Michael Gartland is reporting for the New York Daily News according to a 2014 U.S. Department of Labor report, New York workers are cheated out of anywhere from $500 million and $1 billion in wages every year. Another study — conducted in 2015 — found that even when workers prevail in wage theft cases, more than the $126 million due to them has not been paid out. In 2019 alone, people filed about 5,800 lawsuits in New York federal courts involving the Fair Labor Standards Act, which covers minimum and overtime wage claims, as well as workplace retaliation. But even when workers win those cases, they often struggle to track down the money they are owed by their employers. To response to this problem, advocates are pushing the SWEAT Act. If signed into law, the measure would allow workers the ability to walk into their county clerk's office and file a lien against their employers if they are not paid what they are owed. Similar policies are already in effect in California and Wisconsin. The SWEAT Act is currently awaiting Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's review. Read the full story in the New York Daily News.