What to Know
- The Manhattan District Attorney's Office announced the creation of a unit aimed at investigating and prosecuting wage theft, worker exploitation and other forms of worker harassment across New York City.
- The unit aims to pursue criminal charges against individuals and entities that put workers' safety at risk and/or steal their wages.
- According to the district attorney's office, currently individuals and entities that steal wages from workers generally face scheme to defraud charges, a misdemeanor under state law. A recently introduced bill, looks to address this concern and make it a felony.
The Manhattan District Attorney's Office announced the creation of a unit aimed at investigating and prosecuting wage theft, worker exploitation and other forms of worker harassment across New York City.
The aptly named "Workers Protection Unit" aims to pursue criminal charges against individuals and entities that put workers' safety at risk and/or steal their wages.
"At the Manhattan D.A.’s office, we’re holding accountable companies and executives that exploit their workers, whether by jeopardizing their safety or stealing their wages,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement. “The creation of the Office’s first-ever Worker Protection Unit is our latest move to stand up for hard-working New Yorkers. Again and again, we see companies taking advantage of our most vulnerable populations, including low-income and undocumented New Yorkers, and abusing power imbalances to line their pockets."
According to the district attorney's office, citing Cornell University's Worker Institute, wage theft in New York amounts to about $1 billion in lost wages annually -- affecting tens of thousands of workers. Now, a new fund has $100,000 available to get these workers some of their money back since, currently, even if they bring a case to court and win, they still do not get paid.
"We are committed not only to prosecuting but recouping the lost wages," Bragg said.
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The newly revealed unit is an evolution of the Construction Fraud Task Force, which will now form part of the Worker Protection Unit.
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The unit will allow prosecutors to expand their focus on additional industries with high rates of alleged worker exploitation, like home healthcare , fast food, restaurants, hotels and others. According to the district attorney's office, prosecutors already had been going after wage theft in the construction and real estate development fields.
Additionally, the unit will also enforce workplace safety laws including going after employers who create dangerous work environments by filing reckless endangerment and manslaughter charges against them.
The creation of this unit seeks to remedy an issue that currently lacks backing when it comes to state laws. New York State does not consider wage theft to be property theft, this translates to prosecutors not being able to charge with larceny those that engage in wage theft.
According to the district attorney's office, currently individuals and entities that steal wages from workers generally face scheme to defraud charges, a misdemeanor under state law. A recently introduced bill, looks to address this and make it a felony.
