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Sunday, May 1, 2022
Dinowitz Digest: Courts Overturn Redistricting, Shred Days Announced, & More
NYC PUBLIC ADVOCATE CALLS TO END TO THE ‘EXPLOITATION ECONOMY’ AND PROTECT GIG WORKERS IN NEW REPORT
On May Day, as people across New York commemorate the worker justice movement, New York City Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams has released a new report today calling for worker protections that address the modern workforce and the ‘gig economy.’ The report, Disrupting the Exploitation Economy, highlights the ways in which large corporations deny basic employment protections to their workforce by exploiting loopholes in current city, state and federal policies.
“While the gig economy has the potential to provide workers with great opportunity for new models of flexibility and independence, it has also provided large corporations with the opportunity to take advantage of working people by denying them rights and protections that all workers demand and deserve,” said Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams. “The gig economy cannot be allowed to operate as the exploitation economy – it should be a space for workers to be empowered, not for bad actors to capitalize on predatory capitalism. On May Day, as we celebrate the victories of the worker justice movement, this report makes clear there is more to do to ensure those victories research all workers, across industry or category.”
As the report details, workers classified as independent contractors – a growing number of New Yorkers – are not afforded many of the basic employment protections and benefits that other employees are able to access. An estimated 850,000 New Yorkers are currently classified as low-wage independent contractors, and that number is expected to increase. As the gig economy grows and the workforce shifts in the wake of the pandemic, this report recommends several policy proposals in order to close the benefits gap.
In addition to the challenges faced by independent contractors, many workers are being exploited by companies currently misclassifying their workers – often deliberately – as independent contractors despite functionally serving as employees. This cost-cutting tactic denies workers the wages and benefits they deserve, and allows companies to avoid costs and dodge taxes. A failure by the state and federal government to establish clear criteria for classification has enabled bad actors to take advantage of workers who should in reality be considered employees.
It is vital to take both city and state action to ensure that the labor protections which have been won in recent years and decades are extended to gig workers in a new economy, and equally critical that employees are not deliberately misclassified in an effort for corporations to evade those protections and the accountability that accompanies them.
In the city, the report recommends:
- Providing Independent Contractors with Paid Safe and Sick Leave
- Ensuring Independent Contractors Know Their Rights
- Protecting Delivery Workers
- Providing Real Support for Taxi Drivers
- Improving Conditions for App-Based Drivers
- Expediting IDNYC Applications and Renewals
New York City has an opportunity to be the best city in the nation for gig workers, and these recommendations would drastically improve their working conditions. As the number of gig workers continues to grow, city policies have not caught up to the modern day economy to protect workers that are often exploited. Policies that would provide paid sick and family leave, ensure full and timely payments, insure necessary equipment, and expand bike lanes will have real and lasting impacts on New Yorkers that are often struggling to pay their bills – New Yorkers that are significantly more likely to be immigrants and people of color.
On a state level, the Public Advocate calls for:
- Properly Classifying Workers
- Rejecting Bad Deals for Workers
- Increasing Misclassification Enforcement
- Establishing a Portable Benefits Program
- Cracking Down on Wage Theft
- Passing the Nail Salon Accountability Act
- Improving Access to Labor Licensure
- Improving Unemployment
- Supporting Undocumented Workers
When corporations misclassify their workers, the state loses out on critical tax revenue and permits a status quo reliant on exploitation and manipulation. The state must establish and codify narrow, specific standards for independent contractors and then aggressively enforce those new standards. Additionally, the report argues, the state should create a portable benefits program, which would allow workers to maintain benefits despite changing jobs, and should crack down on industries that have been historically unethical to their workers.
Federally, the report calls on Congress to pass the PRO Act, as well as permanently extend unemployment eligibility to independent contractors, improve protections for immigrant workers, and expedite access to citizenship.
Read the full report on ending the Exploitation Economy here.
“Thousands of gig workers were on the frontlines during the worst of the pandemic, continue to work despite the risks, and deserve pay and protections like other workers. No one should have to choose between going to work sick and being able to afford rent or put food on the table. Upholding and passing these measures will directly benefit some of the most essential and overlooked New Yorkers, and if we’re committed to an inclusive recovery, that starts with workers’ livelihoods,” said NYC Comptroller Brad Lander.
"No rebuilding of our City and state in the aftermath of an ongoing pandemic can happen without restoring labor rights destroyed by what the Public Advocate rightly calls, the exploitation economy. Uber takes the majority share and fires drivers at will, leaving them on the edges of poverty and without job security. Meanwhile, it's the largest private sector employer in the state - directly impacting over one hundred thousand drivers and delivery workers, and setting the trend for economic devastation for millions of other workers across our state. We thank the Public Advocate for lifting the veil and uplifting the voices and interest of drivers, and all workers. We echo the call for city, state and federal action from right of 85% of fare to drivers, a Just Cause policy, to the PRO Act and a state ABC Test to dismantle misclassification." - Bhairavi Desai, Executive Director of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance
"Workers Justice Project (WJP)/ Los Deliveristas Unidos (LDU) applaud the Office of the NYC Public Advocate Williams' report. However, WJP knows that the first step in empowering gig workers like Deliveristas, cleaners, and other workers is to raise awareness of their working conditions. Now WJP/Los Deliveristas Unidos' are focused build a new future for gig workers by creating a new benefit, organizing, and representation models that transform the gig economy like Deliveristas that care for all workers, their families, and the communities and raising the standards in NYC and beyond." – Hildalyn Colon Hernandez, Director of Policy & Strategic Partnerships Los Deliveristas Unidos (LDU).
Comptroller Lander Calls on the NYC Rent Guideline Board to Reconsider Proposed Rent Increases
Calls 9% hike (for two-year leases) far too high. Urges Board not to return to the days of Giuliani and Bloomberg’s unreasonably high increases.
New York City Comptroller Brad Lander released a statement following the release of the Rent Guidelines Board’s Income and Affordability Report and ahead of the Rent Guidelines Board’s deliberations over annual rent adjustment.
“The NYC Rent Guidelines Board has a critical task: establishing fair rent increases for rent stabilized housing that balance cost increases facing building owners with affordability issues facing tenants, all in NYC’s tight housing market. That is always challenging, but especially during times of high inflation when owners are more likely to experience rising costs, while tenants—many of whom will not see wage increases—are squeezed by price increases they cannot possibly afford.
“Unfortunately, the Rent Guideline Board staff proposal missed the mark. Potential rent increases as high as nine percent on two-year leases are far beyond what many rent-stabilized tenants can possibly afford, while the city’s housing courts are slammed with 200,000 pending eviction cases and market-rate rents in many neighborhoods are spiking to their highest levels ever.
“Protecting tenants from unaffordable rent increases, in a tight housing market, at a time of high inflation is a large part of why our City adopted rent stabilization and established the Rent Guidelines Board in the first place.
“While inflation is leading to rising costs for many property owners, the Board’s methodology for assessing cost increases recommended a 2.7 percent hike for one-year leases and 4.3 percent for two-year deals. That should have been the ceiling for proposed ranges for the board’s consideration.
“Significant rent increases are often justified by referencing the pain of rising costs to mom-and-pop owners. However, it is large landlords (those with twenty-one or more buildings in their portfolio) that own more than half of the City’s rent stabilized buildings. These larger owners are generally much better capitalized and have far more ability to weather cost increases. The Board’s methodology should be updated to analyze the impact that real estate ownership and capitalization have on prices and affordability.
“Part of the challenge of the rent stabilization process is balancing staff research with what is ultimately a decision made by the Board, all of whom the Mayor appoints and therefore inevitably reflects politics. Members of the Board are expected to be a balance between landlord interests, tenant representatives, and members of the public, but the Mayor’s appointment of a public member to the Board who has expressed skepticism about the entire system of rent regulation is deeply troubling in this context.
“While a modest rent increase may be merited this year, Mayor Adams’ appointed Board must not return to the days of Giuliani and Bloomberg’s unreasonably high increases. I urge the members to strike a far better balance between the needs of tenants and owners and revise its methodology to reflect the housing market we have today.”
Background:
The Rent Guidelines Board’s assessment comes from its staff’s 2022 Income and Affordability Report, but misses key demographic data about those who would be affected by the Board’s decision. 76% of rent stabilized tenants identify as non-white, nearly half are immigrant households, more likely to be female-headed, and make an average of one third less in wage and salaries than tenants in non-regulated housing.
Moreover, the Income and Affordability report paints a rosier picture of declining unemployment and increased wages. The Comptroller’s Office analysis shows that the economic recovery from the pandemic has not been evenly experienced across race or gender. The unemployment rate for Black residents of NYC increased to 11.6% in February, double the citywide average and nearly four times the national average.
The Income and Affordability study highlighted a temporary 3.8% decline in average rents early in the pandemic in market rate units within buildings that also include rent-stabilized apartments. The Comptroller Office’s April 2022 Monthly Economic and Fiscal newsletter highlights that the current median asking rent is $2,975, a 10% increase since October and November 2021. Every indication shows that rents generally have skyrocketed since the data compiled in the RGB reports. Landlords hit hardest by declining market rate rents in 2020 already benefited from most increases in 2021 and 2022. In addition, the report neglected to thoroughly analyze the likelihood of a surge of evictions as the pandemic eviction moratorium has expired.
DEC ANNOUNCES NEW RECREATIONAL FISHING REGULATIONS FOR SUMMER FLOUNDER
Recreational Summer Flounder Season Opens on May 1 with Extended Dates, Decreased Size Limit
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Basil Seggos today announced new recreational saltwater fishing regulations, effective immediately, for the summer flounder (fluke) season that starts May 1. These changes will provide more opportunities for anglers by extending the season a total of 12 fishing days to Oct. 9, 2022, and decreasing the minimum size limit by half an inch.
“DEC is pleased to announce the adoption of recreational summer flounder fishing regulations that will extend the fishing season, decrease the size limit, and provide more opportunities for anglers to take home one of New York’s most sought-after saltwater fish,” Commissioner Seggos said. “New York State will continue to work with our coastwide partners to enact conservation measures for summer flounder to ensure an accessible and sustainable fishery for years to come.”
The New York recreational summer flounder season in 2022 is open May 1 to Oct. 9, 2022, and anglers are allowed four fish at a minimum size limit of 18.5 inches in response to new interstate fishery management plan requirements. New York State’s recreational regulations for summer flounder are the same as Connecticut’s regulations to maintain consistency in the Long Island Sound and maximize the benefit to recreational anglers and associated industries.
DEC’s rulemaking is necessary for the State to remain in compliance with recent changes to recreational summer flounder initiated by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) and Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (MAFMC). The regulations adopting the changes announced today are effective immediately. The complete text of the rulemaking is available on DEC's website.
DEC is accepting comments on the regulations from May 18, through July 18, 2022. Written comments can be sent by mail to Rachel Sysak, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, 123 Kings Park Blvd., Kings Park, NY 11754, or by email to fw.marine@dec.ny.gov.
For current regulations, check DEC’s Recreational Saltwater Fishing Regulations. Anglers must enroll in the annual no-fee Recreational Marine Fishing Registry before fishing New York's Marine and Coastal District waters or when fishing in the Hudson River and its tributaries for "migratory fish of the sea" (such as striped bass). Anglers can enroll for the registry online or by phone or by visiting a license issuing agent location.