New York State recovered over $35 million in wage theft last year affecting nearly 36,500 victims. That’s $1.3 million more than in 2016. According to Governor Cuomo’s office $1 million in continued funding was secured in the new budget to support the expansion of the Department of Labor’s staff of investigators. A permanent Joint Task Force on Employee Misclassification and Worker Exploitation was created three years ago to protect workers in a variety of industries where victims do not come forward for fear of retaliation.

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