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Q&A
Justin Brannan questions implementation of Local Law 125 on prevailing wages for shelter security
0:40:31
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Council Member Justin L. Brannan leads a Q&A session on the implementation of Local Law 125, which requires prevailing wages for security officers and fire guards in city-contracted shelters. He questions Commissioner Molly Wasow Park and Administrator Jocelyn Carter about contract amendments, retroactive pay, and steps to ensure workers receive owed wages.
- The discussion reveals that while the prevailing wage requirement is now included in contracts, there are concerns about delays in implementation and lack of clarity on retroactive pay.
- The Department of Social Services commits to following up on specific details, including the number of affected workers and the total amount of back pay owed.
- The agencies describe their process for reconciling payments during contract closeouts at the end of the fiscal year.
Justin L. Brannan
0:40:31
Okay.
0:40:34
I wanna ask some questions about Local Law one twenty five.
0:40:39
Local Law 125, those of you that don't know, the Safety in Our Shelters Act required the provision of prevailing wage and supplemental benefits to security officers and fire guards at city contracted shelters beginning back in May of twenty two.
0:40:55
Do all current DHS contracts with shelter providers or security subcontractors reflect the local law prevailing wage requirement?
Molly Wasow Park
0:41:04
So let me start by saying I'm thrilled that this year the prevailing wage increment was baselined in the budget so that that will be very helpful for us going forward.
0:41:14
I believe the contract language for every single contract does have that prevailing wage requirement in it at this point, but we will double check and confirm that.
Justin L. Brannan
0:41:24
So how long did it take DHS to amend all of its shelter contracts to account for the requirements of Local Law 125?
Molly Wasow Park
0:41:32
I don't know off the top of my head, but we can circle back.
Justin L. Brannan
0:41:35
I guess there's a concern around given the time it took to implement 01/2025 by way of these contract changes, security officers and fire guards covered by the prevailing wage requirement were owed retroactive wages and benefits.
0:41:49
Has DHS provided any guidance since implementation?
Molly Wasow Park
0:41:53
We engage very closely with our providers to make sure that they have all of the information that we have.
0:42:00
As you note, we did have to make adjustments on a year by year basis.
0:42:04
We did have to amend all the contracts.
0:42:06
That's something we worked very closely with with our providers.
0:42:10
And the fact that we now have the funding baseline I think will make this more streamlined going forward.
Justin L. Brannan
0:42:15
Okay because we've heard from stakeholders who have communicated to us that they've been unable to obtain clarity from DHS as to the total amount of back pay which was owed and may still be owed to these workers.
Molly Wasow Park
0:42:29
Okay.
0:42:29
Be more than happy to follow-up offline to get the name of those stakeholders and we will follow-up.
Justin L. Brannan
0:42:34
Okay.
0:42:35
And can you tell us the amount of retroactive wages and supplemental benefits that are still owed to these workers?
Molly Wasow Park
0:42:42
I don't have that with me, but we can follow-up.
Justin L. Brannan
0:42:48
Okay.
0:42:49
I appreciate that information like ASAP.
Molly Wasow Park
0:42:51
Of course.
Justin L. Brannan
0:42:54
And then so going forward, what steps will the agency take to ensure that these workers receive their retroactive wages?
Molly Wasow Park
0:43:06
So every contract goes through a closeout process.
0:43:10
That happens at the end of the fiscal year.
0:43:13
We're obviously approaching the end of the fiscal year, so that is a natural moment that we can use to make sure that we have done that reconciliation.
0:43:20
Administrator Carter, anything you'd like to add?
Stephanie Mansfield
0:43:22
Sure, Commissioner.
Jocelyn Carter
0:43:25
One of the things that we've been doing with every provider is looking at it individually to see where they are in their process.
0:43:31
So we would look at what has been happening and if we need needed to really implement and put whatever is needed in the budget we will be doing that at closeout to.
Justin L. Brannan
0:43:40
Do you have an idea of how many workers are in this bucket?
Jocelyn Carter
0:43:43
We'll have to come back to you with that.
Justin L. Brannan
0:43:45
Alright.
0:43:46
We got a lot of homework to do.