NYC Lets Luxury Building Owners Stiff Workers and Still Get a Tax Break

[marmar]

(ProPublica) When Isaac Bowman got a concierge job at a luxury Queens apartment building last year, he hoped it would be his ticket out of a homeless shelter and into New York City’s middle class.

The pay was low at only $10 an hour. But at least it was a start toward getting his partner and three stepchildren into an apartment of their own, Bowman reasoned.

Bowman took the job — and became a victim of wage theft.

Under terms of a large city tax subsidy, owners of the 117-unit building, The Exo, were legally bound to pay Bowman $16.88 an hour — almost 70 percent more than he got — plus benefits now worth $10.13 per hour.

The higher pay is required at bigger buildings that benefit from the city’s 421-a housing program, which grants about $1.1 billion in tax breaks each year to owners. In return, they must pay service employees the “prevailing wage” — a rate set by the city comptroller that is benchmarked to union contracts so that non-union workers get comparable pay for similar work. ..........(more)

https://www.propublica.org/article/nyc-lets-luxury-building-owners-stiff-workers-and-still-get-a-tax-break

[sonofspy777]

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