Assemblyman Al Stirpe (D-Onondaga County) announced that a bill he sponsored to immediately repeal the annual wage notification requirement for businesses in New York State was delivered to Governor Cuomo’s desk this past Friday (A.1267). The governor has 10 days to act on the bill after its delivery to him.

“Employees already see the wage summary on their pay stubs, so the notification is just added paperwork,” said Assemblyman Stirpe. “This legislation will help businesses save time, money and resources so they can focus on growing and creating more jobs in the community.”

The annual wage notification is a provision of the Wage Theft Prevention Act of 2011 that requires employers to provide all employees with a yearly memo restating their salaries. However, employees already receive a summary of earnings on each pay stub, and new employees are given written notice of their salaries upon hire, so the annual wage notification added an extra paperwork requirement that ended up not being necessary. The new legislation also strengthens protections for employees and has received the support of the AFL-CIO.

The Assembly first passed legislation to repeal the requirement this past June and the governor signed it into law (Ch. 537 of 2014). However, the original legislation, which Stirpe also helped pass, was to take effect 60 days after receiving the governor’s signature, which did not occur until December. Because of this delay in implementation, the paperwork to notify employees of wage rates would still be required through February of this year. The new legislation, on the other hand, would take effect immediately and save New York businesses the hassle of producing wage notification memos for 2015 and each year after. The state Labor Department – in light of this pending legislation – waived the requirement for this year.

“I’m committed to making New York more business friendly,” Assemblyman Stirpe said. “Getting rid of excessive burdens helps businesses stay and succeed here, which strengthens our local economy and benefits us all.”