S 448 New York Senate · 2025 Regular Session

Enacts the Empowering People in Rights Enforcement (EMPIRE) Worker Protection Act

This bill creates a new enforcement mechanism allowing certain workers, whistleblowers, or labor organizations to file public lawsuits on behalf of New York's labor department to address violations of specific labor laws. It enables private parties to initiate enforcement actions for issues like unpaid wages or misclassification (covered under Articles 5, 6, 9, 19, 19-A, 19-B, and 25-A), with civil penalties collected going to the state treasury. The law aims to supplement limited public enforcement resources by empowering workers and organizations to act as "private attorneys general" while protecting whistleblowers from retaliation. It explicitly excludes government agencies as targets and applies only to violations covered by designated labor law sections.

Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2025

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Jan 8, 2025 Last action Dec 24, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 3 comparisons

What changed between versions

S448B → S448C · 5 edits

MODERATE

This bill revision changes the article number from 37 to 38 and updates the definition of 'affected employee' to include models (influencers) alongside traditional employees. The legislative findings section was renumbered to accommodate the new definition, removing the original 'affected employee' definition and replacing it with expanded language that covers both employees and models.

Scope change

The bill now applies to models (influencers) in addition to traditional employees, expanding who can bring enforcement actions under this worker protection act.

SCOPE

Article number changed from 37 to 38 in the labor law amendment.

ELIGIBILITY

Added models (influencers) as a protected category alongside employees who can bring enforcement actions.

DEFINITION

Expanded the 'affected employee' definition to include models engaged by model management companies, model management groups, or clients.

Removed the previous standalone definition of 'affected employee' and integrated it into the new expanded definition.

TECHNICAL

Renumbered legislative findings from 3-9 to 1-9 to accommodate the new definition structure.

Floor votes

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Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Amendments

Dec 24, 2025

Upper · Passed

PRINT NUMBER 448C

upper

Dec 24, 2025

Upper · Passed

AMEND AND RECOMMIT TO LABOR

upper

Nov 26, 2025

Upper · Passed

PRINT NUMBER 448B

upper

Nov 26, 2025

Upper · Passed

AMEND AND RECOMMIT TO LABOR

upper

Mar 19, 2025

Upper · Passed

PRINT NUMBER 448A

upper

Mar 19, 2025

Upper · Passed

AMEND AND RECOMMIT TO LABOR

upper

Jan 8, 2025

Committee

REFERRED TO LABOR

upper

1 primary · 32 co-sponsors