Less than 3 percent of stolen wages are recovered by the Department of Labor, according to a report by worker advocacy groups.
Led by Assemblywoman Latoya Joyner and Sen. Brad Hoylman, workers and lawmakers will rally at the Capitol tomorrow calling for the passage of the "Empowering People in Rights Enforcement Worker Protection Act" which supporters are calling EMPIRE.
The rally will be held on Tuesday at 11 a.m. on the Million Dollar Staircase.
Advocates say that although the legislature passed strong protections against wage theft, a majority of workers still never see the money they are owed.
According to a report written by the progressive advocacy groups Make the Road New York and the Center for Popular Democracy, based off of FOIL requests from the DOL, public agencies are overwhelmed from a lack of funding.
The report found that the DOL lacks the resources and staffing needed to process these claims, with some of them taking well over three to five years.
The EMPIRE Act would allow workers to file claims against an employer on behalf of the state for any labor law violations.
The groups say it will also generate $17.7 million in annual revenue for the DOL from civil penalties recovered from these claims.