Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul Announces Major Crackdown to Combat Wage Theft

Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul announced major actions to combat wage theft and protect the paychecks of hardworking New Yorkers. The Governor announced that the Wage Theft Task Force, a coordinated effort between the New York State Department of Labor, the New York State Attorney General, and District Attorneys, has recently secured felony convictions and agreements from more than a dozen businesses and 265 individuals to pay nearly $3 million in wage restitution and contributions owed to New York State since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Governor also announced new efforts to double down on the success of the Task Force, launching a new hotline and developing a state-of-the-art online wage theft reporting system to create more opportunities for workers to report wage theft and receive what they are owed while protecting their privacy and safety.

VIDEO of the event is available on YouTube here and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format here.

AUDIO of the event is available here.

PHOTOS of the event will be available on the Governor's Flickr page.

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:

So today, we continue an extraordinary journey to make sure that we're cracking down on wage theft. And I said when I first became Governor and as part of our state, the State Address, that my goal every single day is to make sure that we make New York State the best place to live, to work, to raise families and to hold down a good union job. And make sure that we lift up the men and women who call New York home.

So we have what we call, not just the American Dream here, we have what we call affectionately, the New York Dream. And in continuance of that dream, we have to work every single day. It doesn't just happen. And I know it's been hard for families. The rising cost of everything, your groceries, your gasoline, the rent, everything that just - you just feel like when's it going to stop.

And so we're very sensitive to the pressures that are on everyday families and workers across our state. So much of it is out of their control. But most importantly, what gets you through this is your paycheck and that paycheck means everything to you. That paycheck is the difference between survival and thriving. The difference it can make for your family of whether or not you can afford to buy that new pair of sneakers or be able to go on maybe a little vacation. And so, every penny matters in that paycheck. Every paycheck counts.

And so when someone steals from your paycheck, they're literally stealing from you. They're stealing from your family, they're stealing from your kids. So this is deeply rooted in all of us that there should be a strong sense of fairness. You show up, you work hard, you put in your time and you should get every single penny that you are owed. And if you're not. It's like mugging you on the street. They're taking something away that is yours and the consequences could mean falling behind on your rent. Having that insecurity when your kids look to you to wonder if could we afford to make this purchase for them or not.

You don't want to live like that. So it's a fairness issue, as I mentioned. There are too many people, vulnerable populations in particular, who don't know their rights, who don't have someone to champion for them and who are taken advantage of by unscrupulous employers. And they also get a competitive advantage if they're not paying someone properly over the good actors out there. The employers who are following the rules. So it's not fair to anyone. So we have zero tolerance for these unscrupulous individuals. We will not allow this to continue.

And that's why we made sure that we had a mechanism in place, what we call the New York's Wage Theft Task Force. And we need them now more than ever. As I mentioned, the rising cost of living. Every single penny matters. And this task force has been working tirelessly to make sure that no one is denied their rightful paycheck, their rightful income. And it's a real partnership. This is what we love to do in state government.

It's a partnership between the State Department of Labor, our Attorney General's Office, who brings to bear all the weight of her power and the resources from her office across the state. Every corner of the state is covered by the Attorney General's Office, as well as teaming up with district attorneys. People like Melinda Katz and district attorneys who are actually on the ground.

You know, the crimes are committed. They are reported to the local entities and they are the ones who often are the first to be aware of it. So the whole objective is to recover the stolen wages, make sure that it doesn't happen again and that there are consequences for those thieves who have done just that. So this is how we're going to crack down on a crime, and it is a crime. And it hits the construction industry hard. Gary knows this. We've talked about this a lot, but we're also expanding it. There are other areas. The restaurant industry, even car washes, landscaping and nursing. There are a lot of other areas where people are now taking advantage of the worker. And that is not what we're going to allow to continue in the State of New York.

So, I'm announcing today that the task force has recovered $3 million stolen during the pandemic. That's for 265 workers who had their paychecks diminished because of the greed of someone else. Their families were affected and we're going to make them whole. Since the inception of the task force, they've recovered over $11 million. These cases have resulted in felony convictions. If that's not a shot across the bow, a warning to employers, felony conviction.

And also, I want to thank our Attorney General for the work that she did in recovering over a million dollars - she spoke about this before. Those lives matter to us. Those individuals have been affected, and I want to thank her profoundly for her leadership on this, and again, for bringing the resources and the clout of her office to bear.

I also want to thank District Attorney Melinda Katz, who's been one of our great partners. Her office has recovered over $1.5 million. Again, going back to the people who earned it and deserve it. So, thank you, Melinda Katz, and many other partners across the state.

We're going to continue to expand this. Every district attorney's office should be engaged with us because we know and hear the complaints, we know what's going on.

So, these recovered wages are an important part of ensuring that New Yorkers get what they deserve. One of the first bills I signed as Governor this past Labor Day was to make sure that prime contractors on a construction site are responsible for violations of wage theft from their subcontractors. That's the first time that's ever been the case.

We still have a way to go. We're not saying this is over. We're just telling people we're going to catch you if you do this. It's just not worth it. We're also going to have a hotline and we're going to double down on this hotline - you can see the number there - and remind people that wage theft is a crime. So, if you are an individual, we want to get this word out, if you are an individual who feels that your paycheck is not what it should be, or someone is just paying you under the table - that is not proper, that is not allowed, that is a violation of the law - that you have a hotline that you can call.

We're also developing something brand new, a resource called the Worker Protection Management System. What is this? This way, individuals can file their complaints about wage theft and other complaints online in the privacy of their homes. They can do it on their cell phone. They don't have to be worrying about filing burdensome paperwork. And so it'll modernize our worker protection efforts and make it easier for workers to submit claims and receive updates. I mean, nothing worse than filing a complaint and you think it goes into the black hole here and you never hear about it again, that we're going to have accountability.

I want to thank Roberta Reardon at the Department of Labor for innovating this, and we'll be announcing when that is available to everyone. It will also be available in multiple languages. As I mentioned, a lot of people take advantage of vulnerable populations, our new Americans here. They don't have an understanding of what has happened to them and we're going to protect them as well by making sure that we take care of people's paychecks, we take care of individuals, and we take care of their families because that's what we do here in New York State.

You have my word, to all workers, that we'll always have your back. We'll stand up for you and we'll protect you because this is New York. We're proud of the workforce we have, and we're going to make sure that we stand together to fight against this crime of wage theft and say not in New York, not now, not ever.