At-Will Employment

• Unless employers hire their employees through individual employment contracts or collective bargaining agreements, New York law presumes that employers and their employees have employment at-will relationships. This means that employers can terminate their employees at will or demote them without providing justification. However, employers cannot demote or fire their employees for illegal reasons. Illegal reasons include demoting or terminating an employee for exercising her legal employment rights based on discriminatory factors or for reporting illegal employment activity.
  
  

New York State Human Rights Law

• New York employers cannot demote their employees based on gender, age, color, sexual orientation, marital status, military status, prior criminal records, volunteer activities and genetic information. The New York State Division of Human Rights enforces the New York State Human Rights Law. The division also assists the federal U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Collectively, the federal equal employment opportunity laws and the New York State Human Rights Law prohibit employers from basing their demotions on discriminatory reasons.
  
  

New York Labor Law 215

• Pursuant to New York Labor Law 215, employers must provide written notices to their employees of their applicable pay rates when they initially hire them. This law requires that employers notify their employees of any new changes before they take place. Furthermore, employers are required to pay their employees on regularly instituted paydays and must provide them with written pay stubs or written itemization of their wages and any deductions.
  
  

Wage Theft Prevention Act

• In 2010, the New York State General Assembly enacted new wage and hour legislation governing employment pay standards. The new law -- the Wage Theft Prevention Act -- became effective on April 9, 2011. The act imposes additional pay requirements on employers and supplements the New York Labor Law 215. Pursuant to the Wage Theft Prevention Act, employers must also annually provide their existing employees with written wage statements by Feb. 1 of each year, in addition to providing their new hires with their pay notices.
  
  

Wage Notice

• The New York Wage Theft Prevention Act further requires employers to provide annual notices to each of their employees, describing their pay methods, place of pay and overtime rates. Employers are also required to provide each of their employees with specific allowance and deduction statements that itemize any pay deductions. Employers must provide each of their employees with this notice in English and in their primary languages.
  
  

Demotion Notice

• Employers who demote their employees must give their employees a notice of any demotions, including pay changes at least one week before they demote them or reduce their compensation. Employers must provide this notice in writing. Upon an employee's request, they must provide him with a written explanation of how they calculated their new compensation rate.
  
  

Penalties

• Employers who violate the Wage Theft Prevention Act by failing to provide their demoted employees with new wage statements face damages of up to $50 for each employee for each week they fail to provide the new information. Furthermore, employers may have to pay additional penalties for liquidated damages. However, when employers demote their employees and provide them with necessary wage statements at least one week before they implement their demotions, they can terminate their employees who refuse to perform their new duties.