By: Adina Genn
March 23, 2018
Labor leaders, elected officials and representatives from county, state and federal agencies gathered this week for a labor law conference at The Morrelly Center in Bethpage, hosted by Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas.
The conference, the district attorney’s second, aimed to share information and discuss trends toward protecting employees and taxpayers.
“When unscrupulous employers cheat in one aspect, they often cheat in everything,” Singas said in a statement. “It starts with stealing hard earned wages from their employees, and then evolves into submitting false payroll records, false tax returns and cheating the unemployment insurance system.”
In 2017, the Nassau DA began working with district attorney offices in New York City and Westchester, along with the state Attorney General’s office and the U.S. Department of Labor to launch a wage-theft investigation within the construction industry. This year the Nassau DA’s wage theft saw 30 cases related to undocumented workers who aren’t being paid, up from two last year. And at an event that the DA’s office organized with Univision generated new cases.
Attendees at the 2018 conference included Nassau County Executive Laura Curran, Westchester County District Attorney Anthony Scarpino and Putnam County District Attorney Robert Tendy as well as representatives from the Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office; Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s office; the New York State Labor Department; Occupational Safety and Health Administration; Queens County District Attorney’s Office; the Law Office of Archer, Byington, Glennon & Levine; and Maryhaven Center of Hope.
