{
  "type": "practice-guide",
  "canonical": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/stay-or-pay/us/new-york",
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  "data": {
    "topic": "stay-or-pay",
    "state": "new-york",
    "frontmatter": {
      "title": "Stay-or-Pay and Employee Repayment in New York",
      "description": "A question-by-question summary of New York stay-or-pay law, which has no stay-or-pay statute but limits repayment through the earned-versus-forfeitable wage doctrine and Labor Law Section 193, including Matter of William Mattar, P.C. v. Riley on when a bonus becomes vested wages, the bar on clawing back earned compensation, the deduction limits on final pay, the treatment of training repayment, and the safest forfeitable-bonus structure.",
      "state": "New York",
      "lastReviewed": "2026-06-30",
      "license": "CC BY 4.0",
      "authors": [
        "steven-obiajulu"
      ],
      "summary": {
        "repaymentEnforceable": "limited",
        "bottomLine": "No stay-or-pay statute, but an employer cannot claw back compensation that has already vested; structure it as a forfeitable bonus earned only on continued service.",
        "keyLaw": "N.Y. Lab. Law § 193; Matter of William Mattar, P.C. v. Riley, 2025 NY Slip Op 02680",
        "clawbackEarnedComp": "no",
        "wageDeductionFromFinalPay": "prohibited",
        "statutoryStayOrPayLimit": "none",
        "trainingRepayment": "sameAsBonus",
        "prorationOrCap": "unclear",
        "safestStructure": "Make the bonus unearned until a continued-service condition is met (forfeiture, not clawback); never recover already-vested pay."
      },
      "about": [
        "New York stay-or-pay and employee repayment law",
        "New York Labor Law Section 193",
        "Matter of William Mattar v. Riley",
        "Earned versus forfeitable wages in New York",
        "Bonus clawback and vested wages",
        "Forfeitable bonus structure"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "language": "中文",
          "status": "planned"
        },
        {
          "language": "Español",
          "status": "planned"
        },
        {
          "language": "Português",
          "status": "planned"
        },
        {
          "language": "Deutsch",
          "status": "planned"
        }
      ]
    },
    "questions": [
      {
        "slug": "repayment-enforceability",
        "label": "Are employee repayment or stay-or-pay terms enforceable?",
        "heading": "Are repayment terms enforceable?",
        "answerText": "Only in limited form. New York has no stay-or-pay statute, so a repayment or continued-service condition can be valid, but it cannot reach compensation the worker has already earned. New York courts draw the line between a bonus that is vested and mandatory and one that is discretionary and forfeitable, and only the latter can be conditioned on staying.",
        "sources": [
          {
            "id": "matter-of-william-mattar-p-c-v-riley-2025-ny-sli",
            "authorityType": "case-law",
            "tier": "primary-source-backed",
            "title": "Matter of William Mattar, P.C. v. Riley, 2025 NY Slip Op 02680",
            "citation": "Matter of William Mattar, P.C. v. Riley, 2025 NY Slip Op 02680.",
            "url": "https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/10579969/matter-of-william-mattar-pc-v-riley",
            "deepLink": "https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/10579969/matter-of-william-mattar-pc-v-riley#:~:text=vested%20and%20mandatory%20as%20opposed%20to%20discretionary%20and%20forfeitable",
            "proposition": "Supports the cited proposition. (Matter of William Mattar, P.C. v. Riley, 2025 NY Slip Op 02680)",
            "verbatimQuote": "vested and mandatory as opposed to discretionary and forfeitable",
            "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/stay-or-pay/us/new-york#src-matter-of-william-mattar-p-c-v-riley-2025-ny-sli"
          },
          {
            "id": "cohen-buckmann-bonus-season-strategies-getting-r",
            "authorityType": "commentary",
            "tier": "lawyer-judgment-backed",
            "title": "Cohen & Buckmann, P.C. commentary",
            "citation": "Cohen & Buckmann, P.C., Bonus Season Strategies: Getting Ready for Year-End Payouts.",
            "url": "https://cohenbuckmann.com/insights/2025/11/3/bonus-season-strategies-getting-ready-for-year-end-payouts",
            "proposition": "Under New York law, bonuses that are objectively calculable and nondiscretionary may be considered vested wages that must be paid to an employee upon termination, regardless of contractual provisions requiring continued employment through the payout date.",
            "verbatimQuote": "A bonus tied to objective, formula-based criteria and calculable with reasonable certainty constitutes mandatory rather than discretionary compensation.",
            "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/stay-or-pay/us/new-york#src-cohen-buckmann-bonus-season-strategies-getting-r"
          }
        ]
      },
      {
        "slug": "clawback-earned-comp",
        "label": "Can an employer claw back compensation the employee already earned or received?",
        "heading": "Can the employer claw back pay already earned?",
        "answerText": "No. Once compensation has vested as wages, a stay-or-pay or clawback term cannot recover it. The dividing line is whether the bonus is vested and mandatory rather than discretionary and forfeitable; vested, mandatory compensation belongs to the worker even if a contract clause purports to require repayment on early departure.",
        "sources": [
          {
            "id": "matter-of-william-mattar-p-c-v-riley-2025-ny-sli-clawback",
            "authorityType": "case-law",
            "tier": "primary-source-backed",
            "title": "Matter of William Mattar, P.C. v. Riley, 2025 NY Slip Op 02680",
            "citation": "Matter of William Mattar, P.C. v. Riley, 2025 NY Slip Op 02680.",
            "url": "https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/10579969/matter-of-william-mattar-pc-v-riley",
            "deepLink": "https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/10579969/matter-of-william-mattar-pc-v-riley#:~:text=vested%20and%20mandatory%20as%20opposed%20to%20discretionary%20and%20forfeitable",
            "proposition": "Supports the cited proposition. (Matter of William Mattar, P.C. v. Riley, 2025 NY Slip Op 02680)",
            "verbatimQuote": "vested and mandatory as opposed to discretionary and forfeitable",
            "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/stay-or-pay/us/new-york#src-matter-of-william-mattar-p-c-v-riley-2025-ny-sli-clawback"
          },
          {
            "id": "cohen-buckmann-bonus-season-strategies-getting-r-clawback",
            "authorityType": "commentary",
            "tier": "lawyer-judgment-backed",
            "title": "Cohen & Buckmann, P.C. commentary",
            "citation": "Cohen & Buckmann, P.C., Bonus Season Strategies: Getting Ready for Year-End Payouts.",
            "url": "https://cohenbuckmann.com/insights/2025/11/3/bonus-season-strategies-getting-ready-for-year-end-payouts",
            "proposition": "Under New York law, bonuses that are objectively calculable and nondiscretionary may be considered vested wages that must be paid to an employee upon termination, regardless of contractual provisions requiring continued employment through the payout date.",
            "verbatimQuote": "A bonus tied to objective, formula-based criteria and calculable with reasonable certainty constitutes mandatory rather than discretionary compensation.",
            "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/stay-or-pay/us/new-york#src-cohen-buckmann-bonus-season-strategies-getting-r-clawback"
          }
        ]
      },
      {
        "slug": "final-pay-deduction",
        "label": "Can repayment be deducted from the final paycheck?",
        "heading": "Can repayment come out of the final paycheck?",
        "answerText": "Generally no. Labor Law Section 193 bars an employer from withholding or diverting wages except in narrow categories, and a stay-or-pay repayment is not one of the authorized deductions, so an employer cannot simply net a claimed repayment out of the final paycheck.",
        "sources": [
          {
            "id": "ny-labor-law-193",
            "authorityType": "primary-law",
            "tier": "primary-source-backed",
            "title": "N.Y. Lab. Law § 193",
            "citation": "N.Y. Lab. Law § 193(1)(b).",
            "url": "https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/LAB/193",
            "proposition": "N.Y. Labor Law Section 193 permits a deduction from wages only when required by law or court order or when expressly authorized in writing by the employee, voluntary, and for the employee's benefit, which a stay-or-pay clawback for the employer's benefit does not satisfy.",
            "verbatimQuote": "expressly authorized in writing by the employee and are for the benefit of the employee, provided that such authorization is voluntary and only given following receipt by the employee of written notice of all terms and conditions of the payment",
            "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/stay-or-pay/us/new-york#src-ny-labor-law-193"
          }
        ]
      },
      {
        "slug": "training-repayment",
        "label": "Are training, tuition, or relocation repayment terms treated differently?",
        "heading": "Are training or tuition repayments treated differently?",
        "answerText": "They are analyzed the same way as a bonus. A training-repayment agreement (a TRAP) turns on whether the worker is repaying a true, separate benefit or instead surrendering compensation already earned, and on whether any deduction satisfies Labor Law Section 193, so the earned-versus-forfeitable and deduction rules govern training repayment just as they govern bonus repayment.",
        "sources": [
          {
            "id": "ny-labor-law-193-training",
            "authorityType": "primary-law",
            "tier": "primary-source-backed",
            "title": "N.Y. Lab. Law § 193",
            "citation": "N.Y. Lab. Law § 193(1)(b).",
            "url": "https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/LAB/193",
            "proposition": "N.Y. Labor Law Section 193 permits a deduction from wages only when required by law or court order or when expressly authorized in writing by the employee, voluntary, and for the employee's benefit, which a stay-or-pay clawback for the employer's benefit does not satisfy.",
            "verbatimQuote": "expressly authorized in writing by the employee and are for the benefit of the employee, provided that such authorization is voluntary and only given following receipt by the employee of written notice of all terms and conditions of the payment",
            "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/stay-or-pay/us/new-york#src-ny-labor-law-193-training"
          },
          {
            "id": "matter-of-william-mattar-p-c-v-riley-2025-ny-sli-training",
            "authorityType": "case-law",
            "tier": "primary-source-backed",
            "title": "Matter of William Mattar, P.C. v. Riley, 2025 NY Slip Op 02680",
            "citation": "Matter of William Mattar, P.C. v. Riley, 2025 NY Slip Op 02680.",
            "url": "https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/10579969/matter-of-william-mattar-pc-v-riley",
            "deepLink": "https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/10579969/matter-of-william-mattar-pc-v-riley#:~:text=vested%20and%20mandatory%20as%20opposed%20to%20discretionary%20and%20forfeitable",
            "proposition": "Supports the cited proposition. (Matter of William Mattar, P.C. v. Riley, 2025 NY Slip Op 02680)",
            "verbatimQuote": "vested and mandatory as opposed to discretionary and forfeitable",
            "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/stay-or-pay/us/new-york#src-matter-of-william-mattar-p-c-v-riley-2025-ny-sli-training"
          },
          {
            "id": "cohen-buckmann-bonus-season-strategies-getting-r-training",
            "authorityType": "commentary",
            "tier": "lawyer-judgment-backed",
            "title": "Cohen & Buckmann, P.C. commentary",
            "citation": "Cohen & Buckmann, P.C., Bonus Season Strategies: Getting Ready for Year-End Payouts.",
            "url": "https://cohenbuckmann.com/insights/2025/11/3/bonus-season-strategies-getting-ready-for-year-end-payouts",
            "proposition": "Under New York law, bonuses that are objectively calculable and nondiscretionary may be considered vested wages that must be paid to an employee upon termination, regardless of contractual provisions requiring continued employment through the payout date.",
            "verbatimQuote": "A bonus tied to objective, formula-based criteria and calculable with reasonable certainty constitutes mandatory rather than discretionary compensation.",
            "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/stay-or-pay/us/new-york#src-cohen-buckmann-bonus-season-strategies-getting-r-training"
          }
        ]
      },
      {
        "slug": "safest-structure",
        "label": "What structure is safest under the New York rule?",
        "heading": "What structure is safest?",
        "answerText": "Make the money unearned until the worker stays. The durable structure is a forfeitable bonus that the worker earns only by remaining through a defined date, so leaving early forfeits an unvested amount rather than triggering a clawback of pay already earned; never try to recover compensation that has already vested.",
        "sources": [
          {
            "id": "matter-of-william-mattar-p-c-v-riley-2025-ny-sli-safest",
            "authorityType": "case-law",
            "tier": "primary-source-backed",
            "title": "Matter of William Mattar, P.C. v. Riley, 2025 NY Slip Op 02680",
            "citation": "Matter of William Mattar, P.C. v. Riley, 2025 NY Slip Op 02680.",
            "url": "https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/10579969/matter-of-william-mattar-pc-v-riley",
            "deepLink": "https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/10579969/matter-of-william-mattar-pc-v-riley#:~:text=vested%20and%20mandatory%20as%20opposed%20to%20discretionary%20and%20forfeitable",
            "proposition": "Supports the cited proposition. (Matter of William Mattar, P.C. v. Riley, 2025 NY Slip Op 02680)",
            "verbatimQuote": "vested and mandatory as opposed to discretionary and forfeitable",
            "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/stay-or-pay/us/new-york#src-matter-of-william-mattar-p-c-v-riley-2025-ny-sli-safest"
          },
          {
            "id": "cohen-buckmann-bonus-season-strategies-getting-r-safest",
            "authorityType": "commentary",
            "tier": "lawyer-judgment-backed",
            "title": "Cohen & Buckmann, P.C. commentary",
            "citation": "Cohen & Buckmann, P.C., Bonus Season Strategies: Getting Ready for Year-End Payouts.",
            "url": "https://cohenbuckmann.com/insights/2025/11/3/bonus-season-strategies-getting-ready-for-year-end-payouts",
            "proposition": "Under New York law, bonuses that are objectively calculable and nondiscretionary may be considered vested wages that must be paid to an employee upon termination, regardless of contractual provisions requiring continued employment through the payout date.",
            "verbatimQuote": "A bonus tied to objective, formula-based criteria and calculable with reasonable certainty constitutes mandatory rather than discretionary compensation.",
            "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/stay-or-pay/us/new-york#src-cohen-buckmann-bonus-season-strategies-getting-r-safest"
          },
          {
            "id": "ny-labor-law-193-safest",
            "authorityType": "primary-law",
            "tier": "primary-source-backed",
            "title": "N.Y. Lab. Law § 193",
            "citation": "N.Y. Lab. Law § 193(1)(b).",
            "url": "https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/LAB/193",
            "proposition": "N.Y. Labor Law Section 193 permits a deduction from wages only when required by law or court order or when expressly authorized in writing by the employee, voluntary, and for the employee's benefit, which a stay-or-pay clawback for the employer's benefit does not satisfy.",
            "verbatimQuote": "expressly authorized in writing by the employee and are for the benefit of the employee, provided that such authorization is voluntary and only given following receipt by the employee of written notice of all terms and conditions of the payment",
            "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/stay-or-pay/us/new-york#src-ny-labor-law-193-safest"
          }
        ]
      }
    ]
  }
}