Section 191 of the New York Labor Law (“NYLL”), entitled “Frequency of Payments,” establishes how often New York employers must pay various classes of workers. Section 191(1)(a)(i) requires “manual workers” to “be paid weekly and not later than seven days after the end of the week in which the wages are earned,” with exceptions for non-profit organizations and certain large employers authorized by the Labor Commissioner to pay their manual workers less frequently.

The NYLL has had a weekly payment requirement for certain employees since 1890. The original iteration, entitled “An Act to Provide Weekly Payments of Wages by Corporations” and known simply as the “Weekly Pay Act,” applied to “laborers and workmen” of manufacturing, mining, lumbering, railroad, and telephone companies (among other similar entities), and empowered State “factory inspectors” to recover statutory penalties for violations.  See L. 1890, ch. 388, § 1; People v. City of Buffalo, 11 N.Y.S. 314 (5th Dep’t 1890) (interpreting the definition of “employee” under the act).