TESTIMONY
Peter Fugiel, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations, on Enforcement Challenges of Fair Work Week Laws
1:12:01
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131 sec
Peter Fugiel, a postdoctoral research fellow at Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations, highlights issues with the enforcement of Fair Work Week laws in New York City and other jurisdictions.
- He points out the Office of Labor Policy and Standards (OLPS) is understaffed compared to peer agencies when accounting for population and caseloads.
- Despite successful settlements in 2022, less than 5% of covered workers received restitution through Fair Workweek enforcement.
- More public data and collaboration between OLPS, stakeholders, and researchers is needed to improve enforcement practices.
Peter Fugiel
1:12:01
Good morning.
1:12:01
Chairmening and members of the committee on consumer and worker protections.
1:12:07
My name is Peter Fugil.
1:12:09
I'm a post doctoral research fellow at the Rutgers School of Management And Labor Relations.
1:12:14
I'm currently conducting a comparative study of Fair Work Week Laws in 8 different jurisdictions, including New York City.
1:12:21
And this research is supported by an award from the National Science Foundation, although the views I'll be sharing today on my own.
1:12:30
I have submitted written testimony, which includes detailed citations to some relevant studies.
1:12:38
I just want to highlight a a few points.
1:12:41
One is that the office labor policy and standards is understaffed relative to peer agencies.
1:12:49
While the number of staff is the largest of, you know, the ones that I've looked at When you take into account population, it's they have 8 times the caseload, for example, of Seattle.
1:13:04
And similar much larger caseload than San Francisco.
1:13:09
Furthermore, the successful settlements has been remarkable But it's not clear that this is the best measure of success for Fair Work Week Enforcement.
1:13:18
Even in the banner year of 2022, only fewer than 5% of workers covered by Fair Workweek received any restitution through a settlement.
1:13:30
So we have to ask what about the other 95% of covered workers?
1:13:35
Unfortunately, this is difficult to evaluate with publicly available data OLPS could help shed light by releasing more data, including tallies of the types of allegations such as you asked for earlier.
1:13:50
And, you know, they can also partner with other stakeholders, including researchers, to conduct evaluation studies and help share the best practices, for example, around data analytics, with peer agencies to deliver on the promise of a Fair Work Week, not only in New York, but across the country.
