What Is a Wage Theft Prevention Notice? WTPA, Explained

What Is a Wage Theft Prevention Notice? WTPA, Explained

A wage theft prevention notice is a paper that tells a worker how they will be paid. Every employer in New York must give one to each new worker on the first day, under Labor Law § 195(1). This rule is part of the Wage Theft Prevention Act (WTPA), which started in 2011. The notice must list the pay rate and how it is figured, the day workers get paid, and the company's name, address, and phone number. It must also list the overtime rate for workers who earn overtime, and any amount the employer counts as part of the minimum wage, like tips or meals. The notice must be in English and in the worker's main language, if the state Department of Labor has a form in that language.

If you are a general contractor (GC) in New York, there is a second reason to care. Since January 4, 2022, Labor Law § 198-e says a GC must pay when a subcontractor does not pay its workers, no matter how many layers down that subcontractor is. That means your risk depends on records that someone else keeps. BiltOn is a Safety Intelligence platform that checks every worker at the gate and records every hour by company and by site. This guide shows what the notice must say, what the penalties are, and why a record of hours decides a wage claim.

This guide is for the lawyers, finance teams, payroll teams, and operations leaders at large GCs in New York. It is also for the subcontractors whose pay practices now count against the GC. BiltOn gives you a checked, time-stamped record of who worked, for which company, and where. That is the record a wage claim is tested against.

What must the WTPA pay notice contain, and when?

Section 195(1) requires the notice at the time of hiring, in writing, in English and in the language the employee identifies as their primary language. The Department of Labor publishes templates in Spanish, Chinese, Haitian Creole, Korean, Polish, and Russian; where no template exists for a worker's language, an English notice satisfies the law. The employer must obtain a signed and dated acknowledgment from the employee and preserve it for six years. Three DOL forms cover most construction workers: LS 54 for hourly employees, LS 58 for prevailing rate and other jobs, and LS 59 for exempt employees.

The annual notice is gone. The original WTPA required a fresh notice every year between January 1 and February 1, and that requirement was repealed effective February 27, 2015 by Chapter 537 of the Laws of 2014. Employers still must notify employees of any change to the information in the notice at least seven days in advance unless the change appears on the next wage statement, and § 195(3) separately requires a wage statement with every payment showing the dates covered, the rates and basis, gross wages, deductions, allowances, net wages, and, for non-exempt workers, the regular and overtime rates and hours.

What are the penalties for a missing or defective notice?

The fines are set per worker, per day. Under Labor Law § 198(1-b), a worker who does not get the hiring notice within ten business days of starting can collect $50 for each workday the problem lasts, up to $5,000, plus court costs and lawyer fees. Under § 198(1-d), a worker who does not get a correct wage statement can collect $250 for each workday, up to $5,000, plus costs and fees. Those limits apply to each worker, so a subcontractor that hired forty laborers without giving them notices could owe up to $200,000 before anyone counts a single dollar of unpaid pay.

The unpaid wages carry their own extra penalty. Under § 198(1-a), the worker can also collect up to 100 percent of the unpaid amount on top of what they are owed. A change made on May 9, 2025 in the state budget limits this for a first mistake with how often workers are paid. If the employer paid at least twice a month, the worker gets back only the interest they lost. A second mistake still brings the full extra penalty.

Wage theft is also a crime. Since September 6, 2023, Penal Law § 155.05(2)(f) treats wage theft as a form of larceny, and prosecutors are using it. On March 12, 2026, the Manhattan District Attorney announced that High Volt Electric pleaded guilty. It is a School Construction Authority subcontractor. It paid $325,000 back to workers up front and was banned from New York City contracts for five years.

The state is also collecting money in civil cases. In April 2026, Governor Hochul announced that the Department of Labor won back more than $35 million in lost wages from more than 5,000 employers in 2025. That is the most in a single year since 2015. Since 2021, the state has returned more than $130 million to nearly 125,000 workers.

Why is the general contractor now on the hook for subcontractor wages?

Because the legislature decided the GC is the party that can prevent it. Labor Law § 198-e, enacted as Chapter 419 of 2021 and effective January 4, 2022, makes a construction contractor “jointly and severally liable” for any debt owed to a wage claimant by a subcontractor “at any tier” for work performed under the contractor's construction contract.

The look-back is three years. The liability can be waived only through a collective bargaining agreement with a bona fide building and construction trade union that explicitly references the section. A GC that has never met the third-tier drywall sub's employees is liable for their unpaid overtime, their notice damages, and their attorney's fees.

The same legislation gave the GC a tool. General Business Law § 756-f entitles a contractor to demand certified payroll records from any subcontractor, showing each worker's name, wages, hours, and benefits, along with the sub's own subcontractor list, and permits the contractor to withhold payment when the sub fails to provide them. That is the mechanism the statute expects GCs to use. Two proposals would widen the net further.

The Wage Payment Integrity Act, S2236-A, passed the Senate on March 10, 2026 and the Assembly on March 30, 2026 and, as of this writing, awaits delivery to the Governor. [EDITOR: confirm S2236-A status at publication; it may have been signed, vetoed, or still pending.] A10740, introduced March 27, 2026 and in the Assembly Labor Committee, would extend § 198-e liability to project owners as well as contractors. The direction of the law is toward more parties answering for the same paycheck, which is a point we made in what New York contractors must know about the WTPA in 2026.

Why does the hours record decide a wage claim?

Every wage claim reduces to two numbers: the hours worked and the rate that should have applied. The notice fixes the rate and the pay terms in writing, and the wage statement shows what was paid, but the hours are where disputes live, because the claimant asserts one number and the employer's timesheet asserts another.

Under Labor Law § 196-a, when an employer fails to keep adequate records, the employer bears the burden of proving that the worker was paid, so an employer that cannot produce a reliable, contemporaneous hours record is defending a claim on the claimant's terms. For a GC under § 198-e, the problem compounds: the records belong to a subcontractor the GC may no longer be able to reach, and the GC's own gate log is often the only independent evidence of who was on site and when.

That is where a Safety Intelligence platform earns a place in the general counsel's toolkit. BiltOn verifies every worker at the gate by 3D facial recognition, ties the verified identity to an employer and trade, and timestamps every check-in and check-out by site, including cross-midnight shifts.

The record is tamper-evident, retained, and searchable by worker, employer, and date, and it syncs two ways with Procore and Autodesk, both partners, so the daily report the project team already keeps reflects verified attendance. It is not a substitute for the subcontractor's pay notice or certified payroll, which remain the employer's obligation, but it is the independent record a GC needs to test a certified payroll demanded under GBL § 756-f, to answer a § 198-e claim for a sub that has vanished, and to show an auditor that prevailing-wage hours match the people who were actually present. Clients report roughly three fraudulent claims prevented per project, client-reported, and the same verified record is what makes the claims-defensibility case for a site record that holds up.

Request a demo and we will show you how BiltOn puts this to work on your sites. Book a demo at bilton.tech/demo.

Executive takeaway

Labor Law § 195(1) requires a written pay notice at hire stating the rate and basis of pay, allowances, payday, employer identity, address, phone, and overtime rate, in English and the worker's primary language where a DOL template exists, with a signed acknowledgment kept six years; the annual re-notice was repealed in 2015. Damages are $50 per workday up to $5,000 for a missing notice and $250 per workday up to $5,000 for defective wage statements, per employee, before unpaid wages and liquidated damages.

Since January 4, 2022, § 198-e makes the GC jointly and severally liable for subcontractor wage debt at any tier with a three-year look-back, and GBL § 756-f lets the GC demand certified payroll and withhold payment. Wage theft has been larceny since 2023, the Manhattan DA secured a $325,000 plea and five-year debarment from an SCA subcontractor in March 2026, and the state recovered more than $35 million in 2025. The hours record decides the claim, and Broadway Construction Group used BiltOn's verified clock-in data to show prevailing-wage claimants were not on site on the days claimed.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is a wage theft prevention notice in New York?

It is the written notice of pay terms that Labor Law § 195(1) requires every employer to give each employee at hiring: the rate and basis of pay, allowances, regular payday, the employer's legal and DBA names, address and phone, and the overtime rate for non-exempt workers. It must be in English and the employee's primary language where the Department of Labor publishes a template, and the employer must keep a signed acknowledgment for six years.

2. Is the WTPA notice still required every year?

No, it is not. The annual notice between January 1 and February 1 was repealed effective February 27, 2015. The notice is required at hiring and whenever pay information changes, unless the change appears on the next wage statement. Wage statements under § 195(3) are still required with every payment.

3. Is a general contractor liable if a subcontractor does not pay its workers in New York?

Yes, it is. Since January 4, 2022, Labor Law § 198-e makes a construction contractor jointly and severally liable for wages, damages, and fees owed by a subcontractor at any tier for work under the contractor's contract, with a three-year look-back. GCs can demand certified payroll records under General Business Law § 756-f and withhold payment if a sub refuses.

4. How does BiltOn help with Wage Theft Prevention Act compliance?

BiltOn does not replace the employer's pay notice or certified payroll. It provides the independent, verified hours record a GC needs to test a subcontractor's certified payroll and defend a § 198-e claim: every worker verified at the gate by 3D facial recognition, tied to an employer and trade, with timestamped check-in and check-out by site, searchable by worker and date and synced two ways with Procore and Autodesk.

References

• New York State Senate. Labor Law § 195, Notice and Record-Keeping Requirements; Labor Law § 196-a; Labor Law § 198, Costs, Remedies; Labor Law § 198-e, Construction Industry Wage Theft; General Business Law § 756-f; Penal Law § 155.05

• New York State Senate. (2014). A8106-C, Chapter 537 of 2014; (2026). S2236-A, Wage Payment Integrity Act; (2026). A10740

• New York State Department of Labor. Notice of Pay Rate

• Davis Wright Tremaine. (2025). New York Labor Law Frequency-of-Pay Damages Amendment

• Manhattan District Attorney's Office. (2026). D.A. Bragg Announces Guilty Plea in $325K Wage Theft by School Construction Authority Subcontractor

• Office of the Governor of New York. (2026). Governor Hochul Announces $237.7 Million Recovered for New Yorkers in 2025

• BiltOn. (2026). What New York Contractors Must Know About the NY Wage Theft Prevention Act in 2026; Claims Defensibility: Building a Site Record That Holds Up