This Labor Day, New York City Comptroller Brad Lander is launching a new tool to track the city’s unscrupulous employers. Unveiled on Monday, the Employer Violations Dashboard is a first-of-its-kind sweeping view of recent labor law enforcement across the five boroughs.
The dashboard sources data from federal, state, and city agencies to track workers’ rights and protection violations by businesses between 2020 and 2023. This includes a breakdown of health and safety violations, wage theft, prevailing wage violations, illegal anti-union tactics, discrimination, and harassment.
“When companies steal their worker’s wages, commit unfair labor practices, or put workers’ lives at risk, the public should be able to clearly see it,” said Comptroller Brad Lander in a statement shared with Documented. “By launching this dashboard, my office is making it possible to identify bad actors across multiple violations of workplace laws. This tool can serve as a resource for workers, customers, neighbors, and other businesses as they are looking to work with employers who respect workers’ rights.”
Also Read: Uber and Lyft Wage Theft Settlement Explained
Much of the data sourced in the dashboard reveals detailed information on labor offenses committed by private sector employers, including some contracted by public agencies, within the city. Workers can search by type of violation, or by employer, and the full dataset is available to download. The comptroller’s office estimates that the dashboard collects between 4,500 to 4,600 employers doing business in the city.
With the announcement of the dashboard, the Comptroller also highlighted this year’s inaugural “Employer Wall of Shame” which features employers who committed the most egregious labor law violations over the past three years. Analyzing the data obtained through the dashboard, the Comptroller’s Office was able to identify the most noteworthy employers based on the severity and frequency of their labor violations.
Earning their place in the 2024 Employer Wall of Shame are the following companies:
- Chipotle Mexican Grill: According to the Comptroller’s office the popular chain of fast-casual Mexican restaurants committed the highest number of Unfair Labor Practices (ULPs) in New York City in 2023, with seven violations primarily involving coercion and retaliation against employees attempting to unionize. Documented previously investigated Chipotle retaliating against immigrant workers for organizing with a union. Chipotle was also ordered to pay over $1 million in unpaid wages as a result of New York State Department of Labor wage theft investigation, which found the company stole wages from more than 20,000 Chipotle workers across 207 locations statewide. The company also paid over $22 million in settlements with the New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protections (DCWP) for failing to adhere to the Fair Workweek and Paid Safe and Sick Leave laws, affecting over 9,000 workers.
- Planned Companies: This company provides building janitorial, maintenance, security, and concierge services across multiple states, but had the highest number of ULPs in New York City in closed cases from 2020 to 2022, with 20 violations related to illegal interference in union organizing and bad faith bargaining. Planned Companies was also cited for Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) violations in 2021 related to a fatal accident that resulted from insufficient fall protections. In 2020, Planned settled with the Comptroller’s Office for $450,000 for failing to pay prevailing wages to building service employees.
- Fadmo Home Health Care Services Agency: The Staten Island-based company, was the largest wage theft offender investigated by the US Department of Labor in New York City in 2023, owing over $1.45 million to 22 workers.
- American Business Institute (ABI): The Queens-based home healthcare agency, was the largest wage theft offender across all New York State Department of Labor cases from 2020 to 2022. ABI owed over $14.3 million to 175 workers for failing to pay minimum wage across three investigations.
- Smile Home Care Agency Inc (Smile Care): The Brooklyn-based home healthcare agency, was the largest wage theft offender investigated by the U.S. Department of Labor in 2023, owing over $427,000 to 246 workers.
- Timeless Roofing: This construction company received six back-to-back OSHA violations in 2021 and 2022, with two willful violations, for failing to provide safety protections at residential construction sites in Queens. OSHA defines a willful violation as a violation that is intentional and knowing, as opposed to an inadvertent violation.
- Amazon: The notoriously anti-union conglomerate has racked up 153 alleged ULP violations. Amazon currently has the highest number of open and ongoing ULPs in New York City from 2020 to 2023 regarding charges of anti-union activity. Of the 153 alleged violations, some ULP cases allege illegal interference in union organizing and bad-faith bargaining. Additionally, DCWP investigated Amazon for local labor law violations and entered into a $222,454 settlement for violating the Paid Safe and Sick Leave Law.
- Panda Express: The ubiquitous mall chain had the largest Fair Work Week and Paid Safe Sick Leave Law settlement with DCWP in 2023, paying $3.45 million in restitution and civil penalties, which impacted over 1,400 workers.
- Uber: The embattled ride-share company was ordered to pay $290 million for illegally deducting earnings from drivers after settling with the New York State Attorney General in 2023. Uber also failed to provide drivers with paid safe and sick leave as required under New York City and New York State law.
- Lyft: Lyft settled with the New York State Attorney General for $38 million in 2023 for wage and hour violations similar to Uber. The AG also found that the rideshare company illegally deducted earnings from drivers and failed to provide paid sick leave.
- Gucci: The Italian luxury brand settled a sexual harassment case in 2023 for $330,000 with the New York City Commission on Human Rights, one of the agency’s largest monetary settlements of last year. Gucci was also required to provide anti-discrimination training to all employees, revise their gender-based discrimination policy with oversight from the Commission, undergo monitoring, and display “Notice of Rights” posters in stores and corporate offices.
Also Read: In New York, Wage Theft Violators Get Millions in Government Contracts
Among the data, a few trends stand out. Home health care agencies, for example, are one of the most common violators of wage theft laws in the city. Regarding OSHA violations, fall protection violations are the most common. Workers are also provided with a resource guide that could assist them with filing a complaint with the relevant agencies.
Lander told Documented in a statement that he was particularly concerned about Chipotle’s repeated violations of the fair workweek law, which mandates that retail employers give employees their work schedules 72 hours before the first shift, can’t schedule employees for on-call shifts, and can’t cancel a scheduled shift without 72 hours’ notice.
“Chipotle’s violations of New York City’s law to guarantee workers a fair work week made me particularly angry since I was the lead sponsor of that law back in 2016,” he said. “And Chipotle, like several others, compounded their spot on the Wall of Shame by union-busting in efforts to prevent their employees from exercising their legal right to organize against those unlawful scheduling practices.”
Also Read: Immigrant Workers Say Chipotle is Firing Them for Organizing
On Labor Day, the comptroller hopes that the Wall of Shame will bring awareness to the plight of working New Yorkers.
“While most employers in New York City respect the hard-working New Yorkers who are the backbone of their businesses, the ones on the Wall of Shame – for stealing their wages or jeopardizing their safety – have some real soul-searching to do this Labor Day.”
