How a long-sought bill could make construction work less deadly

Carlos Moncayo was just 22 when he was crushed by thousands of pounds of dirt at a construction site in Manhattan’s meat-packing district.

More than seven years later, a construction safety law named after him could become law, if: Government Kathy Hochul chooses to sign it. The legislationKnown as Carlos’s law, it would dramatically increase the fines faced by companies for construction accidents leading to criminal convictions.

While the bill was passed by both houses of the legislature on the last day of the session last month, Ms Hochul’s office has only said it was reviewing it.

Prosecutions for injured or killed on construction sites are extremely rare across the country, but the Moncayo case was an exception. The Manhattan District Attorney’s office prosecuted the charges, and the prime contractor, Harco Construction, was found guilty of manslaughterculpable homicide through negligence and reckless peril.

The company was eventually ordered to pay only $10,000 because of state-imposed corporate fines limits. The then District Attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., denounced the outcomeand said the fine was just “monopoly money” for the company.

Supporters of Carlos’ law say the specter of much higher fines in such cases would deter contractors from cutting back on safety, sometimes with dangerous consequences.

The city’s Department of Buildings has recorded 84 construction fatalities since 2015. Statistics show that deaths are more likely in non-union locations, where workers can be pressured to meet unreasonable demands.

Diana Florence, who was the lead prosecutor in Mr Moncayo’s case, said in an interview that many construction injuries and even deaths are not properly investigated from the start.

But the Moncayo case was a coincidence: a police chief who arrived on the scene had once worked in construction, and he immediately recognized that the well Mr. Moncayo was working in had not been reinforced, as it should have been.

“He realized that the trench was basically a ticking time bomb,” Ms. Florence said.

Prosecutors would later allege that supervisors ordered Mr Moncayo, who was undocumented and non-union member, to go down the drain despite the danger because the project was behind schedule.

The site they worked on, near the High Line, was once the Pastis restaurant and was converted into a restoration hardware store.

The case sparked a years-long effort to increase fines in such cases and extend liability so that companies can be held accountable for the actions of a larger number of employees.

Carlos’ law was first introduced in 2017 and passed by the State Assembly that year, but was held up in the State Senate due to opposition from Republicans and the real estate industry.

This year, however, there was a breakthrough. The Mason Tenders’ District Council, an alliance of construction workers’ unions and a key force behind the bill, agreed with the New York Real Estate Board in May on legislative amendments, including changes to provisions that affect regulators and regulators. for men.

The version passed allows the courts to rule on restitution without a limit and increases the minimum fines to $500,000 for felonies and $300,000 for felonies in cases of injuries or death.

“We think this will attract the attention of rogue developers and contractors who risk the lives of their employees in the pursuit of profit,” said Mike Hellstrom, director of mason’s tenders.

In a joint statement following the bill’s passage, Mr. Hellstrom and James Whelan, the chairman of the Real Estate Board, said they “intended to build on the partnership between our organizations that contributed to this legislative achievement. “

Ms. Hochul is running for election in November and has strong support from organized labor, leading supporters of Carlos’ law to believe she will sign it soon. The deadline to trade on any of the more than 1,000 accounts that has passed through both chambers during the last session, is the end of the year.

Collecting comprehensive data on criminal cases resulting from workplace injuries and deaths is complicated. Federal regulators occasionally refer cases to the Department of Justice for prosecution, but must meet a high burden of proof for “deliberate violations” that cause the death of an employee.

State and local prosecutors can file charges, as in the Moncayo case. Months after the death of Mr. Moncayo, the Manhattan District Attorney’s office and several other agencies, including the City Department of Investigation, announced the creation of a construction fraud task force to focus on misconduct amid a boom in new construction.

Current District Attorney Alvin Bragg has urged Ms Hochul to sign Carlos’ bill, which he says would provide “a meaningful deterrent.”

“Companies must be held accountable when an employee is injured or killed by unsafe conditions,” Bragg said in a statement.

The fines in question are separate from those imposed by the federal government for occupational safety and health or local authorities for violations on the construction sites.

The New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health, an advocacy group pushing for the bill, has called on other prosecutors in the state to follow the lead of the Manhattan District Attorney’s office and be more proactive in prosecuting such cases. cases.

Supporters of Carlos’s law, including NYCOSH, say that even if prosecution remains the exception, the law would curb unscrupulous construction workers by increasing the cost of accidents at work.

“We want cases of Carlos’ law to be rare because we want employers to be responsible and follow all applicable safety and health standards and not endanger workers’ lives,” said Charlene Obernauer, the group’s executive director.

Diana Moreno, the interim director of New Immigrant Community Empowerment, a Queens-based nonprofit, said signing the bill would address an “embarrassing injustice.”

“The risk of having to pay a significant fine, a minimum of $500,000 under this new law, will finally hold developers and construction companies accountable and incentivize them to enforce health and safety standards,” she said.

Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, who along with James Sanders Jr. in the Senate sponsored the bill in the Assembly said the matter was personal to her. About 25 years ago, her brother Wagner fell from scaffolding while he was building and was left permanently disabled.

She now represents the Flatbush section of Brooklyn and counts among her constituents many undocumented immigrants from the Caribbean and countries in Africa who work in construction.

“You have a lot of construction companies that take advantage of immigrant workers, pay low, don’t train them, don’t provide a safe place for them to work because they don’t value their lives,” she said. “They know these immigrants don’t have the resources to file a lawsuit or claim, so they’re taking advantage of it.”

Before casting her vote for the bill, state senator Jessica Ramos read out the names of workers who had died in New York since Moncayo, noting that most of them were Latino, and many were her neighbors in Queens.

“It will be a life-saver for families in my district,” she said of the bill.

Francisco Moya, now a member of the City Council representing roughly the same area of ​​Queens as Ms. Ramos, helped write the bill while he was in the Assembly.

He also felt a personal connection to the Moncayo case. He and Mr. Moncayo shared Ecuadorian roots and lived just blocks from each other.

“This is a victory in the battle to ensure that every construction worker who leaves home in the morning to go to work is alive to get home for dinner,” he said.