8 Things New York Employers Can’t Legally Take Out of Your Paycheck
New York’s Department of Labor clawed back more than $35 million in stolen wages from over 5,000 employers last year.
It was the largest annual recovery the state has posted since 2015.
New York Labor Law 193 spells out exactly what an employer can hold back from a check, and the list of what it can’t touch is longer than many workers assume.
These are the deductions New York employers aren’t allowed to make, no matter how routine they sound at your workplace.
Note: This is general information, not legal advice. Wage rules and deduction limits are subject to change, so confirm the current requirements with the New York State Department of Labor’s Division of Labor Standards.
1. Fines for Lateness or Quitting
New York employers can’t dock your pay as a fine for showing up late, calling out sick, or walking off the job without notice.
The state’s Department of Labor names fines outright on its own list of illegal wage deductions.
Labor Law 193 limits deductions to two basic kinds: Money required by law, like taxes, and a short list of voluntary, employee-approved benefits.
That’s the whole list.
Some restaurants and retail shops still write disciplinary fines into an employee handbook as though it were ordinary company policy.
Handbook or not, the deduction stays illegal the moment it lands on a paycheck.
2. Cash Register Shortages
New York law bars employers from taking a cash-register shortage out of your check, even when the drawer comes up short at closing.
The state’s Department of Labor lists cash shortages by name, right alongside fines, on that same illegal-deductions page.
A manager who tells a worker the shortfall is coming out of their check is describing a decision the law doesn’t let them make, whether the shortfall is five dollars or fifty.
New York treats a short drawer as a cost of running the business, not a debt a worker owes.
That’s not the worker’s problem.
3. Broken or Spoiled Merchandise
New York employers also can’t bill a worker for a dropped tray, a broken glass, or stock that spoiled before it ever sold.
The state calls these “breakages,” and its Department of Labor bars them in the same breath as cash shortages and fines.
Accidents happen.
A busser who drops a stack of plates in Albany owes the restaurant nothing, no matter how the conversation with a manager goes afterward.
4. Walkouts and Property Damage
New York treats a walkout and a fender-bender the same way.
A table that skips out on the check in Buffalo and a company van that picks up a scratch in the parking lot both count as a loss the employer takes on, not the worker.
The Department of Labor’s illegal-deductions list bars “losses to the business” broadly, and both a walkout and a dented bumper fall under that heading.
The employer eats the cost.
Psst! Is your own paycheck playing by New York’s rules? Run through this checklist and find out.
5. Your Tools or Equipment
New York’s wage law also blocks employers from shifting the cost of job-required tools or equipment onto a worker’s paycheck.
Labor Law 193 permits deductions from one short list only, things like insurance premiums, pension contributions, and union dues, and tools never made that list.
Nothing there covers a toolbox.
New York’s Department of Labor’s illegal-deductions page separately lists any deduction outside Section 193 of the Labor Law as its own illegal category.
A paycheck-deducted drill or a charged-back set of kitchen knives falls squarely under it.
A line cook who buys their own knives out of pocket is covering something New York law never asked them to.
6. Uniform Costs or Cleaning Bills
New York’s hospitality wage order settles who pays for a required uniform: Not the worker wearing it.
It requires an employer to either launder the uniform or pay a weekly Uniform Maintenance Pay allowance on top of regular wages.
No exceptions.
It’s paid on top of regular wages, never instead of them.
New York found out how seriously it takes that rule in 2021.
The state recovered $590,000 for about 1,500 workers at a John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) contractor who’d been billed for laundering their own required uniforms.
What New York’s Uniform Rule Pays
New York’s uniform rule pays a set amount on top of regular wages, and the figure depends on hours worked and location.
Under the hospitality wage order, a worker putting in more than 30 hours a week is owed $21.10 weekly in New York City, Long Island, or Westchester County, and $19.85 weekly everywhere else in New York, as of 2026.
That money shows up as its own line on a pay stub, never folded into the hourly wage a worker already earns.
7. Replacement Paycheck Fees
New York employers can’t charge a worker for a replacement check either, even when the original got lost, torn, or never showed up.
The state’s Department of Labor names “charges for check replacement” outright on its illegal-deductions page.
That’s the department’s own wording.
A lost paycheck already costs a worker time, and New York law doesn’t let an employer add a fee on top for fixing its own mistake, or the bank’s.
8. Extra Paid Family Leave Withholding
New York caps how much employers can withhold for Paid Family Leave.
The Department of Labor lists Paid Family Leave (PFL) overcharges on that same illegal-deductions page for exactly that reason.
The 2026 employee contribution rate is 0.432% of gross wages, capped at $411.91 for the year.
That’s the ceiling.
New York sets that rate every year through the Department of Financial Services, and an employer that keeps withholding after a worker crosses the cap is taking money the law never authorized.
New York’s cap puts a stop to it there.
What New York Law Allows
New York law does leave employers a short list of deductions they’re allowed to make, but only with a worker’s written, voluntary sign-off.
That list covers things like insurance premiums, pension contributions, union dues, discounted transit passes, gym memberships, and charitable contributions taken straight from a paycheck.
Fourteen categories, and nothing else.
Even then, the employer has to spell out the terms in writing before the first deduction, not after, and a worker can cancel that authorization in writing at any time.
Nothing on that list resembles a fine, a shortage, or a broken plate.
Reporting an Illegal Deduction
New York’s Department of Labor takes wage complaints straight from a worker, without a manager’s sign-off first.
That’s not the last word.
New York’s Department of Labor recovered more than $35 million in stolen wages from over 5,000 employers in 2025 alone, the largest yearly total the state has posted since 2015.
New York’s Wage Theft Hotline routes a complaint straight to an investigator, no lawyer required and no need for the job to still be active.
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