Neu v. Amelia US LLC
226 A.D.3d 515, 208 N.Y.S.3d 183, 2024 N.Y. Slip Op. 02019
Appellate Division, First Department · April 16, 2024
What the court decided
An employment contract promised a $425,000 salary and a cash bonus of 35% of salary per year; the employee alleged he was paid only 75% of his 2022 bonus and less than the prorated bonus and salary severance he was owed. Those "earnings . . . for labor or services rendered" were wages, and the complaint stated a claim for "unauthorized failure to pay wages" under § 193(5). Labor Law wage claims can be brought alongside a contract claim, and being a highly paid executive did not require dismissal. Complaining that the nondiscretionary bonus had been unlawfully withheld was protected activity, and firing him less than a month later stated a retaliation claim under § 215.
Who won
The employee won on appeal. The dismissal of his Labor Law §§ 193, 198 and 215 claims was unanimously reversed and the claims were reinstated.
Why it matters for salespeople
The clearest appellate application of the 2021 amendment to an unpaid bonus. Note the limit the court repeated: you cannot bring a wage-law claim for pay you had no enforceable right to in the first place.
Key passage: 226 A.D.3d 515 at 515-516.
We do not host a copy of this decision. The full text is available free from New York State Law Reporting Bureau (official slip opinion).
This page summarizes the decision in plain language.