THE NEW YORK STATE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR ANNOUNCES RECOVERY OF NEAR...
The New York State Department of Labor (NYSDOL) today announced it has secured $674,526 in back wages for 7,577 employees of The TJX Companies, Inc., the parent company of retail brands T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, HomeGoods, Homesense, and Sierra. The recovery follows a proactive NYSDOL investigation and subsequent self-audit of the company’s approximately 185 locations in New York State for spread of hours violations. This successful investigation underscores Governor Kathy Hochul’s ongoing commitment to combating wage theft and protecting the rights of New York’s workforce.
New York State Department of Labor Commissioner Roberta Reardon said, “Ensuring New York workers receive the wages they are owed is a commitment we take seriously. I want to thank our dedicated investigators for their meticulous work, and The TJX Companies for their prompt cooperation in resolving this matter. Under Governor Hochul's leadership, we will continue to use every tool at our disposal to ensure workers receive every penny they have rightfully earned."
In April 2023, NYSDOL investigators conducted a proactive, unannounced visit to a Marshalls store on White Plains Road in the Bronx. Investigators requested and reviewed payroll records, discovering a potential failure to pay employees for spread of hours.
Under New York State labor law, the spread of hours rule stipulates that on any day in which the spread of hours, the interval between the beginning and end of an employee's workday, exceeds 10 hours, the employee must receive one additional hour of pay at the basic minimum wage rate.
NYSDOL proposed that The TJX Companies conduct a comprehensive self-audit across the corporation’s stores in New York State, covering the period from August 2020 to August 2023. The TJX Companies cooperated fully throughout the process and promptly produced all requested records. As a result of the audit, TJX Companies paid out $674,526 to 7,577 employes, with amounts owed to individual employees reaching as high as $4,686.
Fighting Wage Theft
As part of Governor Hochul’s ongoing efforts to protect the paychecks of New Yorkers, her Fiscal Year 2025-2026 Enacted Budget expanded NYSDOL’s authority to recover wages by issuing warrants and seizing financial assets to enforce unpaid wage theft orders. In 2025, the New York State Department of Labor recovered over $35 million in lost wages and collected $2.2 million in penalties from wage theft-related cases. The funds were recovered from more than 5,000 employers and represent the highest annual amount since 2015. Since Governor Hochul took office in 2021, NYSDOL has recovered and returned more than $130 million to nearly 125,000 workers.
Workers who believe they have been victims of wage theft are encouraged to contact NYSDOL and file a complaint on the Department’s website. For more information, visit NYSDOL’s Wage Theft Hub.
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