is the official record for S4473?
- On the New York Legislature website: https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2025/S4473
Source: official New York record. Tracked by Delilah, AI for legislation across all 50 states and Congress.