State law lookup › Unpaid wages › New York

Unpaid wages in New York: what the law says

My employer owes me wages

State law

What the statute says

Final pay detail: New York sets NO fixed number of days. NYLL 191(3): '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.' NYSDOL restates this as: 'When employment has ended, the employer must pay the wages by the regular payday for the pay period worked.' The rule is the SAME whether the worker was fired or quit - New York draws no distinction, and gives no benefit or penalty for advance notice.
Read the full rule
On the employee's written request the wages must be mailed. Because the deadline is a floating payday rather than a day count, the numeric fields final_paycheck_days_fired and final_paycheck_days_quit are deliberately omitted rather than guessed.
Penalty for paying late: New York has NO California-style per-day waiting-time penalty. Late or unpaid wages are instead remedied through (a) NYLL 198(1-a) - liquidated damages of 100% of wages due (up to 300% for willful violations of sec.
Read the full rule
194), plus prejudgment interest and reasonable attorney's fees to a prevailing employee; and (b) NYLL 218 - on a Commissioner's order, liquidated damages of 100% of unpaid wages, interest at the rate set by the Superintendent of Financial Services under Banking Law sec. 14-a running from the date of underpayment, an additional civil penalty of up to double the wages found due where the employer has a prior violation history or the violation was willful or egregious, and an automatic additional 15% of damages that comes due if the order to comply is unpaid 90 days after it becomes final.
Overtime beyond federal law: Weekly only - New York has no daily overtime. NYSDOL: overtime is 'one and one-half times their regular, straight-time hourly rate of pay for all hours over 40 in a payroll week'; for residential (live-in) workers the threshold is 'all hours over 44 in a payroll week.' NYSDOL also states there are 'no limits on the…
Read the full rule
number of work hours per day (except for children under 18).' So on the 40-hour threshold New York tracks the FLSA rather than exceeding it; unlike California there is no 8-hour daily overtime, no double time, and no seventh-day rule.
Liquidated damages: Yes - NYLL 198(1-a): liquidated damages 'equal to one hundred percent of the total amount of the wages found to be due,' and 'up to three hundred percent' for willful violations of sec. 194 (pay equity), unless the employer proves a good-faith basis for believing its underpayment complied with the law.
Read the full rule
IMPORTANT 2025 CARVE-OUT: sec. 198(1-a) now provides that 'liquidated damages shall not be applicable to violations of paragraph a of subdivision one of section one hundred ninety-one of this article where the employer paid the employee wages on a regular payday, no less frequently than semi-monthly' - for a first such frequency-of-pay violation the recovery is capped at 100% of the LOST INTEREST on the delayed wages, with full liquidated damages restored for subsequent violations. This limits the former manual-worker late-payment exposure and does NOT affect ordinary claims for wages that were never paid at all.
Time limit to sue: 6 years
Who handles complaints: New York State Department of Labor, Division of Labor Standards

Read this before relying on the numbers above

New York has no single statewide minimum wage. As of January 1, 2026 the rate is $17.00 an hour in New York City and in Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester counties, and $16.00 an hour in the rest of the state. Only hospitality employers may take a tip credit against those rates. For food service workers the required cash wage is $11.35 an hour in the $17.00 regions and $10.70 an hour elsewhere, with the tip credit making up the difference.

The six-year figure is the deadline for going to court. The state labor department applies a shorter cutoff and will not accept a claim for wages earned more than three years before you file. For wages older than three years, a lawsuit is generally what is left.

Read it yourself

Official sources. If a number below matters to your case, open the statute and read it — laws get amended, and cities often stack stricter local rules on top.

N.Y. Lab. Law § 191(3) — N.Y. Labor Law sec. 191(3) ('Frequency of payments') - terminated employee paid no later than the regular pay day for the pay period in which termination occurred; page shows most recent revision 2014-09-22
N.Y. Lab. Law § 198(1-a), (3) — N.Y. Labor Law sec. 198(1-a) and 198(3) - 100% liquidated damages (up to 300% for willful sec. 194 violations), attorney's fees, prejudgment interest, the sec. 191(1)(a) frequency-of-pay lost-interest carve-out, and the six-year limitations period; page shows most recent revision 2025-05-16
N.Y. Lab. Law § 218 — N.Y. Labor Law sec. 218 - Commissioner's order: 100% liquidated damages, Banking Law sec. 14-a interest, civil penalty up to double the wages due for repeat/willful/egregious violations, automatic 15% add-on 90 days after a final order; page shows most recent revision 2025-05-16
N.Y. Lab. Law § 652(1) — N.Y. Labor Law sec. 652(1) - minimum wage schedule: $17.00 on and after Jan. 1, 2026 for NYC and Nassau/Suffolk/Westchester; $16.00 on and after Jan. 1, 2026 for the remainder of the state; CPI-W (northeast region, three-year average) indexing beginning Jan. 1, 2027, rounded to the nearest five cents, with a freeze mechanism
NYSDOL - Minimum Wage — NYSDOL official minimum wage page - rates effective 01/01/2026: NYC $17.00, Long Island & Westchester $17.00, Remainder of NYS $16.00; inflation indexing starts 2027
NYSDOL - Wages and Hours FAQ — NYSDOL 'Wages and Hours Frequently Asked Questions' - overtime over 40 hours (44 for residential employees), no daily hour limits except minors, and final wages due by the regular payday for the pay period worked
NYSDOL - Unpaid/Withheld Wages and Wage Supplements — NYSDOL 'Unpaid/Withheld Wages and Wage Supplements' - Division of Labor Standards; states Labor Standards may not accept claims where wages were earned more than three years before filing
NYSDOL - File a Labor Standards Wage Theft Claim — NYSDOL 'File a Labor Standards Wage Theft Claim' - official intake page for unpaid wages, illegal deductions, wage supplements, minimum wage/overtime and pay equity claims

Last checked: 2026-08-17

Send this as a certified letter

Jab drafts the letter, a licensed attorney reviews it, and we mail it USPS Certified Mail with a signed return receipt. $29 flat. You can also write it yourself — this page has what you need.

Start my letter →

Jab Today is not a law firm and this is not legal advice. This page describes how the statutes read, which is a different thing from what will happen in your case. Laws are amended and local ordinances often add stricter rules. For advice about your situation, consult a licensed attorney in your state.