Filed Date: 11/8/1976
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 7/5/2016
HON. RONALD GLICKMAN Town Attorney, Huntington
This is in response to your recent letter to our office wherein you ask us whether or not the Town of Huntington may deduct from its employees' wages the cost of safety equipment provided by the Town to the employee where the employee loses same or fails to return same when so demanded.
Article 6 of the Labor Law regards the payment of wages, and Labor Law, §
It should be noted that section
Municipal Home Rule, § 10(1) [i, ii] (a) [12] provides that:
"1. In addition to powers granted in the constitution, the statute of local governments or in any other law,
"(i) every local government shall have power to adopt and amend local laws not inconsistent with the provisions of the constitution or not inconsistent with any general law relating to its property, affairs or government and,
"(ii) every local government, as provided in this chapter, shall have power to adopt and amend local laws not inconsistent with the provisions of the constitution or not inconsistent with any general law, relating to the following subjects, whether or not they relate to the property, affairs or government of such local government, except to the extent that the legislature shall restrict the adoption of such a local law relating to other than the property, affairs or government of such local government: "a. A county, city, town or village:
* * *
"(12) The government, protection, order, conduct, safety, health and well being of persons or property therein.* * *"
This grant of power to local governments to provide for the government, protection, order, conduct, safety, health and well being of persons or property subject to government's jurisdiction is to be liberally construed. (Krolick v. Lowery,
Our research has not revealed any authority of law which would prohibit a governmental agency employer from deducting from the wages of its employees the cost of safety equipment that has been provided to the employee by the governmental agency employer, and which has been lost by the employee or not returned to the employer upon demand. Since a governmental agency has the power to provide for deduction by any law, rule or regulation regarding non-governmental agency employers, it would, therefore, not be inconsistent with any general law or the constitution for the governmental agency employer to provide by local law for a deduction on the wages of its own employees. This power to enact a local law of this type would fall within the powers of the above-mentioned Municipal Home Rule Law, §
Insofar as the amount of any deduction is concerned, Feinberg
v. Board of Education of the City of New York,
Accordingly, we conclude that a town may adopt a local law to provide for the deduction from the wages of its employees the cost of safety equipment provided by the town to the employee that is lost or not returned upon demand.