If your boss shorted your check, denied you sick time, or fired you for using protected leave, you have two enforcement systems in your corner — the New York State Department of Labor (NYSDOL) and the NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP). Both have real teeth in 2026. Neither will help you if you don’t file. This is the practical mechanics: which agency handles what, what to file, what happens after you file, and how long it actually takes.
Two phone numbers to write down before you keep reading:
- NYSDOL Labor Standards (wage theft, unpaid overtime, prevailing wage): (888) 525-2267 — live agent during business hours.
- NYSDOL minimum-wage hotline (added with the 2026 wage hike): (833) 910-4378.
- NYC DCWP Worker Hotline (paid safe and sick leave, NYC-specific worker protections): 311 — ask for “DCWP Office of Labor Policy and Standards.”
Which agency handles your problem
The split is straightforward.
NYSDOL investigates anything involving wages — minimum wage, overtime, unpaid final paychecks, illegal deductions, missing tips, withheld wage supplements (vacation, severance, expense reimbursement promised in writing). It also enforces the Wage Theft Prevention Act notice rules.
DCWP investigates the NYC-only protections — the Earned Safe and Sick Time Act (ESSTA), the Fair Workweek Law for fast food and retail, the Freelance Isn’t Free Act, and the Temporary Schedule Change Act. If your complaint is about being denied sick time, fired for using it, or an employer who never told you about your sick-time balance, DCWP is your lane.
If you’re not sure, call NYSDOL first. They route mis-filed complaints to DCWP and vice versa rather than closing them.
Wage theft: what counts and how to file
Wage theft in New York is broader than most people think — for a deeper case-by-case walkthrough, see our step-by-step recovery guide. It includes unpaid wages, unpaid overtime (1.5x your regular rate after 40 hours for non-exempt workers), being paid less than minimum wage, illegal deductions, kept tips, missing spread-of-hours pay (an extra hour at minimum wage when your shift spans more than 10 hours), and a final paycheck that never showed up.
Minimum wage in 2026: $17.00 per hour in New York City, Long Island, and Westchester. $16.00 per hour everywhere else in the state. Effective January 1, 2026.
The form: Labor Standards Complaint Form LS 223. Available at dol.ny.gov in English, Spanish, Chinese, Russian, Bengali, Haitian Creole, Korean, Polish, and several other languages. You can submit it by mail, in person at a NYSDOL office, or by uploading at dol.ny.gov/file-labor-standards-wage-theft-claim.
What to attach: pay stubs, your work schedule (texts, screenshots, photos of a posted schedule all count), any written wage notice your employer gave you when you were hired (the LS 59 / Notice of Pay Rate is what most employers give), bank deposit records, and a written statement of what you’re owed and for what dates. NYSDOL does not require you to have a lawyer.
The clock: you generally have six years from the date the wages should have been paid to file with NYSDOL. That window is generous on purpose — wage theft often surfaces months after a worker leaves a job.
What the new collection powers actually mean. Governor Hochul’s FY 2025-2026 Enacted Budget gave NYSDOL teeth that didn’t exist before. After a wage-theft judgment, NYSDOL can now place liens on employer property, issue warrants against employer bank accounts, seize financial assets, and issue stop-work orders against businesses that ignore the judgment. Practically, this changes the calculus for employers who used to ignore NYSDOL letters because the worst case was a slow-moving lawsuit. In 2026, the worst case is a frozen account and a padlocked storefront.
What happens after you file. NYSDOL acknowledges receipt by mail, assigns a case number, and typically opens an investigation within a few weeks. The investigator contacts your employer, demands payroll records, and tries to settle. If the employer disputes, the case goes to a hearing. Most cases close in 6 to 18 months. You will get periodic letters with case status. Keep the case number and update NYSDOL if you move.
Retaliation is illegal and carries its own penalty. If your employer fires, demotes, or cuts your hours after you file (or after they learn you’ve contacted NYSDOL), file a separate retaliation complaint immediately. You do not have to wait for the underlying wage case to resolve. If retaliation cost you the job, also start an unemployment insurance claim the same week.
Paid safe and sick leave: how ESSTA works in 2026
The Earned Safe and Sick Time Act covers nearly every worker in NYC, including part-time, per-diem, and most domestic workers. Coverage starts on day one of employment. Accrual starts immediately. You earn one hour of safe and sick leave for every 30 hours worked.
Annual paid caps by employer size:
- 100 or more employees: up to 56 hours of paid safe and sick leave per year.
- 5 to 99 employees: up to 40 hours of paid safe and sick leave per year.
- 4 or fewer employees: up to 40 hours per year. Whether those hours are paid or unpaid depends on the employer’s net income — DCWP’s current FAQ explains the threshold. If you work for a very small employer, call 311 to confirm which tier applies.
The new 32-hour unpaid bucket — effective February 22, 2026. ESSTA was amended this year to add an additional 32 hours of unpaid safe and sick time, separate from the paid bucket. The 32 hours land on you on your first day of employment, and they refresh on the first day of each calendar year. So at a 100-plus-employee company, you can now access up to 88 hours per year (56 paid + 32 unpaid). At a small business in the paid tier, the floor is 72 (40 + 32).
Qualifying reasons. You can use safe and sick time for your own illness or medical care, a family member’s illness or care, mental health appointments, prenatal care, recovery from domestic violence or workplace violence, pursuing safe housing, school closures during a public health emergency, and — newly added in 2026 — “public disasters,” defined as fires, explosions, terrorist attacks, severe weather, and emergencies declared by the U.S. president, New York governor, or NYC mayor.
The notice rule. Every NYC employer must give every employee a Notice of Employee Rights: Protected Time Off. DCWP published an updated version on February 22, 2026. The deadline to distribute the new notice to existing employees was March 24, 2026. New hires must receive it at hire. The notice must be posted at the worksite in English plus any language spoken as a primary language by at least 5% of employees, when DCWP has translated it.
How DCWP enforcement works in 2026
On February 20, 2026, DCWP sent compliance warnings to roughly 56,000 NYC employers and announced a “data-driven enforcement” strategy. Translated: DCWP now compares an employer’s recorded sick-time use against national sick-leave use rates. Workplaces with unusually low recorded sick-time use are flagged automatically. DCWP treats those flags as “strong evidence of potential violations” and opens enforcement without waiting for a worker complaint.
To file a DCWP complaint, call 311 or visit nyc.gov/dcwp and select “File a Worker Complaint.” You’ll provide your name (DCWP keeps complainants confidential when you ask), employer name and address, what happened, and dates. DCWP can investigate without naming you. You don’t need a lawyer. You don’t need pay stubs to start, though they help.
Penalties on the employer side. DCWP can order back pay for denied sick time, civil penalties, and — for repeat or willful violations — referrals to the city Law Department for litigation.
Where to get free help
- NYSDOL Wage Theft Hub — dol.ny.gov/wage-theft-hub. Searchable resource page with forms, FAQs, and contact information.
- DCWP Office of Labor Policy and Standards — nyc.gov/dcwp. Worker rights pages, multilingual notices, and the online complaint portal.
- 211 NYC — call 211 to be referred to free legal-aid clinics handling wage and hour cases. The referral list rotates and 211 has the current one.
Three deadlines to remember
- 6 years to file an LS 223 wage theft claim with NYSDOL.
- 2 years is the statute of limitations on most ESSTA private lawsuits, but there is no fixed deadline to file an administrative complaint with DCWP — the agency accepts filings any time the violation is current or recent.
- DCWP typically issues a determination on a sick-leave complaint within roughly six months, though complex investigations run longer. Wage cases at NYSDOL generally run longer than DCWP cases.
What to do tonight if you think you’ve been shorted
- Photograph or screenshot every pay stub, schedule, and text message about your hours.
- Write a one-page timeline: dates, hours worked, what you were paid, what you were promised.
- Decide which agency: wages → NYSDOL (LS 223). Sick leave → DCWP (call 311).
- Call the live line first — (888) 525-2267 for NYSDOL, 311 for DCWP — to confirm your case fits before you spend an hour filling out a form.
- If you’ve been fired or punished for asking, file a retaliation complaint the same day.
The systems work better than they used to. They still only work if you file.
Last verified: May 9, 2026.
