InfoBytes Blog
NY Issues Proposed Rules to Manage How Employers Pay Workers Using Debit Cards
On May 27, the Governor of New York State announced that the state Department of Labor published new proposed rules intended to better regulate employers who pay their employees using debit cards. The proposed regulations detail the responsibilities of employers that use debit cards to pay employees, and prohibit employers from profiting from or passing along costs to employees. In addition, the proposed rules prohibit employers from imposing fees (such as those for customer service, account maintenance, overdraft, and inactivity), and require employers to (i) obtain advance consent, which must be documented and kept on record for six years; (ii) make known to employees the local locations where their wages can be accessed for free; and (iii) provide unlimited free ATM withdrawals within a local network, including a method to withdraw the full amount of wages each pay period without penalty. The regulations will take effect following a 45-day notice and comment period.