Brooklyn Workers File Federal Lawsuit Against Developers, Seeking Unpaid Wages from Job Training Program and Damages for Failure to Provide Promised Union Jobs
Legal Services E-lert
Bibliographic Info:
Author: South Brooklyn Legal Services
Source: Press Release, “SBLS Files Federal Lawsuit Against Brooklyn Developer Over Lack of Union Jobs at Atlantic Yards”
Date: November 15, 2011
South Brooklyn Legal Services reports in a press release: “A group of Brooklyn residents who participated in a job-training program negotiated as part of the Atlantic Yards project today filed a federal lawsuit against the Atlantic Yards Development Company LLC, Brooklyn Arena LLC, Brooklyn United for Innovative Local Development (‘BUILD’), Forest City Ratner Companies LLC (‘FCRC’), Bruce Ratner and others. The suit seeks the recovery of unpaid wages as well as damages based on false promises made to induce the defendants into participating in a sham employment training program. . . .
In December 2003, [real estate developer] Bruce Ratner announced the Atlantic Yards Project (‘the Project’). The announcement of the Project immediately provoked opposition from residents of the surrounding neighborhoods, in part because the Project required the demolition of many existing buildings and dislocation of numerous tenants, homeowners, and local businesses. As a part of FCRC’s attempts to assuage residents and win the support of local politicians who still had doubts about the Project, the Project developers entered into what they called a ‘Community Benefits Agreement’ (‘CBA’), promising to provide jobs and other benefits to the community. The CBA was negotiated primarily with organizations which had not actually existed prior to the Project’s announcement, including BUILD.
In the CBA, the Project developers promised, among other things, to create a ’Pre-Apprenticeship Training Program’ (‘PATP’). This program was to be created by the Project developers and BUILD, in order to ’train Community residents for construction jobs within the Arena and Project.’ The seven plaintiffs participated in the PATP in the fall of 2010, and several even quit jobs to participate. BUILD and FCRC officials repeatedly and consistently told the participants that completion of the program would earn them membership in building trades unions whose workers would be employed by the Project.
Plaintiff Kathleen Noreiga said, ‘We believed them when they said that this was a path to union membership and union jobs. They even told us that they had seen the union books that were reserved for us. They told us that we could rely on their promises, because the CBA would guarantee that they keep their word.’ . . . .
The plaintiffs allege violations of the minimum wage provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act and New York State Labor Law, as well as fraud, breach of contract, and unjust enrichment from the plaintiffs’ unpaid labor.”