§ 860-h. Civil penalty. 1. An employer who fails to give notice as required by paragraph (b) of subdivision one of section eight hundred sixty-b of this article is subject to a civil penalty of not more than five hundred dollars for each day of the employer's violation. The employer is not subject to a civil penalty under this section if the employer pays to all applicable employees the amounts for which the employer is liable under section eight hundred sixty-g within three weeks from the date the employer orders the mass layoff, relocation, or employment loss.

Terms Used In N.Y. Labor Law 860-H

  • Employer: means any business enterprise that employs fifty or more employees, excluding part-time employees, or fifty or more employees that work in the aggregate at least two thousand hours per week. See N.Y. Labor Law 860-A
  • Employment loss: means :

    (a) an employment termination, other than a discharge for cause, voluntary departure, or retirement;

    (b) a mass layoff exceeding six months;

    (c) a reduction in hours of work of more than fifty percent during each month of any consecutive six-month period. See N.Y. Labor Law 860-A
  • Mass layoff: means a reduction in force which:

    (a) is not the result of a plant closing; and

    (b) results in an employment loss at a single site of employment during any thirty-day period for:

    (i) at least thirty-three percent of the employees (excluding part-time employees); and

    (ii) at least twenty-five employees (excluding part-time employees); or

    (iii) at least two hundred fifty employees (excluding part-time employees). See N.Y. Labor Law 860-A
  • Relocation: means the removal of all or substantially all of the industrial or commercial operations of an employer to a different location fifty miles or more away. See N.Y. Labor Law 860-A

2. The total amount of penalties for which an employer may be liable under this section shall not exceed the maximum amount of penalties for which the employer may be liable under federal law for the same violation.

3. Any penalty amount paid by the employer under federal law shall be considered a payment made under this article.

4. If an employer proves to the satisfaction of the commissioner that the act or omission that violated this article was in good faith and that the employer had reasonable grounds for believing that the act or omission was not a violation of this article, the commissioner may in his or her discretion reduce the amount of the penalty provided for in this section. In determining the amount of such reduction, the commissioner shall consider (a) of the size of the employer; (b) the hardships imposed on employees by the violations; (c) any efforts by the employer to mitigate the violation; and (d) the grounds for the employer's belief.