New York legislation · 2025-2026 General Assembly
New York A5000: 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 10, 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
- Harry Bronson (D, 138) · primary sponsor
- Jo Simon (D, 52)
- Karen McMahon (D, 146)
- Steven Raga (D, 30)
- Judy Griffin (D, 21)
- William Colton (D, 47)
- Linda Rosenthal (D, 67)
- Dana Levenberg (D, 95)
- Philip Ramos (D, 6)
Latest actions
- : SUBSTITUTED BY S4473
- : ORDERED TO THIRD READING RULES CAL.477
- : RULES REPORT CAL.477
- : REPORTED
- : REPORTED REFERRED TO RULES
- : REPORTED REFERRED TO CODES
- : REFERRED TO LABOR
- : REFERRED TO LABOR
Votes
- Assembly Rules Committee: Favorable (June 4, 2026): 28 yea, 0 nay, passed
- Assembly Codes Committee: Favorable refer to committee Rules (May 28, 2026): 17 yea, 1 nay, passed
- Assembly Labor Committee: Favorable refer to committee Codes (February 4, 2026): 28 yea, 1 nay, passed
Subjects: Labor Law
Common questions
- What is A5000?
- A5000 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 A5000 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 A5000?
- In committee as of June 4, 2026. Latest action: SUBSTITUTED BY S4473 (June 4, 2026).
- Who sponsored A5000?
- Harry Bronson (D, 138), with 8 co-sponsors.
- Where is the official record for A5000?
- On the New York Legislature website: https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2025/A5000
Source: official New York record. Tracked by Delilah, AI for legislation across all 50 states and Congress.