New York recently passed an amendment to New York Labor Law (NYLL) § 198(1-a) that significantly limits the available damages for a violation of NYLL § 191(1)(a) in a “frequency-of-pay” lawsuit.
NYLL § 191(1)(a) requires that manual workers be “paid weekly and not later than seven calendar days after the end of the week in which wages are earned.”
On September 10, 2019, New York’s Appellate Division, First Department (Appellate Division) issued a significant wage and hour decision in the context of frequency-of-pay actions. In Vega v. CM & Associates Construction Management LLC, the Appellate Division held that “manual workers” who were paid in full, but on a biweekly or later basis, maintained a private cause of action and could recover liquidated damages because their employer failed to pay them on a weekly basis, as required under the NYLL.
Generally, before Vega, courts had found that the NYLL did not provide plaintiff-employees with a private cause of action under the frequency of payment provision where the employees did not allege underpayment or nonpayment of wages. Stated differently, employees who were not paid in a timely manner were not entitled to bring a private cause of action where the employer already paid the employee all compensation owed. Vega thus opened the floodgates of “manual worker” pay frequency litigation.
Then, on January 25, 2025, New York’s Appellate Division, Second Department (Appellate Division), issued a favorable decision for employers that disagreed with Vega. In Grant v. Global Aircraft Dispatch Inc. the Appellate Division held that “manual workers” as defined by the NYLL do not have a private right of action to pursue alleged violations of the weekly pay requirement under NYLL. Grant created a split between the First and Second Departments as to whether manual workers have a private right of action to recover liquidated damages for untimely payments under NYLL.
On May 9, 2025, Governor Kathy Hochul approved an amendment to the NYLL that provides clarity between the split of law and is expected to curtail the flood of the “manual worker” pay frequency litigation. To provide relief for businesses, Governor Hochul signed legislation amending NYLL § 198(1-a) to clarify that manual workers are not immediately entitled to liquidated damages if they were paid regularly on at least a semi-monthly basis.
Specifically, the amendment limits the potential damages for a violation of NYLL § 191(1)(1), provided that “the employer paid the employee wages on a regular payday, no less frequently than semi-monthly,” as follows:
Importantly, the amendment is in effect immediately and applies to “causes of action pending or commenced on or after such date.” This amendment provides huge relief for employers with no prior violations facing “manual worker” frequency-of-pay claims.
While this amendment to NYLL significantly reduces the potential damages for employers facing frequency-of-pay claims, the law still provides liquidated damages for repeat offenders or those that do not pay wages to manual workers at least semi-monthly on the regular pay day. Employers are encouraged to review their payment practices and analyze their employees’ job duties to determine whether they are “manual workers” under the NYLL for the purposes of the frequency of pay laws, and if so, to ensure that all manual workers are paid on a weekly basis.
Morgan Lewis’s lawyers can assist employers in reviewing their payment practices and analyze their employees’ job duties to determine whether they are “manual workers” under the NYLL or fall under other categories of workers for which a specific frequency of pay is required under the NYLL.
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