{ "type": "practice-guide", "canonical": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/wage-and-hour/us/new-york", "links": [ { "rel": "self", "href": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/wage-and-hour/us/new-york.json", "type": "application/json" }, { "rel": "alternate", "href": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/wage-and-hour/us/new-york", "type": "text/html" }, { "rel": "alternate", "href": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/wage-and-hour/us/new-york/markdown", "type": "text/markdown" }, { "rel": "alternate", "href": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/wage-and-hour/us/new-york/json", "type": "application/json" } ], "data": { "topic": "wage-and-hour", "state": "new-york", "frontmatter": { "title": "Wage and Hour Law in New York", "description": "A question-by-question summary of New York wage and hour law, covering the region-tiered minimum wage well above the federal floor, the weekly-40 overtime rule set by the minimum wage orders, statutory meal periods, the signature weekly pay rule for manual workers, next-payday final pay, the Wage Theft Prevention Act wage notice and itemized statement, narrow deduction limits and tip protection, the common-law control test for worker status, and 100% liquidated-damages exposure.", "state": "New York", "lastReviewed": "2026-06-30", "license": "CC BY 4.0", "authors": [ "steven-obiajulu" ], "summary": { "minimumWageFloor": "aboveFederal", "bottomLine": "New York is a high-protection wage-and-hour state — a minimum wage well above the federal floor and tiered by region, weekly pay for manual workers, detailed WTPA wage statements, and 100% liquidated-damages exposure — with worker status decided by the common-law control test.", "keyLaw": "N.Y. Lab. Law §§ 162, 191, 193, 195, 196-d, 198, 652, 663; Matter of Vega (Postmates Inc.), 35 N.Y.3d 131 (2020)", "dailyOvertime": "weeklyOnly", "mealRestBreaks": "mealBreakOnly", "finalPayTiming": "nextPayday", "latePayPenalty": "liquidatedDamages", "payFrequency": "weekly", "wageStatement": "detailedStatutoryList", "workerClassificationTest": "commonLaw", "tipCredit": "partialTipCredit", "currentAsOf": "2026-01-01" }, "about": [ "New York wage and hour law", "New York minimum wage and overtime", "New York meal periods", "New York pay frequency and final pay", "New York Wage Theft Prevention Act wage statements", "New York worker classification (common-law control test)" ], "translations": [ { "language": "中文", "status": "planned" }, { "language": "Español", "status": "planned" }, { "language": "Português", "status": "planned" }, { "language": "Deutsch", "status": "planned" } ] }, "questions": [ { "slug": "minimum-wage", "label": "What is the state minimum wage, and how does it relate to the federal floor?", "heading": "What is the minimum wage?", "answerText": "New York sets a minimum wage well above the federal floor of $7.25 per hour, and the rate is tiered by region. As of January 1, 2026 the floor is $17.00 per hour in the higher-cost downstate region — New York City, Long Island (Nassau and Suffolk counties), and Westchester — and $16.00 per hour in the remainder of the state. Those figures are the last of a series of fixed statutory step-ups; beginning in 2027 the rate is adjusted annually by the commissioner against a regional price index rather than by a fresh vote of the Legislature.", "sources": [ { "id": "ny-lab-law-sec-652", "authorityType": "primary-law", "tier": "primary-source-backed", "title": "N.Y. Labor Law § 652", "citation": "N.Y. Lab. Law § 652.", "url": "https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/LAB/652", "proposition": "Labor Law section 652 sets New York's region-tiered statutory minimum wage and, beginning January 1, 2027, replaces fixed step-ups with an annual adjustment set by the commissioner against the Northeast-region CPI-W.", "verbatimQuote": "On and after January first, two thousand twenty-seven, every employer regardless of size shall pay to each of its employees for each hour worked in the city of New York, a wage of not less than the adjusted minimum wage rate established annually by the commissioner.", "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/wage-and-hour/us/new-york#src-ny-lab-law-sec-652" } ] }, { "slug": "overtime", "label": "What are the daily and weekly overtime rules?", "heading": "When is overtime owed?", "answerText": "New York follows the federal weekly rule: overtime at one-and-one-half times the regular rate is owed for hours worked over 40 in a workweek, and there is no daily-overtime or double-time mandate. The overtime obligation is imposed by the commissioner’s Minimum Wage Orders rather than by a single Labor Law section, and Section 652 preserves those wage orders as the operative regulatory floor.", "sources": [ { "id": "ny-lab-law-sec-652-wage-orders", "authorityType": "primary-law", "tier": "primary-source-backed", "title": "N.Y. Labor Law § 652", "citation": "N.Y. Lab. Law § 652.", "url": "https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/LAB/652", "proposition": "Labor Law section 652 keeps the commissioner's Minimum Wage Orders in full force and effect, and those wage orders — not a stand-alone statute — impose New York's weekly 40-hour overtime rule.", "verbatimQuote": "The minimum wage orders in effect on the effective date of this act shall remain in full force and effect, except as modified in accordance with the provisions of this article; provided, however, that the minimum wage order for farm workers codified at part one hundred ninety of title twelve of the New York code of rules and regulations in effect on January first, two thousand twenty shall be deemed to be a wage order established and adopted under this article and shall remain in full force and effect except as modified in accordance with the provisions of this article or article nineteen-A of this chapter.", "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/wage-and-hour/us/new-york#src-ny-lab-law-sec-652-wage-orders" } ] }, { "slug": "meal-breaks", "label": "Are meal and rest breaks required, and are they paid?", "heading": "Are breaks required?", "answerText": "New York requires a statutory meal period but has no general paid rest-break mandate. Most workers in a mercantile or other covered establishment are entitled to at least a 30-minute noon-day meal period, and factory workers are entitled to at least 60 minutes; longer or shift-based rules apply to early-morning and evening shifts. There is no separate state requirement for paid short rest breaks.", "sources": [ { "id": "ny-lab-law-sec-162-mercantile", "authorityType": "primary-law", "tier": "primary-source-backed", "title": "N.Y. Labor Law § 162", "citation": "N.Y. Lab. Law § 162.", "url": "https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/LAB/162", "proposition": "Labor Law section 162 entitles a person employed in a mercantile or other covered establishment to at least a 30-minute noon-day meal period.", "verbatimQuote": "Every person employed in or in connection with a mercantile or other establishment or occupation coming under the provisions of this chapter shall be allowed at least thirty minutes for the noon day meal, except as in this chapter otherwise provided.", "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/wage-and-hour/us/new-york#src-ny-lab-law-sec-162-mercantile" }, { "id": "ny-lab-law-sec-162-factory", "authorityType": "primary-law", "tier": "primary-source-backed", "title": "N.Y. Labor Law § 162", "citation": "N.Y. Lab. Law § 162.", "url": "https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/LAB/162", "proposition": "Labor Law section 162 entitles a person employed in or in connection with a factory to at least a 60-minute noon-day meal period.", "verbatimQuote": "Every person employed in or in connection with a factory shall be allowed at least sixty minutes for the noon day meal.", "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/wage-and-hour/us/new-york#src-ny-lab-law-sec-162-factory" } ] }, { "slug": "pay-frequency", "label": "How often must workers be paid?", "heading": "How often must workers be paid?", "answerText": "It depends on the kind of worker, and New York’s signature rule is strict: a manual worker must be paid weekly, within seven calendar days after the end of the week in which the wages were earned. Clerical and other workers must be paid at least twice a month on regular paydays designated in advance. The weekly manual-worker rule has driven a wave of frequency-of-pay litigation against employers that pay such workers only biweekly.", "sources": [ { "id": "ny-lab-law-sec-191-frequency", "authorityType": "primary-law", "tier": "primary-source-backed", "title": "N.Y. Labor Law § 191", "citation": "N.Y. Lab. Law § 191.", "url": "https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/LAB/191", "proposition": "Labor Law section 191 requires a manual worker to be paid weekly and within seven calendar days after the end of the week the wages were earned, unless the commissioner authorizes a qualifying employer to pay less frequently but not less than semi-monthly.", "verbatimQuote": "A manual worker shall be paid weekly and not later than seven calendar days after the end of the week in which the wages are earned; provided however that a manual worker employed by an employer authorized by the commissioner pursuant to subparagraph (ii) of this paragraph or by a non-profitmaking organization shall be paid in accordance with the agreed terms of employment, but not less frequently than semi-monthly.", "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/wage-and-hour/us/new-york#src-ny-lab-law-sec-191-frequency" } ] }, { "slug": "final-pay", "label": "When must final wages be paid on separation?", "heading": "When is final pay due?", "answerText": "On separation, New York keys final pay to the next regular payday rather than to the moment of discharge. When employment ends for any reason, the employer must pay the wages no later than the regular payday for the pay period during which the termination occurred. If the departing worker asks, those final wages must be paid by mail.", "sources": [ { "id": "ny-lab-law-sec-191-final", "authorityType": "primary-law", "tier": "primary-source-backed", "title": "N.Y. Labor Law § 191", "citation": "N.Y. Lab. Law § 191.", "url": "https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/LAB/191", "proposition": "Labor Law section 191(3) requires that, when employment is terminated, the employer pay the wages no later than the regular payday for the pay period during which the termination occurred.", "verbatimQuote": "If employment is terminated, the employer shall pay the wages not later than the regular pay day for the pay period during which the termination occurred, as established in accordance with the provisions of this section.", "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/wage-and-hour/us/new-york#src-ny-lab-law-sec-191-final" } ] }, { "slug": "wage-statement", "label": "What wage notice and pay statement must an employer provide?", "heading": "What must a pay stub show?", "answerText": "New York’s Wage Theft Prevention Act requires two things: a written wage notice at hiring and a detailed itemized statement with every payment of wages. The pay statement must list the pay-period dates, the employee and employer identity, the rate and basis of pay, gross wages, deductions, any minimum-wage allowances, and net wages — and, for non-exempt workers, the regular and overtime rates and hours.", "sources": [ { "id": "ny-lab-law-sec-195-statement", "authorityType": "primary-law", "tier": "primary-source-backed", "title": "N.Y. Labor Law § 195", "citation": "N.Y. Lab. Law § 195.", "url": "https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/LAB/195", "proposition": "Labor Law section 195(3) requires an itemized statement with every payment of wages, listing the pay-period dates, the employee and employer identity, the rate and basis of pay, gross wages, deductions, minimum-wage allowances, and net wages.", "verbatimQuote": "furnish each employee with a statement with every payment of wages, listing the following: the dates of work covered by that payment of wages; name of employee; name of employer; address and phone number of employer; rate or rates of pay and basis thereof, whether paid by the hour, shift, day, week, salary, piece, commission, or other; gross wages; deductions; allowances, if any, claimed as part of the minimum wage; the benefit portion of the minimum rate of home care aide total compensation as defined in section thirty-six hundred fourteen-c of the public health law (“home care aide benefits”), if applicable; prevailing wage supplements, if any, claimed as part of any prevailing wage or similar requirement pursuant to article eight of this chapter; and net wages.", "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/wage-and-hour/us/new-york#src-ny-lab-law-sec-195-statement" }, { "id": "ny-lab-law-sec-195-notice", "authorityType": "primary-law", "tier": "primary-source-backed", "title": "N.Y. Labor Law § 195", "citation": "N.Y. Lab. Law § 195.", "url": "https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/LAB/195", "proposition": "Labor Law section 195(1) requires a written wage notice at hiring and a signed, dated employee acknowledgement of receipt that the employer must preserve for six years.", "verbatimQuote": "Each time the employer provides such notice to an employee, the employer shall obtain from the employee a signed and dated written acknowledgement, in English and in the primary language of the employee, of receipt of this notice, which the employer shall preserve and maintain for six years.", "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/wage-and-hour/us/new-york#src-ny-lab-law-sec-195-notice" } ] }, { "slug": "deductions-and-tips", "label": "What deductions are allowed, and who owns employee tips?", "heading": "Can the employer make deductions or keep tips?", "answerText": "Barely, and no. Section 193 bars any deduction from wages except a short list of legally required or employee-authorized items, and it forbids the employer from making offsetting charges to route around that limit. Section 196-d separately bars an employer or its agents from demanding, accepting, or retaining any part of an employee’s gratuities. New York does allow a capped tip credit for tipped workers under its wage orders — so a tipped worker can be paid a lower cash wage — but only within limits fixed by the minimum wage order.", "sources": [ { "id": "ny-lab-law-sec-193", "authorityType": "primary-law", "tier": "primary-source-backed", "title": "N.Y. Labor Law § 193", "citation": "N.Y. Lab. Law § 193.", "url": "https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/LAB/193", "proposition": "Labor Law section 193 limits wage deductions to legally required or narrowly authorized items and bars an employer from making offsetting charges against wages except as permitted as a deduction or under a collective bargaining agreement.", "verbatimQuote": "No employer shall make any charge against wages, or require an employee to make any payment by separate transaction unless such charge or payment is permitted as a deduction from wages under the provisions of subdivision one of this section or is permitted or required under any provision of a current collective bargaining agreement.", "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/wage-and-hour/us/new-york#src-ny-lab-law-sec-193" }, { "id": "ny-lab-law-sec-196-d", "authorityType": "primary-law", "tier": "primary-source-backed", "title": "N.Y. Labor Law § 196-d", "citation": "N.Y. Lab. Law § 196-d.", "url": "https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/LAB/196-D", "proposition": "Labor Law section 196-d bars an employer or its officers or agents from demanding, accepting, or retaining any part of an employee's gratuities.", "verbatimQuote": "No employer or his agent or an officer or agent of any corporation, or any other person shall demand or accept, directly or indirectly, any part of the gratuities, received by an employee, or retain any part of a gratuity or of any charge purported to be a gratuity for an employee.", "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/wage-and-hour/us/new-york#src-ny-lab-law-sec-196-d" }, { "id": "ny-lab-law-sec-652-tip-credit", "authorityType": "primary-law", "tier": "primary-source-backed", "title": "N.Y. Labor Law § 652", "citation": "N.Y. Lab. Law § 652.", "url": "https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/LAB/652", "proposition": "Labor Law section 652(4) allows a capped tip credit for food-service workers, who may be paid a cash wage of at least two-thirds of the minimum wage so long as tips make up the difference to the full minimum wage.", "verbatimQuote": "Notwithstanding subdivisions one, one-a, one-b, and two of this section, the wage for an employee who is a food service worker receiving tips shall be a cash wage of at least two-thirds of the minimum wage rates set forth in subdivision one of this section, rounded to the nearest five cents or seven dollars and fifty cents, whichever is higher, provided that the tips of such an employee, when added to such cash wage, are equal to or exceed the minimum wage in effect pursuant to subdivisions one, one-a, and one-b of this section and provided further that no other cash wage is established pursuant to section six hundred fifty-three of this article.", "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/wage-and-hour/us/new-york#src-ny-lab-law-sec-652-tip-credit" } ] }, { "slug": "worker-classification", "label": "How does New York decide employee vs. independent contractor?", "heading": "Employee or independent contractor?", "answerText": "For general wage-and-hour purposes New York applies the common-law control test, not a statewide ABC test. The New York Court of Appeals held in Matter of Vega (Postmates Inc.) that the touchstone is whether the hiring party controlled the results the worker produced or the means used to achieve them, and it held that gig couriers were employees for unemployment-insurance purposes.", "sources": [ { "id": "ny-vega-postmates", "authorityType": "case-law", "tier": "primary-source-backed", "title": "Matter of Vega (Postmates Inc.)", "citation": "Matter of Vega (Postmates Inc.), 35 N.Y.3d 131 (2020).", "url": "https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/4739289/the-matter-of-the-claim-of-luis-a-vega-v-postmates-inc/", "deepLink": "https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/4739289/the-matter-of-the-claim-of-luis-a-vega-v-postmates-inc/#:~:text=But%20the%20touchstone%20of%20the,Ophthalmology%2C%2060%20NY2d%20at%20736).", "proposition": "In Matter of Vega (Postmates Inc.), the New York Court of Appeals held that the touchstone of the employee/independent-contractor analysis is whether the hiring party controlled the results produced by the worker or the means used to achieve them, and that gig couriers were employees for unemployment-insurance purposes.", "verbatimQuote": "But the touchstone of the analysis is whether the employer exercised control over the results produced by the worker or the means used to achieve the results (see Concourse Ophthalmology, 60 NY2d at 736).", "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/wage-and-hour/us/new-york#src-ny-vega-postmates" } ] }, { "slug": "enforcement", "label": "How is wage-and-hour law enforced, and can employees sue?", "heading": "How is it enforced?", "answerText": "Through both agency action and private lawsuits, and the remedies are potent. An employee paid less than the wage owed can recover the underpayment plus prejudgment interest, reasonable attorney’s fees, and — absent a good-faith defense — liquidated damages equal to 100% of the underpayment. That civil right of action runs to any underpaid worker, and the Department of Labor can also pursue the same relief administratively.", "sources": [ { "id": "ny-lab-law-sec-198", "authorityType": "primary-law", "tier": "primary-source-backed", "title": "N.Y. Labor Law § 198", "citation": "N.Y. Lab. Law § 198.", "url": "https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/LAB/198", "proposition": "Labor Law section 198 lets a prevailing employee recover the full underpayment, all reasonable attorney's fees, prejudgment interest, and liquidated damages equal to 100% of the wages due (up to 300% for a willful equal-pay violation) absent a good-faith defense.", "verbatimQuote": "In any action instituted in the courts upon a wage claim by an employee or the commissioner in which the employee prevails, the court shall allow such employee to recover the full amount of any underpayment, all reasonable attorney's fees, prejudgment interest as required under the civil practice law and rules, and, unless the employer proves a good faith basis to believe that its underpayment of wages was in compliance with the law, an additional amount as liquidated damages equal to one hundred percent of the total amount of the wages found to be due, except such liquidated damages may be up to three hundred percent of the total amount of the wages found to be due for a willful violation of section one hundred ninety-four of this article.", "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/wage-and-hour/us/new-york#src-ny-lab-law-sec-198" }, { "id": "ny-lab-law-sec-663", "authorityType": "primary-law", "tier": "primary-source-backed", "title": "N.Y. Labor Law § 663", "citation": "N.Y. Lab. Law § 663.", "url": "https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/LAB/663", "proposition": "Labor Law section 663 gives an underpaid employee a private civil action to recover the underpayment, costs, reasonable attorney's fees, prejudgment interest, and liquidated damages equal to 100% of the underpayment absent a good-faith defense.", "verbatimQuote": "If any employee is paid by his or her employer less than the wage to which he or she is entitled under the provisions of this article, he or she shall recover in a civil action the amount of any such underpayments, together with costs all reasonable attorney's fees, prejudgment interest as required under the civil practice law and rules, and unless the employer proves a good faith basis to believe that its underpayment of wages was in compliance with the law, an additional amount as liquidated damages equal to one hundred percent of the total of such underpayments found to be due.", "anchor": "https://openagreements.org/practice-guides/wage-and-hour/us/new-york#src-ny-lab-law-sec-663" } ] } ] } }