Jeffrey (Jeff) H. Ruzal, Member of the Firm in the Employment, Labor & Workforce Management practice, in the firm’s New York office, was quoted in Law360, in “NY Gov. Amends Frequency Law's Liquidated Damages Clock,” by Irene Spezzamonte. (Read the full version – subscription required.)
Following is an excerpt:
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Friday approved changes to the state's highly litigated law requiring manual workers to be paid weekly, including changes to liquidated damages workers could receive from violations, as part of the fiscal year 2026 budget. …
Management-side attorney Jeffrey H. Ruzal of Epstein Becker Green told Law360 on Friday that the amendment is a "significant change in the law."
Ruzal said that requiring employers to pay "100% or up to 100% liquidated damages" for failing to pay manual workers within seven days after their wages are earned even though "all wages are ultimately paid, albeit late under [Section] 191 is an extremely punitive measure of damages."
"It shows how the law was misapplied to create this technical non-compliance, resulting in devastating windfalls against otherwise well-meaning employers who are paying all wages to the employees otherwise," Ruzal said. "It's not about a non-payment of wages. It was merely just an arguable late payment of wages."
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