Raise Airport Worker Wages

Section 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "healthy terminals act".

§ 2. The article heading of article 9 of the labor law, as added by chapter 777 of the laws of 1971, is amended to read as follows:

PREVAILING WAGE FOR BUILDING SERVICE EMPLOYEES AND COVERED AIRPORT WORKERS

§ 3. Subdivisions 1, 4 and 8 of section 230 of the labor law, subdivision 1 as amended by chapter 542 of the laws of 1984, subdivision 4 as amended by chapter 678 of the laws of 2007, and subdivision 8 as added by chapter 777 of the laws of 1971, are amended and four new subdivisions 1-a, 15, 16 and 17 are added to read as follows:

1. "Building service employee" or "service employee" means any person performing work in connection with the care or maintenance of an exist-

EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets

[ ] is old law to be omitted.

LBD13042-11-0

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ing building, or in connection with the transportation of office furniture or equipment to or from such building, or in connection with the transportation and delivery of fossil fuel to such building, for a contractor under a contract with a public agency which is in excess of one thousand five hundred dollars and the principal purpose of which is to furnish services through the use of building service employees.

"Building service employee" or "service employee" includes, but is not limited, to, watchman, guard, doorman, building cleaner, porter, handyman, janitor, gardener, groundskeeper, stationary fireman, elevator operator and starter, window cleaner, and occupations relating to the collection of garbage or refuse, and to the transportation of office furniture and equipment, and to the transportation and delivery of fossil fuel but does not include clerical, sales, professional, technician and related occupations.

"Building service employee" or "service employee" also does not include any employee to whom the provisions of articles eight and eight-a of this chapter are applicable.

1-a. "Employee" means a building service employee or a covered airport worker.

4. "Contractor" means any employer who employs employees to perform building service work under a contract with a public agency and shall include any of the contractor's subcontractors. "Contractor" shall also include any covered airport employer as such term is defined in this section.

8. "Fiscal officer" means the industrial commissioner, except for building service work performed by or on behalf of a city, or work involving the employment of covered airport workers at a covered airport location located in a city with a population of one million or more, in which case "fiscal officer" means the comptroller or other analogous officer of such city.

15. "Covered airport location" means any airport operating under the jurisdiction of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey within the state.

16. "Covered airport worker" means any person employed by a covered airport employer to perform work at a covered airport location provided at least one-half of the employee's time during any workweek is performed at a covered airport location. "Covered airport worker" shall not include any person employed in an executive, administrative, or professional capacity as defined in 29 U.S.C. 213 (a)(1). "Covered airport worker" does not include any employee to whom the provisions of article eight or eight-A of this chapter are applicable.

17. "Covered airport employer" means any person, corporation, limited liability company, or association employing any covered airport worker in an occupation, industry, trade, business or service. The term "covered airport employer" shall not include a public agency.

§ 4. The labor law is amended by adding a new section 231-a to read as follows:

§ 231-a. Prevailing wage for covered airport workers. 1. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, rule, or regulation to the contrary, as used in this section, the term "wage" shall mean: (a) basic hourly cash rate of pay; and (b) supplements. The term "supplements" shall mean fringe benefits including medical or hospital care, pensions on retirement or death, compensation for injuries or illness resulting from occupational activity, or insurance to provide any of the foregoing, unemployment benefits, life insurance, disability and sickness insurance, accident insurance, and other bona fide fringe benefits not otherwise

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required by federal, state or local law to be provided by a covered airport employer.

2. Not earlier than September first, two thousand twenty-one, every covered airport employer shall pay a covered airport worker working at a covered airport location a wage of not less than the prevailing wage in the locality for the craft, trade, or occupation of such covered airport worker.

3. The obligation of a covered airport employer to pay prevailing supplements may be discharged by furnishing any equivalent combinations of fringe benefits or by making equivalent or differential payments in cash under rules and regulations established by the fiscal officer.

4. Notwithstanding any other provisions of law, rule, or regulation to the contrary, for the purposes of this section "prevailing wage" shall mean the wage determined by the fiscal officer to be prevailing for the various classes of covered airport workers in the locality; provided, however, that in no event shall the prevailing wage applicable to a covered airport worker on and after September first, two thousand twenty-one and every year thereafter be less than the following: (a) any otherwise applicable minimum wage rate established through a policy of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey; and

(b) an amount of wages or supplements equal to the rate for health and welfare for all occupations, designated by the fiscal officer based on the determinations made by the federal department of labor pursuant to the McNamara-O'Hara Service Contract Act of 1965 41 U.S.C. 6701 et seq for the geographic region in which the covered airport location is located and in effect on the date of the designation by the fiscal officer.

5. On or before September first, two thousand twenty-one and each subsequent September first, the fiscal officer shall designate the wage and supplemental benefits rate required under this section by classification and region in which each covered airport is located. The fiscal officer shall publicly post such designated wage rate.

6. Nothing in this article shall be deemed to alter or limit any employer's obligation to pay any otherwise applicable prevailing wage under any other provision of this article or article eight of this chapter.

§ 5. The section heading of section 231 of the labor law, as added by chapter 777 of the laws of 1971, is amended to read as follows:

Prevailing wage for building service employees.

§ 6. Subdivisions 1 and 2 of section 233 of the labor law, as added by chapter 777 of the laws of 1971, are amended to read as follows:

1. In all cases where service work is being performed pursuant to a contract therefor, or where work is being performed pursuant to a contract involving the employment of covered airport workers, the contractor shall keep original payrolls or transcripts thereof, subscribed and confirmed by him as true, under penalties of perjury, showing the hours and days worked by each employee, the craft, trade or occupation at which he was employed, and the wages paid.

2. Where the wages paid include sums which are not paid directly to the [workmen] employees weekly and which are expended for supplements, the records required to be maintained shall include a record of such hourly payment on behalf of such employees, the supplement for which such payment has been made, and the name and address of the person to whom such payment has been made. In all such cases, the contractor shall keep a true and inscribed copy of the agreement under which such

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payments are made, a record of all net payments made thereunder, and a list of all persons for whom such payments are made.

§ 7. Paragraphs (a) and (c) of subdivision 1 of section 234 of the labor law, as added by chapter 777 of the laws of 1971, are amended and a new paragraph (e-1) is added to read as follows:

(a) to cause an investigation to be made to determine the wages prevailing in any locality in all crafts, trades and occupations involved in service work or work involving the employment of covered airport workers; in making such investigation, the fiscal officer may utilize wage and fringe benefit data from various sources including, but not limited to, data and determinations of federal, state or other governmental agencies;

(c) to examine the books, documents and records pertaining to the wages paid to, and the hours of work performed by, [service] employees;

(e-1) to make a classification by craft, trade or other generally recognized occupational category of the covered airport workers and to determine whether such work has been performed by the employees in such classification;

§ 8. Subdivisions 1 and 3 of section 235 of the labor law, as added by chapter 777 of the laws of 1971, are amended to read as follows:

1. Whenever the fiscal officer has reason to believe that [a service] an employee has been paid less than the wages stipulated in the contract, or if such contract has no wage schedule attached thereto and the fiscal officer has reason to believe that [a service] an employee has been paid less than the wages prevailing for his craft, trade or occupation, the fiscal officer may, and upon receipt of a written complaint from an employee employed thereon, shall conduct a special investigation to determine the facts relating thereto.

3. If, despite the requirements of law, the contract for the service work or work involving the employment of covered airport workers has been awarded without the annexation thereto of the schedule of wages provided for in this article, the fiscal officer shall determine in the proceeding before him the wages prevailing at the time the work was performed for the crafts, trades or occupations of the employees involved.

§ 9. Section 236 of the labor law, as added by chapter 777 of the laws of 1971, is amended to read as follows:

§ 236. Failure to protest underpayments. Notwithstanding any inconsistent provision of this chapter or of any other general, special or local law, ordinance, charter or administrative code, [a service] an employee shall not be barred from his right to recover the difference between the amount actually paid to him and the amount which should have been paid to him pursuant to an order entered under the provisions of this article because of the prior receipt by him without protest of wages paid or on account of his failure to state orally or in writing upon any payroll or receipt which he is required to sign that the wages received by him are received under protest, or on account of his failure to indicate his protest against the amount, or that the amount so paid does not constitute payment in full of wages due him for the period covered by such payment.

§ 10. Subdivisions 1 and 4 of section 237 of the labor law, as amended by chapter 698 of the laws of 1988, are amended to read as follows:

1. Subcontractors engaged for service work, or for work involving the employment of covered airport workers, by a contractor or its subcontractor shall, upon receipt from the contractor or its subcontractor of the schedule of wages and supplements specified in the contract, provide

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to the contractor or its subcontractor a verified statement attesting that the subcontractor has received and reviewed such schedule of wages and supplements, and agrees that it will pay the applicable prevailing wages and will pay or provide the supplements specified therein. Such verified statement shall be filed in the manner described in subdivision three of this section, provided, however, that in the case of contracts for work involving the employment of covered airport workers, such verified statement shall be subject to inspection upon request of the fiscal officer. It shall be a violation of this article for any contractor or its subcontractor to fail to provide for its subcontractor a copy of the schedule of wages and supplements specified in the contract.