2023 New York Laws › LAB - Labor › Article 12-A - Special Task Force for the Apparel Industry › 345 - Violations, Penalties, Procedures.

§  345.  Violations,  penalties,  procedures.  1.  Any manufacturer or
contractor in the apparel industry who has failed  to  comply  with  the
registration  requirements  of  section  three hundred forty-one of this
article shall be deemed to have violated this article.
2. Any manufacturer or contractor in  the  apparel  industry  who  has
failed  to  comply within the time specified by law with an order issued
by the commissioner to comply  with  the  registration  requirements  of
section  three hundred forty-one of this article shall be deemed to have
violated this article.
3.  Any  manufacturer  or  contractor  in  the  apparel  industry  who
contracts  for  the  performance  of  any  apparel  industry service, as
defined in section three hundred forty of this article, with  any  other
manufacturer  or  contractor  who  is required to register, but whom the
manufacturer or contractor knows has failed to register, failed to renew
its registration or has had its registration revoked by the commissioner
shall be deemed to have violated this article.
4. (a) The commissioner may impose a civil penalty upon a manufacturer
or contractor of up to one thousand five hundred dollars for the initial
violation of subdivision one, two or three of this  section  and  up  to
three  thousand  dollars  for  the  second  or  subsequent  violation of
subdivision one, two or  three  of  this  section.  Instead  of,  or  in
addition to, such civil penalty, the commissioner may assess and collect
an administrative penalty of not more than two hundred fifty dollars for
the  first  violation and of not more than five hundred dollars for each
subsequent violation. No administrative penalty shall be levied pursuant
to this paragraph unless the commissioner  provides  the  violator  with
notification  of  the violation and of the penalty by certified mail and
with an opportunity to request a hearing within fifteen  days  following
receipt  of such notice. If a hearing is requested, the commissioner may
issue a final order upon such hearing and a finding that a violation has
occurred. If no hearing is requested, such notice shall become  a  final
order  upon  the  expiration of such fifteen-day period. Payment of such
administrative penalty is due when a final order is issued or  when  the
notice  becomes  a  final  order.  Any  administrative  penalty  imposed
pursuant to this paragraph may be recovered with costs upon an appeal to
the  appellate  division  of  the  supreme  court  pursuant  to  article
seventy-eight  of  the  civil  practice  law  and rules and upon a final
determination that the finding of the commissioner  was  in  error.  Any
civil  or administrative penalty paid pursuant to this subdivision shall
be applied to enforcement and administrative costs of the  special  task
force.  In  assessing  the amount of the penalty, the commissioner shall
give due consideration to the size of the manufacturer's or contractor's
business, its good faith, the gravity of the violation, the  history  of
previous   violations   of   this  article  and  the  manufacturer's  or
contractor's compliance with the recordkeeping or  other  provisions  of
this chapter.
(b)  The order imposing such civil penalty may be served personally or
by certified mail. Such order shall be in writing and shall describe the
nature of the  violation,  including  reference  to  the  provisions  of
subdivision  one,  two  or  three  of  this section alleged to have been
violated.
5. (a) An order issued under this  section  shall  be  final  and  not
subject  to  review by any court or agency unless review is had pursuant
to section one hundred one of this chapter.
(b) Provided that no proceeding for administrative or judicial  review
as  provided  in  this  chapter  shall  then be pending and the time for
initiation of such proceeding shall have expired, the  commissioner  may
file  with  the county clerk of the county where the employer resides or

has a place of business the order of the commissioner or the decision of
the industrial board of appeals  containing  the  amount  of  the  civil
penalty.  The filing of such order or decision shall have the full force
and  effect of a judgment duly docketed in the office of such clerk. The
order or decision may be enforced by and in the name of the commissioner
in the same manner, and with like effect,  as  that  prescribed  by  the
civil practice law and rules for the enforcement of a money judgment.
6.  If  any  manufacturer  or  contractor  shall have failed to comply
within twenty days of an order by the commissioner to register or  renew
registration,   the  commissioner  may  seek  to  enjoin  such  unlawful
activity, pursuant to the civil practice law and rules.
7. (a) No manufacturer or contractor shall perform  services  or  hold
itself   out   as  being  able  to  perform  services  as  a  registered
manufacturer unless  such  manufacturer  or  contractor  holds  a  valid
registration  pursuant  to  this  article. The intentional failure of an
apparel manufacturer or  contractor  to  comply  with  the  registration
requirements of section three hundred forty-one of this article shall be
a  class  B  misdemeanor. The officers and agents of any corporation who
knowingly  permit  such  corporation   to   violate   the   registration
requirements of section three hundred forty-one of this article shall be
guilty of a class B misdemeanor.
(b)  A  manufacturer  or contractor which knowingly violates paragraph
(a) of this subdivision within three years of having been  found  guilty
of  violating this subdivision shall be guilty of a class A misdemeanor,
as defined in the penal law.
8. (a) The commissioner may, after a hearing thereon,  require,  as  a
condition of continued registration, the payment of a surety bond or may
revoke the registration of any manufacturer or contractor for any period
ranging from thirty days to one year upon being found guilty of a second
violation  of  the  same  provision  of this article within any two-year
period. In assessing whether to require a surety  bond  or  revoke  such
registration,  the commissioner shall give due consideration to the size
of the manufacturer's or contractor's  business,  its  good  faith,  the
gravity  of  the  violation,  the history of previous violations and the
manufacturer's or contractor's  compliance  with  the  recordkeeping  or
other provisions of this chapter.
(b)  Such  surety  bond shall be payable to the state and shall be for
the benefit  of  production  employees  damaged  by  any  failure  of  a
manufacturer  or contractor to pay wages or benefits or otherwise comply
with the provisions of this chapter. Such surety bond shall  be  in  the
sum and form that the commissioner shall deem to be necessary to protect
such  production  employees  but  shall  in  no  case exceed twenty-five
hundred dollars per production employee.
9. Any manufacturer or contractor who contracts, for the  second  time
within  any  three  year  period,  for  the  performance  of any apparel
industry service, as defined in section  three  hundred  forty  of  this
article, with any other manufacturer or contractor whom the manufacturer
or   contractor  knows  has  failed  to  comply  with  the  registration
requirements of section three hundred forty-one of this  article  shall,
if  such  other  manufacturer  or contractor has failed to pay any civil
penalty  assessed  under  subdivision  one  of  section  three   hundred
forty-five  of  this  article, be liable to pay a civil penalty equal to
the civil penalty that such other manufacturer or  contractor  has  been
assessed.  Nothing  herein shall affect the right of any manufacturer to
possess or repossess any apparel, or sections or components of  apparel,
that are located at any contractor with whom it has contracted.
10.  (a)  Any  manufacturer  or contractor in the apparel industry who
ships, delivers or sells any apparel or sections of apparel; who knew or

should have known that such goods were produced in violation of  article
six  or  nineteen of this chapter, shall be deemed to have violated this
article;
(b)  Any  retailer  who  sells any apparel or sections of apparel, who
knew or should have known that such goods were produced in violation  of
article  six  or  nineteen  of  this  chapter,  shall  be deemed to have
violated this article. Except that no violation of this article shall be
deemed to have occurred if the retailer acquired the apparel or sections
of apparel without notice from the commissioner  of  any  violations  of
article  six  or  nineteen  of  this  chapter  and  with  the written or
electronically transmitted assurance of such manufacturer or contractor,
given before or after production, whether  as  part  of  the  retailer's
vendor  approval process, purchase contract requirements, electronically
transmitted purchase order acknowledgments or  invoices,  or  otherwise,
that  such  goods  would  be,  or were, produced in compliance with this
article or, generally, all applicable laws; and
(c) Subject to the exceptions in paragraph (b)  of  this  subdivision,
the supreme court of the state shall have jurisdiction, upon petition of
the  attorney  general,  to  restrain  the  shipping,  delivery, sale or
purchase by any manufacturer,  contractor  or  retailer  of  apparel  or
sections  of  apparel  upon  a  showing that such apparel or sections of
apparel were, during the previous one hundred eighty days,  produced  in
violation  of  article  six  or  nineteen  of  this  chapter  or sold in
violation of paragraph (a) or (b) of this subdivision.  Such  proceeding
shall be brought in the county in which the violation is alleged to have
taken place. In any such proceeding the court may make allowances to the
attorney general provided in paragraph six of subdivision (a) of section
eighty-three  hundred  three  of  the  civil  practice law and rules. In
connection with such application, the attorney general is authorized  to
take  proof  and make a determination of the relevant facts and to issue
subpoenas in accordance with the civil practice law and rules.