This alert serves as a reminder that the New York Wage Theft Prevention Act requires employers to provide annual pay notices to all of their employees (whether full-time or part-time, exempt or non-exempt) no later than February 1, 2013.  For seasonal employees who are not working during this period, employers must provide annual pay notices to these employees as soon as they return to work from their time away.

As explained in more detail in our previous alerts on the Wage Theft Prevention Act, which you can access here and here, the annual pay notice, which contains several items of information, must be (i) provided even if the information it contains will not change from previous notice provided; (ii) written in English and in the employee’s primary language, but only if the Department of Labor has released a notice template in that primary language; and (iii) maintained for six years.  Further, employers must also obtain acknowledgements from employees affirming that they have received the pay notice.

As the compliance deadline nears, employers are well advised to seek the advice of employment counsel for assistance complying with the New York Wage Theft Prevention Act.