Laborers on NYPD building projects to share $900K settlement over unpaid wages

Nearly two dozen workers who helped renovate NYPD precincts as well as department headquarters at 1 Police Plaza will share in a nearly $900,000 settlement with a contractor over unpaid wages, the city comptroller’s office announced Thursday.

Payments to the workers include $645,000 for underpayments and $118,000 in interest payments, said city Comptroller Brad Lander, whose office investigated the claims. He said the underpayments occurred over a two-year period and involved 22 workers, for work performed from October 2018 to November 2020.

The settlement was reached with CLS Project Solutions, the prime contractor on the precincts work, which subcontracted the work to another company, ICP Construction, Lander said. The settlement also includes a $92,000 civil penalty. CLS Project Solutions did not respond to questions about the settlement.

According to Lander, the shortchanged workers were mostly Spanish-speaking immigrants. Workers' rights advocates say those laborers are frequently taken advantage of because they may lack legal immigration status.

“These are vulnerable workers who employers are often looking to exploit,” Lander said.

The new agreement brings to $15 million the sum of settlements brokered by the comptroller's office on behalf of unpaid workers since Lander took office in 2022. This included a $3 million settlement announced in August for workers who cleaned and disinfected subway cars during the pandemic.

The amounts collected by the various workers who renovated the police precincts ranged widely. One employee received $187,000 in back wages, the comptroller's office said.

That worker, who was not identified, was initially paid the minimum wage of $15 an hour, but under the city’s prevailing wage structure was entitled to $38.40 an hour, plus benefits equating to another $31.04 an hour, for a combined total of $69.44 an hour.

Another worker received $110,000 in back wages, according to the comptroller’s office.

In addition to the civil penalty, the general contractor was assessed a “finding of willfulness.” The comptroller’s office said two such findings or designations within a six-year period can result in the contractor being barred from doing business with the city.

Lander said, in most cases, companies found to have engaged in wage theft are aware of wage guidelines but chose to ignore them.

“ It's bad actors for the most part that we're talking about here,” Lander said. His office directed workers to the comptroller’s website in order to know what their rights are or to file a wage complaint.

Hildalyn Colon, the chief operations and strategic officer at New Immigrant Community Empowerment, an organization based in Jackson Heights, said in many cases a contractor or subcontractor tries to “milk the contract,” in large part by shortchanging workers.

“Because they know that they have the leverage in terms of immigrants not knowing that actually working in a facility [like] this will get me more money," Colon said.