NEW YORK — On September 9, Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law a set of bills that will keep employees’ personal and employment records out of the wrong hands, properly compensate construction workers for their time and allow workers to check their records for any possible negative reports.
The new laws are as follows:
- A law that will allow the Attorney General to seek damages of $1,000 per violation from those pretending to be a union representative. This will protect union members’ rights and prevent fraudsters from collecting personal and protected information.
- A law establishing the Construction Reporting Pay Act, which ensures construction workers are properly paid for their time, in the event there is a last-minute scheduling change. Under the current law, employees are paid for four hours at the minimum wage rate upon reporting to work. With this law, workers must be paid for two hours at their regular rate if their shift is cancelled with less than 12 hours’ notice, and paid for four hours at their regular rate when a worker reports to a job site and is sent home without cause.
- A law that gives employees access to their personnel files and makes sure they are notified when a negative report is filed against them. New York is now the 18th state in the nation to give workers such access.
“These laws are long overdue,” said Steven Mitchell Sack, “The Employee’s LawyerⓇ. “Employees need protections that go far beyond wage and hour disputes. It’s only right that these workers are not only fairly compensated, but have the access to their files to dispute any negative reports that may have been filed against them. They should also be allowed to protect their personal and employment information from bad actors.”
