The Workers’ Rights Team oversees the enforcement of prevailing and living wage laws, works to expand workers’ rights through legislative, policy, procurement, and corporate shareholder engagement initiatives, and strengthens the office’s outreach strategies to educate New Yorkers on their labor rights.
The Office of the New York City Comptroller is mandated under State law to set and enforce prevailing wage and benefit rates for workers, laborers and mechanics employed on New York City public works projects as well as building service employees on City contracts and certain properties that receive tax exemptions.
The Workers’ Rights team uses cross-departmental initiatives that leverage other tools in the Comptroller’s office. For example, the Comptroller’s Bureau of Asset Management recently announced shareholder resolutions at Starbuck and Apple to support workers’ freedom of association to form a union and led efforts to address poor workforce management at Amazon last year. Recent legislation charges the Comptroller’s Office with investigations of the City’s new non-profit labor peace law. And under Comptroller Lander’s leadership, the office began providing policy support for legislative initiatives, such as raising the minimum wage, protections against unfair firing, fair pay and protections for independent contractors, and ending forced arbitration.