NEW YORK DAILY NEWS: NYC hotel construction workers get $50,000 in stolen wages back from Manhattan DA’s new fund
By MOLLY CRANE-NEWMAN | mcranenewman@nydailynews.com | New York Daily News
PUBLISHED: August 30, 2023 at 6:44 p.m. | UPDATED: August 30, 2023 at 10:54 p.m.
Midtown construction workers stiffed out of 1,800 hours’ pay recouped their hard-earned wages Wednesday at the Manhattan district attorney’s office.
The seven workers made whole at the DA’s first wage-repayment event were owed about $50,000 from Ampak Electrical Services for electrical work they performed at British billionaire Richard Branson’s hotel on W. 30th St and Broadway in 2021.
They were repaid with cash from DA Alvin Bragg’s Stolen Wage Fund in an initiative with the state Department of Labor and the city Department of Investigation.
“It is painful it ended this way,” said one of the workers, Anthony Kodjo, 47. “I felt like we just worked for free because we don’t know who to ask [for] the money.”
Midtown construction workers stiffed out of 1,800 hours' pay recoup their stolen wages Wednesday at the Manhattan district attorney's Office.
Midtown construction workers stiffed out of 1,800 hours’ pay recoup their stolen wages Wednesday at the Manhattan district attorney’s Office.
The DA said an estimated $1 billion in wages is stolen from New Yorkers annually.
“It comes down to power and power disparities. This is not happening to high-powered lawyers and captains of industry. This is happening in low-wage jobs, medium wage jobs as well,” Bragg told the Daily News, noting a majority of victims are undocumented immigrants.
“At its core is power disparity — employers who are just cheating the system, who might not go out and take $1,000 out of someone’s pocket but are literally taking it out of their pocket through their wages,” he added. “What we’re saying is, it’s the same, and it has to be treated as such and prosecuted as such.”
Ampak Electrical Services is now defunct. Neither Branson nor his hotel were not accused of any wrongdoing.
The seven workers made whole at the DA's first wage-repayment event were owed about $50,000 from Ampak Electrical Services for electrical work they performed at British billionaire Richard Branson's hotel on W. 30th St and Broadway in 2021.
The seven workers made whole at the DA’s first wage-repayment event were owed about $50,000 from Ampak Electrical Services for electrical work they performed at British billionaire Richard Branson’s hotel on W. 30th St and Broadway in 2021.
Manhattan workers still waiting to be paid within a year of the resolution of their employer’s criminal case are eligible for compensation from Bragg’s fund. It’s also set up to help those employed by bankrupt businesses unable to cough up payment. The Labor Department vets and calculates the claims distributed by the DA.
The program is still in the pilot phase. If it’s determined to be successful after one year, the DA will inject another $500,000 in funds.
New Yorkers who believe they are a victim of wage theft can call the DA’s Worker Protection Unit at (646) 712-0298.