SWEAT!

Securing Wages Earned Against Theft

We Work Hard. Shouldnt We Get Paid for it?
More and more workers are getting cheated of our wages. Were not getting the minimum wage, or overtime pay, or wages for all the hours that we work. Some estimate that $1 billion a year is stolen from workers in New York City alone. Employers are using many tricks to cheat workers out of our pay. Once workers go to the Department of Labor or file lawsuits, employers are shutting down their businesses (only to reopen under another name), selling their homes to family members, filing for bankruptcy and emptying their bank accounts. By the time workers win a settlement agreement or court judgment, employers have hidden all their assets and plead poverty. Workers get robbed of wages. Our government gets cheated of payroll taxes. Legitimate businesses are undermined by scofflaw employers. This hurts working families, law-abiding businesses, and our states economy.

Whatcanyoudo?

Its Time to Toughen Enforcement We should get paid for our work!
Working with SWEAT, in June 2013, Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal introduced State Assembly Bill No. 8045 that will greatly improve workers ability to secure stolen wages. The bill has three main components: 1. Expand New Yorks mechanics lien law to include all workers Establishes a wage lien so that workers can put a hold on employers property until their owed wages are paid. The measure would also create an alternative right of action by the DOL or NYS Attorney General to file a wage lien on behalf of claimants who they have determined are owed wages. 2. Hold employers assets before they run away Allows workers to attach or hold an employers property prior to the resolution of a case that claims unpaid wages. 3. Hold the largest shareholders personally liable for wage theft Makes it easier for workers of nonpublicly traded companies to hold the employers with the largest share of ownership personally liable for wage theft.

1. Join the coalition! We are actively expanding and welcome new groups. Even if you are not a part of an organization, there is a lot of work ahead of us to pass this bill and we needyourideasandhelp. 2. Help spread the word about this very important bill. Ask groups that you are a part of or work with to endorse and join the coalition. You can also invite the coalition to speak to your church, synagogue, community center, tenant grouporworkplace. 3. Call your Assemblymember. Reach out andurgethemtosupportthebill. 4. Participate in our research. If you or someone you know has experienced wage theft, or have not been able to collect money after winning a judgment in court or in the Department of Labor, shareyourstorywithus. 5. Donate to help get the SWEAT bill passed.

SWEAT is a growing group of grassroots organizations, workers centers, legal service providers and advocates fighting to ensure that New York workers are able to recover the wages they are owed by employers.

Contact SWEAT!

SWEAT Coalition
c/o NMASS P.O. Box 130293 New York, NY 10013-0995 P: 718.600.0793 E: sweatcoalition@gmail.com