Your general contractor can owe wages a subcontractor never paid you

On construction sites, paychecks often come from subcontractors below the general contractor. If one does not pay, New York law lets you pursue it and the general contractor for covered unpaid wages, benefits, and wage supplements. A federal court ruled in 2025, however, that federal law blocks Section 198-e claims against a general contractor for union benefit-fund contributions required by a union contract.

The law covers wages earned on or after January 4, 2022, under contracts entered into, renewed, modified, or amended on or after that date. It excludes public works covered by Labor Law Article 8, owner-occupied home-improvement contracts, and most one- and two-family home construction. Claims reach back three years. Before you sue the general contractor, you or someone acting for you, such as a union, generally must give notice and wait 10 business days. Notice is not required if someone already notified the contractor of the same violation or an earlier violation by the same subcontractor. The attorney general can sue. Contractors can demand certified payroll records and withhold payment from subcontractors that do not provide them.

Sen. Jessica Ramos sponsored the Senate bill and Assemblymember Latoya Joyner the Assembly bill in 2021, after Ramos and then-Assemblymember Marcos Crespo introduced earlier versions in 2020. It passed the Assembly 122–25 and the Senate 50–13, with votes from both parties. Gov. Kathy Hochul signed it on September 6, 2021. A 2022 amendment sponsored again by Ramos and Joyner added the notice step and clarified the three-year limit.