Weitzman releases Living Wage Annual Report for 2008

Audits of seven agencies found 674 employees underpaid by about $315,000

Nassau County Comptroller Howard Weitzman today released his Living Wage Law Annual Report for 2008. The report summarizes the initiatives of the Comptroller’s Office to track and ensure employers’ compliance with the County’s Living Wage Law (Law). In 2008 audits of Personal Care Aide (PCA) providers, which employ relatively large numbers of workers who are at the living wage rate threshold, identified violations of the Law at seven PCA companies.

The majority of violations involved non-compliance with the Law’s requirement to grant workers paid days off or payment in lieu of paid days off. In particular, the report cited contractors that had underpaid 674 of their employees by about $315,000. All the agencies were directed to pay the employees what they were owed and to provide the Comptroller’s Office with documentation of the payments. Weitzman said that his office will also be conducting follow up audits to ensure that all the employees receive their back pay.

The report also identified three non-PCA entities that contract with the County that had not complied with the law by not providing time off for employees; these violations totaled nearly $35,000 in unpaid compensation.

Weitzman, along with John Durso, President of RWDSU Local 338, will be making presentations before the Nassau County Legislature’s Labor Committee on the status of the Law on May 4 in the Legislative Chambers, 1550 Franklin Avenue in Mineola. Mr. Durso also serves as the chairperson of the chair of the Living Wage Advisory Board.

"There’s definitely been a learning curve for some employers with regard to the Living Wage Law,” Weitzman said. “My office is constantly working with these agencies, along with the Living Wage Advisory Board, on initiatives to educate and clarify all aspects of the Law to all involved.” Weitzman added that “there are still areas of concern -- particularly the practice of some providers mandating that their employees accept cash compensation instead of allowing paid time off, and we are addressing this in a variety of ways.”

Mr. Durso stated, “I am very proud of the work that the Comptroller’s office has done regarding the living wage law. This law ensures that those who treat the neediest among us have a fair wage with basic benefits. I would like to thank our Comptroller, his great staff and the members of our living wage board who donate their time and energy into making certain that the intent of this law is carried out.”

To help educate those affected by the Law, the Comptroller’s Office met with representatives of the Long Island Chapter of the New York Association of Health Care Providers to discuss issues of compliance and interpretation of the Law, especially regarding compensated days off. Furthermore, the Comptroller’s Office drafted a formal set of rules to provide guidance to employers on this issue, distributed hundreds of Living Wage educational posters to agencies, and has posted detailed information about the Law on the Comptroller’s website at http://www.nassaucountyny.gov/agencies/Comptroller/LivingWage/index.html

The Law was enacted by the Nassau County Legislature in 2006 to raise the minimum wage of employees working for the County and those working for most of its contractors. The Comptroller’s Office is responsible for monitoring compliance with the Law and, to do so, established a Living Wage Unit, which is exclusively dedicated to auditing covered entities to ensure compliance with the Law.

The Comptroller also established a Living Wage Advisory Board comprised of labor leaders and living wage law advocates, to advise his office in the implementation of the Law. In 2008, the Board identified probable areas of non-compliance and ways to increase knowledge of the Law among employers and employees

The Law increases the minimum hourly wages on August 1 of each year. On August 1, 2010 the Living Wage rate will be set at $12.50 per hour. Thereafter, it will be adjusted by the CPI with a cap of 3.5% per year. It is currently $12.05 per hour or $10.50 an hour with health benefits. The Law also requires that eligible full time employees receive 12 compensated days off per year for sick leave, vacation, or personal necessity, at their request. Part time employees who work at least 20 hours per week receive proportional compensated days off.

The Law applies to service contracts of $25,000 or more; financial assistance contracts for more than $50,000 and where the employer has at least 10 employees or leases of property owned or controlled by the County. Approximately 563 contracts issued in 2008 are subject to the Law with a total value of about $187 million. This includes 27 PCA providers with total billing of $56 million.

Living Wage Annual Report 2008