Landlords off the hook in paying prevailing wage

A judge has thrown out a New York City bill requiring landlords receiving at least $1 million in economic development aid to pay service workers a prevailing wage, Bloomberg News reported.

New York State Supreme Court Justice Geoffrey Wright said it would have raised the minimum wage for some private workers, but was preempted by state law. In May 2012, City Council passed the bill in a 44-4 vote, which Mayor Michael Bloomberg had vetoed.

The measure applied to workers in businesses that are recipients of more than $1 million in city tax abatements or low-interest financing and in residential or commercial buildings leased by the city. The mayor had said that this would increase costs, the publication said, and employers would have had to keep a log to report hours, wage and benefit details.

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“This ill-conceived legislation threatened some of the most important job-creating projects in the city,” said Julie Wood, a spokesperson for the mayor. “Legislation like this makes it harder for companies to invest in New York City, at a time when we need to be making it easier.”

A spokesperson for the council told Bloomberg News that it will take appropriate legal actions to overturn the ruling. [Bloomberg News]Mark Maurer