New York DOLI Labor Standards Wage Claim Employer Response

The situation

Rosa, 44, owns a home care staffing agency in Queens, NY, QuickCare Home Health, 18 employees (mostly home health aides). In March 2026 DOLI Labor Standards notified her of a wage claim: a former aide alleges Rosa owes her $2,340 in unpaid overtime for 2024. Rosa says the aide was a "companion" (overtime-exempt under NY law for 24-hour live-in care arrangements). Rosa has 21 days to respond to DOLI's Request for Employer Information.

What Rosa doesn't know: (a) DOLI's automatic 100% liquidated damages means if the $2,340 claim succeeds, Rosa owes $4,680, plus interest and attorney's fees. (b) NY's companion services exemption was significantly narrowed by the Court of Appeals decision in Andryeyeva v. New York Health Care (2019), the exemption no longer applies to home health aides placed by third-party agencies. Rosa's primary defense may not hold. (c) She never provided written wage notices (Form LS 59) to her aides in their primary language (Spanish) at hire, WTPA violation exposure: $50/day per employee up to $5,000 per employee. With 18 employees, WTPA exposure alone could be $90,000.

Who receives this

New York small employers (1–50 employees) in home care, food service, hospitality, retail, and construction receiving DOLI Labor Standards information requests. Primary segments: home care agencies facing companion services overtime disputes; restaurants facing tip credit, overtime, and spread-of-pay claims; construction firms facing prevailing wage disputes.

Why the agency will not advise you

DOLI cannot advise respondent employers on how to contest its own wage investigations. NY's automatic 100% liquidated damages + WTPA per-employee daily penalties create massive exposure that employers don't understand without legal guidance. Governor Hochul's 2025-2026 enforcement expansion (liens, stop-work orders) raises the stakes dramatically. No employer response drafting tool found.

Key facts, with sources

• The New York Department of Labor (DOLI), Division of Labor Standards, processes approximately 8,000–12,000 wage claims per year, the highest-volume state wage enforcement program in the US. Governor Hochul's FY 2025-2026 Enacted Budget significantly expanded NYSDOL enforcement authority: new powers to place liens on employers' real property, issue warrants to seize financial assets, and issue stop-work orders following a wage theft judgment. These enforcement expansions make early, substantive employer responses more critical than ever. Source: Wage Theft Hub — New York Department of Labor · What to Expect from a Labor Standards Wage Claim Investigation — NY DOLI
• New York Labor Law § 198(1-a) mandates automatic 100% liquidated damages on unpaid wage claims, the court or agency MUST award liquidated damages equal to the amount of unpaid wages, unless the employer establishes a 'good faith' defense. NY's Wage Theft Prevention Act (WTPA) requires employers to provide written wage notices (in the employee's primary language) at hire and upon any wage change; failure to provide compliant notices creates separate per-employee daily penalties of $50/day up to $5,000 per employee. NY's 'spread of pay' rule (12 NYCRR § 146-1.6) requires an extra hour of pay at minimum wage when an employee works more than 10 hours in a day, a unique NY obligation with no federal equivalent. Source: Labor Standards Complaint Process — New York Department of Labor · Wage Theft in New York State: How Employees Can Spot It — Tully Rinckey PLLC

When to bring in a professional

Self-serve responses fit routine cases: clear facts, amounts a business can absorb, and a deadline still ahead of you. Bring in a licensed professional when the amount at stake is large relative to their fee, the facts are genuinely disputed, criminal exposure is possible, or the deadline has already passed. A short paid consultation to sanity-check your plan is often worth it even when you handle the filing yourself.

All sources for this guide

1. Wage Theft Hub — New York Department of Labor
2. What to Expect from a Labor Standards Wage Claim Investigation — NY DOLI
3. Labor Standards Complaint Process — New York Department of Labor
4. Wage Theft in New York State: How Employees Can Spot It — Tully Rinckey PLLC