Accountability for prevailing wage enforcement

To the editor:

​Rank-and-file workers deserve transparency and competence from the agencies tasked with protecting them. Unfortunately, the New York City Comptroller Bureau of Labor Law has severely failed that standard.

​For over three years, the Comptroller’s office held and investigated our prevailing wage case regarding a city-funded project. As armed security guards required by New York State law to maintain specialized certifications and wear distinct company insignias on our uniforms, our classification and coverage under prevailing wage guidelines should be clear-cut.

Yet, after dragging the process out for over 36 months, the Bureau suddenly closed the case under a claim of "lack of jurisdiction."

​If the Comptroller genuinely lacked the legal authority to handle this case, it should not have taken three years to figure that out. An administrative delay of this magnitude is a gross failure of leadership under Comptroller Brad Lander.

Dropping a case on a sudden jurisdictional technicality after years of waiting sends a terrible message to working people who rely on the city to fight wage theft.

​A jurisdictional closure does not grant a contractor immunity, nor does it mean a violation didn't occur. Because this administrative failure smells of official misconduct, independent oversight bodies like the NYC Department of Investigation (DOI) and the State Attorney General’s Labor Bureau must look into how this investigation was handled.

​Working New Yorkers put on their uniforms and risk their safety every day. We expect the officials elected to protect our wages to do their jobs with the same diligence.

Julien Antkies

The author is a retired NYPD Lieutenant and security supervisor.