Labor activists, NYC restaurant advocates ‘SWEAT’ it out over wage theft bill

Todd04242018328591-1024×680-1

A group of supporters of state legislation to combat wage theft across New York state slammed one of the city’s biggest boosters of the restaurant industry for opposing the bill.

The SWEAT Coalition, in an open letter to the New York City Hospitality Alliance on June 1, claimed the organization seemed more interested in protecting the bottom line of businesses rather than employees in standing against A.766, a bill that Manhattan Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal sponsored to stop unscrupulous employers from depriving their workers of a proper wage.

The alliance, however, charged that the current legislation is a road to hell paved with good intentions — as it contains provisions that could financially paralyze businesses and even their managers over the most basic claims of wage theft.