New York Penal Law § 135.35: Labor Trafficking

Last Updated on: 1st June 2025, 10:09 pm

New York Labor Trafficking Laws: When Employment Crosses the Line Into Modern Slavery

Last year, a Queens restaurant owner got hit with labor trafficking charges. Not because he chained workers to the stove. Because he threatened to call ICE when kitchen staff asked for their wages. A Brooklyn construction contractor faces 20 years because he held onto workers’ passports “for safekeeping.”

New York Penal Law Section 135.35 defines labor trafficking as compelling or inducing another person to engage in labor, or recruiting, enticing, harboring, or transporting someone for labor through force, fraud, or coercion.

Sounds straightforward, right? Wrong.

These prosecutions are multiplying across nail salons, warehouses, farms upstate. The cases keep piling up – the 2023 Federal Human Trafficking Report documents new trafficking prosecutions filed nationwide, with New York consistently ranking near the top. A lot of legitimate business owners get caught up in these investigations, sometimes without realizing their standard employment practices crossed into criminal territory. The statute casts a wide net. Physical restraint isn’t required. Threatening to report someone to immigration authorities, counts as coercion. Deducting housing costs from paychecks, becomes debt bondage. Convincing workers they have limited options, qualifies as psychological manipulation under the law. This isn’t a minor charge – labor trafficking is a Class D felony in New York, carrying up to seven years in prison. But that’s just where the problems begin.

Federal prosecutors usually pile on charges under 18 U.S.C. § 1589, adding another 20 years of potential prison time.

Here’s the thing – state and federal government lawyers coordinate, share evidence, stack charges. A simple state wage investigation morphs into federal trafficking charges overnight. The overlap between New York’s labor laws and federal trafficking statutes means prosecutors charge the same conduct under multiple theories. This dual prosecution strategy exploded after 2020, particularly targeting businesses with immigrant employees.

Construction and restaurants see most New York trafficking prosecutions.

There’s specific reasons why.

Prosecutors focus on workers with limited options – recent immigrants, people with records, anyone struggling financially. The employment starts normally. Then wages get delayed. Deductions pile up. Documents disappear “for safekeeping.” Housing gets tied to the job. Workers hear they’ll be deported for complaining, their families threatened. The isolation is deliberate – frequent moves, monitored phones, no outside contact. When law enforcement finally intervenes, traumatized workers often can’t provide clear testimony, which cuts both ways in court. Construction relies on subcontractor chains – general contractors hire subs who hire more subs who bring in out-of-state crews. Money trickles down these layers, accountability vanishes. Recent Brooklyn and Queens cases involved crews earning fractions of prevailing wages, packed into basements, threatened with ICE calls.

Restaurant cases follow similar patterns – workers recruited overseas, promised legal status and good wages, then working 80-hour weeks for pennies.

That 2023 Manhattan Chinatown case? Workers sleeping in basements, pulling shifts from 6 AM to midnight, wages withheld for months. Cultural and language barriers complicate everything – prosecutors frame normal immigrant community practices as evidence of control. Red flags for investigators expanded far beyond locked doors and confiscated passports. ICE, Department of Labor, trafficking task forces – they all scrutinize businesses employing immigrants. Workers without their own IDs. Employers cashing paychecks. Manager translating for workers? Evidence of control. Helping set up bank accounts? More control.

Investigators deploy informants, surveillance, financial analysis, social media scraping.

New York criminal justice data confirms the trend – labor complaints increasingly trigger full trafficking investigations. Prosecutors developed workarounds for uncooperative victims. Most don’t consider themselves victims, fear police, or stick to coached stories. So prosecutors build circumstantial cases – financial records proving underpayment, housing records showing control, testimony from workers who left. Expert witnesses explain trauma bonding. Financial forensics got sophisticated – tracing money flows, comparing reported payroll to actual hours, pattern analysis through banking records. They leverage civil proceedings too, using Labor Department investigations to gather criminal evidence.

At Spodek Law Group, defense strategies target specific prosecutorial weaknesses.

Coercion requires more than tough employment conditions. Economic pressure alone doesn’t satisfy the statute. The analysis examines whether workers had real alternatives, could actually leave, faced genuine versus perceived threats. Poor conditions don’t equal trafficking – prosecutors intentionally blur this line. Knowledge matters too – in subcontractor situations, did the defendant actually know about worker conditions? Business owners get swept up for subordinates’ actions they never knew about. Constitutional violations sink cases. Warrantless searches, coerced statements, due process violations plague trafficking investigations. Cases get dismissed for illegal surveillance, administrative warrant abuse, attorney-client privilege violations.

Prosecutors must prove each element beyond reasonable doubt.

“Knowingly” means actual awareness, not negligence. “Compelled or induced” requires more than job offers. “Force, fraud, or coercion” – where cases crumble. Economic necessity isn’t coercion. Cultural differences aren’t fraud. Strict rules aren’t force. Every piece of evidence requires this scrutiny. Employment records reflecting industry norms, not trafficking. Communal living common in immigrant communities, not “harboring.” Requested salary advances, not debt bondage.

Labor trafficking law expanded from combating slavery to criminalizing questionable employment practices.

Section 135.35 convictions trigger cascading consequences. Automatic asset forfeiture – everything remotely connected gets seized. Business licenses revoked, industry bans imposed. Non-citizens face mandatory deportation, permanent inadmissibility. Financial ruin continues post-release – civil suits from victims, substantial damages. Medical, legal, financial licenses gone. The trafficking stigma makes rebuilding nearly impossible. Plea deals don’t help – any trafficking admission triggers these consequences. Business owners using subcontractors face particular risks. Documentation and compliance matter. Maintain complete employment records. Workers keep their own documents. Pay wages directly, never through intermediaries. Housing separate from employment.

Subcontractor due diligence is critical – verify their practices, maintain distance, document oversight.

Discovering subcontractor trafficking? Criminal defense counsel comes first. “Fixing” situations becomes consciousness of guilt. The line between victim of rogue subcontractors and liable employer barely exists. Previously civil wage disputes now trigger criminal prosecutions. Prosecutors, pressured to show trafficking enforcement, stretch statutes beyond recognition. Family businesses, cultural employment norms, informal industry practices – all become targets. Immigration enforcement overlap compounds problems – workers needing protection become criminal evidence instead.

Under investigation? Every move matters.

Speaking to investigators without counsel – innocent explanations become admissions. Record destruction – those charges stick when others don’t. “Fixing” problems, paying owed wages – consciousness of guilt. Contacting witnesses – instant tampering charges. Good intentions mean nothing to prosecutors. Defendants often ran standard businesses, following industry practices. Federal-state coordination, immigration complications – experienced criminal defense matters from day one.

Don’t Let Labor Trafficking Charges Destroy Your Future

Section 135.35 charges threaten everything. Spodek Law Group routinely handles trafficking matters statewide, working through both legal technicalities and human costs. The firm understands government tactics and defense strategies. Business owner caught in subcontractor problems? Facing direct allegations? The firm works to protect freedom, assets, futures. Contact: 212-210-1851 for consultation. Earlier involvement typically improves outcomes.