Protecting New York’s Workers - Full Report
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Protecting New York's Workers
How the State Department of Labor Can Improve Wage-and-Hour Enforcement
The Brennan Center recently joined with a coalition of community organizations and other advocates to address the growing problem of minimum wage and overtime violations in New York State.
The coalition began its work with the recognition that all New Yorkers bear the costs of this endemic problem. Low-wage and immigrant communities are especially hard hit, with the highest rates of workplace violations but the fewest resources to address them. Law-abiding employers are forced into a race to the bottom when their competitors pay below the minimum wage. And local governments lose significant tax revenues when workers are underpaid.
An important part of the solution lies with the New York State Department of Labor, as documented in the coalition's recent report, Protecting New York’s Workers. The report proposes six concrete recommendations for how the state agency can improve its enforcement of core legal protections for workers in low-wage industries. It is part of a larger movement across the country to develop state-level strategies to ensure that all workers receive fundamental legal protections in the workplace.
Download a copy of the executive summary or the full report.
Recent Media Coverage:
- NY 1: Fair Wage Advocates Hope Spitzer Will Be More Aggressive with DOL [video] (December 13, 2006)
- My 9 News: Underpaid Workers Tired of Being Shortchanged [video] (December 13, 2006)
- Telemundo47: Derechos de los trabajadores (December 13, 2006)
- News 12 Brooklyn: Department of Labor Soft on Brooklyn Immigrant Worker Rights, Group Claims (December 13, 2006)
- WNYC: Calls for Crackdown on Employers Who Cheat Immigrants (December 13, 2006)
- New York Times: Broader Inquiries Are Urged on Underpayment of Wages (December 13, 2006)
- El Diario: Piden mayor vigilancia de empleadores (December 14, 2006)
Coalition Members:
- The New York Immigration Coalition (coordinator)
- Asociación Tepeyac
- Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law
- Centro Hispano Cuzcatlan
- Cortland Workers' Rights Board
- Domestic Workers United
- Farmworker Legal Services of New York
- Latin American Integration Center
- The Latin American Workers Project, Inc.
- Make the Road by Walking
- MFY Legal Services, Inc.
- National Employment Law Project
- Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project
- New York Unemployment Project
- Northern Manhattan Coalition for Immigrants' Rights
- Project Hospitality
- Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund
- The Restaurant Opportunities Center of New York
- Taxi Workers Alliance
- Tompkins County Workers Center
- Workers' Rights Law Center of New York, Inc.
- The Workplace Project
- YKASEC - Empowering the Korean American Community
For more information, contact Raj Nayak (Brennan Center) at 312-399-9904 or Milan Bhatt (the NYIC) at 212-627-2227 x233.