This week in the war on workers: Criminal charges in Manhattan wage theft and insurance fraud case
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It's rare for business owners to be charged with crimes for labor law violations, even though bosses steal—yes, steal—huge amounts of money from workers every year in unpaid overtime, time spent working off the clock, and more. But Manhattan District AttoThis week in the war on workers: Criminal charges in Manhattan wage theft and insurance fraud case
It's rare for business owners to be charged with crimes for labor law violations, even though bosses steal—yes, steal—huge amounts of money from workers every year in unpaid overtime, time spent working off the clock, and more. But Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. announced grand larceny, insurance fraud and scheme to defraud charges for the owners, managers, and accountants of a construction company doing concrete work on a midtown Manhattan luxury condo building. Overall, the theft totaled $1.7 million stolen from 520 workers over three years, and the company hid wages it did pay from the state to avoid workers’ compensation premiums. At a news conference announcing the arrests, Mr. Vance said the victims were especially vulnerable to exploitation because they were not in unions and did not have immigration papers. “Often it’s the very people who are tasked with building this great city who are the most vulnerable to fraud from their managers and employers,” Mr. Vance said. Yeah, and too few prosecutors will take this step of actually filing charges for employers’ crimes. For that matter, would charges have been filed here if there hadn’t been insurance fraud involved? Vance should feel free to prove that they would have been by charging a few more bosses on wage theft—guaranteed they will not be too hard to find. Read more