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?

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
importantbill.Askgroupsthatyouare
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. CallyourAssemblymember.Reachout
andurgethemtosupportthebill.
4. Participate in our research. If you or
someone you know has experienced
wage theft, or have not been able to
collectmoneyafterwinningajudgment
incourtorintheDepartmentofLabor,
shareyourstorywithus.
5. Donate to help get the SWEAT bill
passed.

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.

SWEAT is a growing group of

Contact SWEAT!

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.

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