AGENCY TESTIMONY
Comptroller's Office Testimony on Intro 910: Wage Standards for City-Assisted Housing Projects
1:10:36
·
3 min
Claudia Enriquez, Director of Worker Rights and the Bureau of Labor Law at the NYC Comptroller's Office, testifies on Intro 910, which establishes wage standards for city-assisted housing development projects. She expresses support for the bill while suggesting technical edits to strengthen the legislation and its enforcement.
- The Comptroller's office has recovered over $8 million in back wages and penalties since 2022.
- Proposed edits include refining the definition of "construction employer" and aligning wage publication dates with existing schedules.
- The office requests additional resources for proper implementation if the bill passes.
Claudia Enriquez
1:10:36
My name is Claudia Enriquez.
1:10:37
I'm the Director of Worker Rights And the Bureau of Labor Law at the Office of the New York City compptroller Brad Lander.
1:10:43
Thank you to the committee on civil service and labor and to chair Carmen De La Rosa for the opportunity to testify today.
1:10:51
I'm here to speak on intro 9 10, which establishes wage standards for city assisted housing development projects.
1:10:58
The comptroller's bureau of labor law is authorized by state and local law to enforce a prevailing wage in New York City.
1:11:05
Since comptroller lander came into office in 2022, the bureau has recovered over $8,000,000 in back wages and interest to workers and civil penalties for the city.
1:11:16
Intro 910 is patterned after local prevailing wage laws that the office already enforces, and our dedicated team of attorneys, investigators, auditors, classification specialists, and administrator has the experience and the expertise to enforce this law if it passes.
1:11:33
We commend the council for strengthening labor protections and city assisted construction projects.
1:11:39
Comptroller Landers strongly believes that where city money is being spent, the workers on those projects should earn fair wages and have strong labor protections.
1:11:48
The comptroller also believes that much more deeply affordable housing is needed to meet the needs of New Yorkers, strong labor protections in wage standards on affordable housing projects should come along with increased city capital so that the same depth of affordability and levels of production can be reached.
1:12:06
We have we're speaking on the labor side, and so we have a few technical edits that we believe will strengthen the legislation and the enforcement.
1:12:15
They're explained more fully in our written comments, but I will highlight a few of those now.
1:12:21
First is the current definition of construction employer, which refers to any entity, quote, employing a construction worker.
1:12:29
That definition should also add a term such as directly or indirectly, such as through a subcontractor or subcontractors.
1:12:38
To account for those kinds of indirect employment relationships.
1:12:42
The bill makes later in the bill, it makes a construction employer liable for the wages owed by their subcontractors.
1:12:48
But without changing the definition, the construction employer could, in many cases, be the subcontractor, and thus rendering that provision ineffective at reaching the prime contractor.
1:12:59
Furthermore, we propose revising the date of the wage publication.
1:13:04
Currently, that dataset for December 31st, 2025.
1:13:08
We propose that instead it align with the other schedules that are issued by the comptroller, our construction prevailing wage schedules, wage schedules for city service contractors, which are issued July 1st each calendar year.
1:13:23
And so therefore, we would propose that in the interest of both efficiency from our office staff and then for those employers who are accustomed to looking for our schedules on July 1st at all of those dates field line.
1:13:37
Finally, we hope that if the bill does pass, it's accompanied by additional resources for our staff, including additional attorneys, investigators, and auditors, as well as funding to establish the electronic tronic document submission portal that's contemplated by the statute so that we can properly audit the the documents that are supposed to be submitted to us at certified payroll reports.
1:14:00
Thank you for the opportunity to speak today.
1:14:03
We look forward to ongoing opportunities to partner with the council to champion strong labor standards for workers.
