Greater than 700 present and former development and demolition employees will share $1.4 million as a part of a settlement with their employer after the New York Lawyer Normal’s Workplace discovered the corporate responsible of widespread labor abuses.
The $1.5 million settlement, introduced Tuesday by AG Letitia James, follows an investigation that discovered Alba Companies, Inc. repeatedly violated state employees’ compensation legal guidelines, retaliated in opposition to injured staff, interfered with medical remedy, and failed to stop sexual harassment within the office.
Along with the $1.4 million restitution fund, Alba pays $100,000 to a settlement administrator and implement sweeping office reforms. The administrator will oversee the fund, which will provide important compensation to employees who skilled misplaced wages, incurred medical prices, confronted delays in remedy, have been discouraged from submitting employees’ compensation claims, or suffered retaliation following office accidents.
Representatives for Alba didn’t reply to requests for touch upon the settlement or the findings of the OAG’s investigation.
“These workers helped build our skyline. They’ve cleaned up demolition sites, and they’ve kept our city running. In return, they were denied the dignity, safety, and respect that every worker deserves,” AG James mentioned at a press convention Tuesday, flanked by a number of of the employees.
“The way Alba treated these hard-working New Yorkers was unjust and totally unacceptable, and today we are righting those wrongs,” she added.
She known as the corporate’s habits “a deliberate system of intimidation and cover up” and mentioned the settlement “sends a clear and concise message — if you retaliate against injured workers, if you harass women on your work sites, if you manipulate insurance cost or deny benefits, we will bring you to justice.”
The investigation, launched in 2022 after a referral from Building & Normal Constructing Laborers’ Native 79, discovered that between 2016 and 2024, Alba did not report a whole bunch of office accidents and instructed staff to not file employees’ compensation claims.
The OAG mentioned Alba retaliated in opposition to staff trying to file employees’ compensation claims by utilizing harassment, threats, and monetary incentives to maintain them silent. On at the very least two events, the corporate publicly posted flyers naming employees who had filed claims, accusing them of fraud and providing $5,000 for data that might result in their arrests.
Proprietor Andrew Horan additionally allegedly despatched textual content messages to foremen that improperly revealed staff’ names and provided money rewards for details about them. The OAG mentioned it had documented at the very least 60 cases during which Alba disclosed employees’ identities unlawfully.
AG James mentioned the corporate additionally interfered with medical remedy by sending representatives with injured staff to well being services and misrepresenting how accidents occurred. She mentioned the corporate directed staff to particular clinics with which it had agreements to cover office accidents and stop employees’ compensation claims. In sure circumstances, employees with critical accidents have been despatched to most well-liked pressing care services as an alternative of receiving essential emergency room remedy.
James mentioned in the course of the press convention that OAG’s investigation didn’t discover any wrongdoing on the clinic’s behalf.
Employees and labor leaders stood alongside AG James at a press convention TuesdayPhoto by Adam Daly
At the very least two employees reported repeated harassment by a foreman, who despatched inappropriate messages, made unwelcome feedback about their look, and engaged in bodily contact. When the ladies rejected his advances, he retaliated by assigning them extra grueling duties. One employee who tried to report the misconduct had her hours decreased and was ultimately faraway from the schedule.
Below the settlement, Alba terminated the foreman and was directed to implement complete anti-harassment insurance policies and coaching to guard staff going ahead. Alba should additionally precisely report all office accidents and cease retaliating in opposition to staff.
The corporate shall be topic to at the very least three years of monitoring by the lawyer normal’s workplace, with an choice to increase oversight to 6 years if violations persist.
“This case shows what can happen when workers take collective action,” Oona Adams of Laborers’ Native 79 mentioned. “Today’s settlement fundamentally resets the demolition industry in New York City.”
Adams added that contractors and demolition firms whose enterprise mannequin depends on exploitation are “now on notice” and that “they will be held accountable.”
Employees who imagine they’ve skilled labor legislation violations or office sexual harassment are inspired to contact the OAG at (212) 416-8700.
Enterprise as standard for indicted AG
After being federally indicted on Oct. 9, Lawyer Normal Letitia James is scheduled for an preliminary court docket look on Friday, Oct. 24, on costs of financial institution fraud and making false statements to a monetary establishment.
Lindsey Halligan, lately appointed by President Donald Trump to steer the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace for the Jap District of Virginia, is overseeing the indictments of AG James and former FBI Director James Comey.
On Monday, Comey filed motions to dismiss the federal costs in opposition to him, which allege false statements and obstruction of a congressional investigation. Comey requested the federal decide to drop the case, claiming he’s being prosecuted vindictively resulting from President Trump’s hostility towards him, and that the indictment is invalid as a result of Halligan was appointed improperly.
Latest experiences point out Halligan despatched a number of texts to a Lawfare journalist concerning AG James’s indictment, disputing protection of the case.
On Tuesday, James declined to touch upon Halligan’s texts or whether or not she intends to hunt dismissal of the prison case like Comey. “We’ll have more to say about that on Friday,” James mentioned. “The charges are baseless. At the end of the day, it is nothing more than retribution for me doing my job.”
The AG emphasised she stays centered on her duties. “I will not bend, will not bow, will not capitulate. The charges are meaningless. They mean absolutely nothing.”
James is amongst a number of Democratic state attorneys normal who’ve challenged Trump administration insurance policies affecting transgender rights, immigration, and state funding. In 2022, she filed a civil fraud lawsuit in opposition to Trump and his household actual property enterprise, initially leading to a $452.2 million penalty; a state appeals court docket later overturned the wonderful however upheld Trump’s accountability for fraud. Trump has denied wrongdoing and criticized James’s workplace for pursuing the case for political causes.
Earlier than in search of a second time period, Trump campaigned on a platform of retaliation following 4 indictments throughout three courts since leaving workplace in 2021, and has repeatedly attacked James on social media and at rallies as a political opponent.
