BY JEANINE RAMIREZ
PUBLISHED 8:14 AM ET JAN. 25, 2019
An asbestos abatement contractor using a Cropsey Avenue address in Brooklyn is one of more than 50 companies banned from doing city-funded work for allegedly underpaying workers.
“The reason these workers are cheated is because there is a feeling with some of these contractors that you can get away with that because the workers are immigrants or they may appear vulnerable,” City Comptroller Scott Stringer said.
Most of the companies did construction work or provided building services under city contracts.
Comptroller Scott Stringer says his office already has recovered $12 million from the companies for 1,500 people who suffered wage theft.
But Stringer says he’s recovered an additional $2.5 million that still must be distributed.Stringer added, “We want to locate the other 1,500 workers who were scammed and lost their wages. They’re out there. They’re out there in our boroughs. They could be around the corner.”
Many of the workers cheated by city contractors are immigrants. Stringer’s office cited the case of one man who eventually left the city and returned to Ecuador, where he was contacted and provided with his back pay.
“We had great news for him, we had the opportunity to send him a lot of checks with a significant amount of money that he received in Ecuador,” said Linda Machuca, Consul General of Ecuador in NY.
The cheated workers receive back pay plus interest, regardless of their immigration status. Immigrant rights groups and consulates are working with the city to locate some of those owed money. Officials say undocumented immigrants who receive wage awards will not be reported to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.