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Q&A
Impact of federal actions on local labor rights and DCWP's response
0:46:00
·
3 min
Council Member Cabán inquires about the impact of federal government actions on local labor rights enforcement and DCWP's response. DCWP representatives discuss their approach to serving all New Yorkers and potential expansion of staff for new initiatives.
- DCWP emphasizes its commitment to serving all New Yorkers, regardless of immigration status
- The agency is considering expanding staff, including investigators, attorneys, and data scientists
- DCWP supports legislation to improve notification to complainants about fair workweek complaints
Tiffany Cabán
0:46:00
Absolutely.
0:46:01
And and we gotta get y'all money, more money.
0:46:03
I know I know, council member Krishnan was asking, you know, about additional funding and things like that.
0:46:09
And I'd be curious as well to to even go further and ask, you know, what what you could do with extra money if you if you got it in in terms of protections like that.
0:46:19
And then, you know, just paired with that, my my last question, for you all, and then I'll hand it back over to the the chair, is just, know, how are the federal government's actions under the Trump administration impacting local labor rights enforcement, and and what steps is is DCWP taking to strengthen those protections in in response specifically?
0:46:39
And and, again, you know, I know it's a hard question to ask sometimes in the context of these or answer in the context of these hearings, but, you know, what what more do you need?
0:46:47
What could you do with with some some more resources and and money in in your agency?
Vilda Vera Mayuga
0:46:55
Thank you, council member.
0:46:57
I mean, I I say this all the time in in any presentation, especially as even outside of this room.
0:47:03
Right?
0:47:03
Because when we're talking to New Yorkers, they're not necessarily, you know, watching these hearings, and so we try to always make it a point to stress to all New Yorkers in our outreach and education that we're here to serve every single person.
0:47:16
Immigration doesn't really matter to us, as you know.
0:47:19
It's not even a question we ever ask.
0:47:21
Sometimes, you know, people are like, oh, how many of these, you know, individuals you serve?
0:47:25
It's like, it just I can't even tell you because we just don't ask the question.
0:47:29
But we do stress that that we are here for every single New Yorker, and I think many people can attest to that as well.
0:47:37
In terms of, you know, from the what's happening in the federal government, we know that, for example, the NLRB, right, it's somebody that is impacting They do focus on a little bit of a different area than we do, but we are suddenly here for New Yorkers and all workers, we want people to come forward.
0:47:56
We want people to ask for assistance.
0:47:58
We have a very accessible online complaint form and also online a way to ask a question if people are not yet ready to file a complaint or they just want to get information.
0:48:09
And then similarly, we are always working on making sure that we have strong relationships with community based organizations that are in direct contact with our communities across the city to ensure that they know they can come to us and they can file the complaints and we will be quite the staunch advocates and make sure that we obtain any restitution that they're entitled to when there's been violations of the law.
Tiffany Cabán
0:48:37
Thank you.
0:48:38
I really, really appreciate it and thank you.
0:48:41
Oh, go ahead, assistant commissioner.
0:48:42
Sorry.
Carlos Ortiz
0:48:42
Sorry, council member.
0:48:43
I didn't mean I didn't
Jieh Ronowski
0:48:43
mean to No.
Salua Baida
0:48:44
Go for it.
Carlos Ortiz
0:48:44
But, just to and reiterate, I think, an earlier point where we're discussing some legislation that we've testified in support of.
0:48:50
I know in terms of the minimum pay rate expansion that we've contemplated 19, new positions under for that expansion.
0:48:57
That would be really a a mix of investigators, attorneys, and data scientists, and the data scientist piece is particularly important for the enforcement work in that space.
0:49:05
And then I know in council member Menon's important bill too regarding notification to complainants about fast work week fast food worker complaints, and fair work week complaints in general.
0:49:17
I think that's another bill that we're very important, we're very supportive of, and that has an FIS that's public as well on the registrar.