N.Y. Laws » CHAPTER Labor / ARTICLE Unemployment Insurance Law / TITLE Definitions
New York Consolidated Laws

N.Y. Labor Law § 512 (2026)

Employer

✓ text as retrieved May 2026 (this copy records no edition or section history)
Find cases: SyfertCases citing this section NY-LEGnysenate.gov Justiaon Justia CornellLII Search CasesGoogle Scholar 
§ 512. Employer. 1. "Employer" includes the state of New York and
other governmental entities and any Indian tribe as defined in section
five hundred sixty-six of this article and any person, partnership,
firm, association, public or private, domestic or foreign corporation,
the legal representatives of a deceased person, or the receiver,
trustee, or successor of a person, partnership, firm, association,
public or private, domestic or foreign corporation.
  2. For purposes of this article, the term "employer" includes the
non-profit organization or governmental entity designated as liable for
contributions under this article for all services performed by
individuals who are enrolled participants in a summer youth employment
program conducted and funded pursuant to title II, part B of the Federal
Job Training Partnership Act. The designation shall be made in writing
by the administrative entity for the service delivery area established
pursuant to said federal act in which the summer youth employment
program is operated, and shall become effective upon filing with the
commissioner.
  3. For the purpose of complying with the requirements of the federal
personal responsibility and work opportunity reconciliation act, public
law 104-193, the term "labor organizations" shall have the meaning given
such term in section two (5) of the national labor relations act, and
includes any entity (also known as a "hiring hall") which is used by the
organization and any employer to carry out requirements of an agreement
between the organization and the employer described in section eight
(f)(3) of such act. Such "labor organizations" shall be considered
employers for the purpose of submitting information to the "statewide
wage reporting system" as provided in section one hundred seventy-one-a
of the tax law.
  4. Whenever the commissioner determines that services performed by an
individual constitute employment but the supervision, direction and
control are exercised by one or more entities, and one entity places the
individual with, or provides the individual to, another entity to
perform the services, the entity that pays the individual for the
services shall be the employer under this article unless by contract the
individual is specified to be the employee of another entity, in which
case the other entity shall be the employer. Whenever such employer is
replaced by another entity such replacement shall be considered a
transfer pursuant to section five hundred eighty-one of this article.
This subdivision shall not apply to a payroll agency that the
commissioner determines provides payroll services on behalf of another
employer.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 9 cases (2 in the last 5 years), 1986–2025 · leading case: Matter of Viau (Commr. of Labor), 125 A.D.3d 1223 (N.Y. App. Div. 3d Dep't 2015).
Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment
Matter of Viau (Commr. of Labor), 125 A.D.3d 1223 (N.Y. App. Div. 3d Dep't 2015). “While the administrative powers of the Chief Administrative Judge may be extraordinarily broad, such authority does not exempt compliance with the Unemployment Insurance Law (see Labor Law § 512). Contrary to OCA’s contention, the Board’s decision does not impinge on any aspect…”
Engel v. Calgon Corp., 114 A.D.2d 108 (N.Y. App. Div. 3d Dep't 1986). “The Labor Law, on the other hand, contains a brief definition of "employer” (Labor Law § 512) and an extensive definition of "employment” (Labor Law § 511).”
In re Up State Fed. Credit Union, 246 A.D.2d 704 (N.Y. App. Div. 3d Dep't 1998). “Initially, we reject Up State’s contention that there was no “transferring employer” as required by Labor Law § 581.”
In re Claim of Hall, 162 A.D.2d 96 (N.Y. App. Div. 3d Dep't 1990). “Although "base period” and "employer” are statutorily defined by the Unemployment Insurance Law (see, Labor Law §§ 512, 520), there is no such definition of "base period employer”.”
In re the Claim of Kelley, 166 A.D.2d 822 (N.Y. App. Div. 3d Dep't 1990). “The term employee is not defined in the statute and the term employer is so largely encompassing that it provides no discriminating guidelines (see, Labor Law § 512). Similarly, the definition of the term employment, "any service under any contract of employment for hire” (Labor…”
In re the Claim of Tereshchuk, 235 A.D.2d 896 (N.Y. App. Div. 3d Dep't 1997). “The United Nations is not a covered employer under the Labor Law (see, Labor Law §§ 512, 562) because it is not subject to the taxing authority of this State and so cannot be required to pay unemployment insurance taxes (see, US Const art VI; 22 USC § 288a [b]).”
Matter of Mayo (Epstein--Comm'r of Labor), 193 A.D.3d 1199 (N.Y. App. Div. 3d Dep't 2021). “As a final matter, a receiver such as Epstein may be deemed an employer ( see Labor Law § 512 [1]), and we reject his contention that the Board's decision to do so here impinged upon judicial authority or otherwise offended public policy ( see e.”
Matter of Ito (Int'l Bus. Promotion, Inc.--Comm'r of Labor), 234 A.D.3d 1215 (N.Y. App. Div. 3d Dep't 2025). “IBP's remaining claims have been reviewed and found to be without merit.”
In re the Claim of Bohmova, 246 A.D.2d 940 (N.Y. App. Div. 3d Dep't 1998). “Inasmuch as the United Nations is immune from the taxing authority of this State and is therefore not required to pay unemployment insurance taxes (see, 22 USC § 288a [b]), it is not a covered employer under the Labor Law (see, Labor Law §§ 512, 562; see also, Matter of…”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.