More than $63 million collected after New York wage theft crack-down initiative two-years-ago, says Governor Kathy Hochul

ALBANY, NY- Governor Kathy Hochul today announced that in the two years since she announced a major crackdown on wage theft, the New York State Department of Labor has investigated and recovered more than $63 million in stolen wages for nearly 65,000 workers across New York State.

As part of the announcement, the Governor also celebrated the investigation and recovery of over $1 million in unpaid wages for more than 20,000 Chipotle restaurant workers across 207 locations statewide.

Individual recoveries for workers ranged from $10 to over $3,600, highlighting the State’s unwavering commitment to ensuring fair compensation and combating wage theft.

“In the two years since I pledged to crack down on wage theft, we’ve put millions of dollars in wages back in the pockets of hardworking New Yorkers,” Governor Hochul said.

“Wage theft is stealing, plain and simple. It not only cheats workers out of a day’s pay – it violates our laws and my administration is committed to ensuring that workers receive every cent that they’re owed.”

According to Hochul's office, the Governor has maintained a strong commitment to addressing wage theft, a pressing issue affecting workers across New York State.

Two years ago, Governor Hochul announced a comprehensive initiative to combat this illegal practice, which included the implementation of a wage theft hotline developing a state-of-the-art online wage theft reporting system.

Since the Governor launched the statewide crackdown, NYSDOL’s Division of Worker Protection has recovered $63.5 million in wages and damages for nearly 65,000 workers.

Over the past decade, NYSDOL had recovered and disbursed more than $360 million in stolen wages, identified over a million misclassified workers, and assessed over $400 million owed in unemployment insurance contributions through both criminal cases and civil enforcement.

Governor Hochul image.