An estimated $203m in wages has been stolen from New York’s workers over a five-year period ending 2021, with the biggest amount, $52m, taken from restaurant staff, federal and state data recently revealed.

Despite New York’s existing civil wage protection law, on 6 September Governor Kathy Hochul signed a bill expanding the state’s definition of larceny to include wage theft, making it easier for the state to prosecute offenders.