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From the
Times Ledger:
A controversial spa in College Point is in trouble once again.
State Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside) received a letter from the New York State Department of Labor informing him that Spa Castle, located at 31-10 11th Ave., had been fined $1,000 for violating the Child Labor Statute.
Labor Department Commissioner Roberta Reardon wrote to Avella Jan. 30 about an investigation that was completed in December 2017.
According to Reardon, investigators visited Spa Castle on various occasions and times looking for violations of state laws. “After meticulous review of Spa Castle’s wage and hour records, we substantiated a violation of Article 4, the Child Labor Statute,” she told the senator in the letter.
The statute bans minors from working late hours on school nights.
Reardon said the spa was served a notice of violation on Nov. 4 with a penalty of $1,000, which they paid in full. The investigators were not able to substantiate any allegations regarding overtime.
From
AM-NY:
Three Queens construction companies have pleaded guilty to withholding more than $370,000 from 150 workers, according to state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.
The companies, Lotus-C Corporation of Jackson Heights, Johnco Contracting Inc. of Bayside, and RCM Painting Inc. of Maspeth, failed to provide workers with overtime wages between 2012 and 2017. Additionally, the employers had the workers, who were painters, sign a form stating that they were independent contractors instead of employees, the attorney general said.
The companies also underreported their staff numbers to the state, which resulted in major underpayment of unemployment contributions to the state, Schneiderman said.
As part of their plea deal the owners of the companies have dissolved their offices and are banned for five years from bidding on public works contracts in New York State. They will also pay a total of $371,447.01 for unpaid wages and $359,747.86 in unpaid unemployment contributions to the State Department of Labor, the attorney general said.
From the
Daily News:
New York is a great city, but as Marco Lino can attest, a workers’ paradise it is not.
For four years, Lino, 53, worked 13 hours a day, six days a week stocking shelves at Rosemary’s Farm, a small grocery store in Flushing. His weekly salary was $350, that is, about $4.65 an hour. In October 2008 he was fired after protesting to his boss about his meager — and illegal — salary and filed a complaint at the Department of Labor. Six years have passed, and Lino is still waiting for justice.
“I am tired of waiting,” he said.
“(Wage theft) has become a crime wave here in New York State,” said Joann Lum, executive director of the National Mobilization Against SweatShops.
“Under Gov. Cuomo, the DOL is not enforcing labor laws. We need a DOL that does its job, not one that promotes wage-theft crimes. If the DOL will not do this, we will sue them.”
Currently, over $1 billion in wages are stolen from New York workers in low-wage industries each year.
From
DNA Info:
The subcontractor overseeing concrete work at the West 37th Street hotel construction project where a concrete slab crushed a worker Tuesday has a history of safety violations, records show.
Rodalfo Vasquez-Galian, 27, of 418 Liberty Ave. in Jersey City, was killed after the block fell on him while he was working on the foundation for the 22-floor hotel at 326 West 37th St. Tuesday afternoon.
A stop-work order was issued Tuesday for the entire work location because an approach pit, which gives workers access to space beneath the foundation, was not dug, according to the city Department of Buildings.
Federal Department of Labor records show that Park Side Construction, which was responsible for cement work on the project, was issued $11,900 in fines on May 27, because the company lacked safety equipment at an 81 Fleet Place project. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued the fine because the company had no fall protection for workers.
After Tuesday's fatal accident, the DOB issued a violation to the adjoining building where the slab became detached, 320 West 37th St., and also gave a partial vacate order for the first-floor storefront on the exposed side of the building, a DOB spokesman said.
New York State also sued Park Side in 2013 for failing to pay more than $174,000 in worker's compensation insurance, according to court papers.
From
Port Washington Patch:
The Long-Islander’s announced sale to a Washington, D.C.-based financial holding company is off.
Peter Sloggatt, associate publisher and managing editor of the weekly, confirmed that the deal was dead. "The old masthead will be returning," he said, adding that he had no further information on what had happened to sale.
Michael Schenkler, publisher of The Long-Islander since 2006 and president of Tribco, LLC, had announced the sale of his media holdings to PFH Media Group in early January. He is also deputy mayor of Port Washington North.
PFH Media Group is a subsidiary of investment firm Phoenix Financial Holdings.
The deal included The Queens Tribune, The Record (of Northport), the Half Hollow Hills Newspaper and Dine Huntington, operators of Huntington Restaurant Week.
The sale occurred while the U.S. Labor Department was investigating the handling of employee benefit plans at another publication owned by Phoenix.
Sharon Byron, an auditor for the Labor Department, confirmed to Patch that "an investigation is moving forward for valid reasons" after complaints about payroll and other problems at a publication in Antioch, Ill. She emphasized that the investigation is looking at the handling of those benefit plans, and that those with responsibilities for them may or may not be company employees.
From
CBS:
Federal disaster unemployment assistance is now available to all New Yorkers who lost their jobs as a result of Hurricane Sandy.
Governor Andrew Cuomo made the announcement Friday. Disaster unemployment benefits are available to provide financial support to anyone who has lost their job and live or work in the Bronx, Kings, New York, Richmond, Queens, Nassau, Suffolk, Rockland and Westchester counties.
This unemployment assistance will supplement New York’s existing unemployment insurance system and will expand eligibility to include individuals who might otherwise not be covered. The United States Department of Labor has committed to providing additional assistance if needed.
Anyone unemployed due to Hurricane Sandy is immediately eligible and can submit a claim to the Department of Labor. The criterion for collecting disaster assistance is broader than for collecting regular unemployment benefits. Specifically, an individual can collect disaster assistance in any of the following cases:
· Injured in the disaster and unable to work, whether the person is an employee or self-employed.
· Workplace is damaged, or destroyed, or the person cannot work because of the disaster.
· Transportation to work is not available because of the disaster.
· Cannot get to work because must travel through the affected area, which is impossible due to disaster.
· Planned to begin working, but cannot because of the disaster.
· Derived most of income from areas affected by the disaster, and business is closed or inoperable because of the disaster.
Examples of self-employment include small business owners, independent taxi drivers, vendors, independent commercial fisherman, and farmers.
