Workforce Bulletin

The nationwide growth of the “gig economy” has provoked the enactment of laws aimed at providing economic protection to freelance workers. In May 2023, the Columbus  City Council joined this national trend by amending the City’s “wage theft”  Ordinance to add obligations upon a “hiring party” that engages a “freelance worker.”  

The Ordinance broadly defines a “hiring party” to be “any person, including the City of Columbus, who retains a freelance worker to provide any service” and excludes only governmental entities other than Columbus. A “freelance worker” is an individual, whether or not the person has incorporated or is using a trade name.

For the second time since the enactment of New York's Wage Theft Prevention Act ("WTPA"), New York employers must issue a written annual notice and acknowledgment of pay rates and pay dates ("Notice") to all New York employees between January 1, 2013, and February 1, 2013.

In February 2012, after a flurry of negative feedback from employers statewide, the New York State Senate passed a bill striking the annual Notice requirement from the list of employer responsibilities set forth in Section 195.1 of the New York State Labor Law. However, because the bill remains dormant in the New York ...

by Marisa S. Ratinoff, Susan Gross Sholinsky, Eric A. Cook, and Jennifer A. Goldman

California’s Wage Theft Prevention Act of 2011 (“CAWTPA”) went into effect on January 1, 2012. The CAWTPA requires most private-sector employers to provide notice to non-exempt employees of certain wage payment information, among other things. As we previously reported (see Act Now Advisory “New California Laws Increase Penalties for Employee Misclassification and Wage Theft”), the CAWTPA requires the Labor Commissioner (“Commissioner”) to create a template for employers to ...

by William J. Milani, Jeffrey M. Landes, Susan Gross Sholinsky, and Jennifer A. Goldman

For the first time, in 2012, New York employers must provide all New York employees with an annual notice and acknowledgment of pay rate and pay date ("Notice") pursuant to the Wage Theft Prevention Act ("WTPA"), which amended the New York State Labor Law ("Labor Law"), effective April 9, 2011.

As we previously reported (see Act Now Advisory "Governor Paterson Signs Overhaul of New York State Labor Law" (Dec. 15, 2010), and Act Now Advisory "They're Here – New York State Department of Labor Issues ...

by Jennifer A. Goldman and Peter M. Panken

Since the Wage Theft Prevention Act (“WTPA”) became effective April 9, 2011, New York employers have faced harsher penalties for failing to pay employees minimum wages and overtime.  As reported in two previous Act Now Advisory’s, (December 15, 2010, and April 4, 2011) the WTPA, which amended New York’s Labor Law, significantly increased employers’ penalties for unpaid wage and hour violations, among other things.

Prior to the effective date of the WTPA, liquidated damages were capped at 25 percent of the unpaid wages due. Under ...