Governor Hochul Signs Construction Reporting Pay Act: What You Need To Know

In recent years, the New York State legislature has been imposing additional requirements on how contractors treat, and pay, their workers. Many of these requirements relate to the payment of prevailing wages, but not exclusively. On September 9, 2026, Governor Hochul signed another one of these requirements, and this one applies to both prevailing wage and non-prevailing wage projects. These requirements go into effect on Tuesday, December 8, 2026.

The Construction Industry Reporting Pay Act enacts two new statutes, Labor Law § 196-e for non-prevailing wage jobs, and § 224-g for prevailing wage jobs. Both of these statutes generally parallel each other in that they both require contractors to pay their workers who report for work a certain minimum pay. For prevailing wage jobs, this minimum is four hours’ pay at the prevailing rate (including supplements), even if the actual time worked is less than those four hours. For non-prevailing wage projects, the pay is for the lesser of the time of the regularly scheduled shift, or four hours. Additionally, when workers are told not to report to work on less than 12 hours’ notice (for instance, when there is no work because of weather, owner or general contractor shutdowns, delivery problems, or emergencies), contractors are required to pay those workers two hours’ pay (which, for prevailing wage jobs, is at the prevailing rate and includes supplements). 

It is important to note that these statutes establish only minimum requirements. If an applicable prevailing wage scale, collective bargaining agreement, or project labor agreement requirement is more generous, those higher requirements control. Stated simply, the new statute does not reduce any obligations already imposed, it simply creates a minimum floor where there are no otherwise applicable requirements.

The takeaway for contractors is to make sure that where they have workers report to a jobsite, they have sufficient work to justify having the worker report. Further, while not mandated by the Act, contractors should seriously consider implementing a time-stamped method of giving and preserving cancellation notices. As liability results from failing to provide timely notice and make the required payment, not simply from failing to document the communication, without such documentation contractors are going to have difficulty proving that timely notice was provided. Another important takeaway is that payments required under § 196-e are expressly deemed wages, while payments under § 224-g are deemed prevailing wages or supplements. Accordingly, a violation may involve more than payment of the underlying two or four hours—it may trigger enforcement actions under the applicable wage-and-hour or prevailing-wage statutes. 

Since this is a new statute, the Department of Labor has not yet promulgated any regulations (as of the initial publication date of September 21, 2026) as to, for instance, what kind of communication will be deemed sufficient when a contractor calls off workers, how the term “promised hourly wage” will be interpreted, or how they otherwise need to document their compliance. So, as always, stay tuned, and reach out to me if you have any questions or would like more information about this, or any other employment-related requirement. I can be reached at gspaun@wbgllp.com, or by phone at (914) 607-6425.

If you would like more information regarding this topic please contact Gregory J. Spaun at gspaun@wbgllp.com or call (914) 607-6425