AN AGENDA TO PROTECT & DEFEND

WORKERS’ RIGHTS AS ATTORNEY GENERAL

As the proud son of a union household, I will use the full power and authority of the Office of
Attorney General (OAG) to address the enormous problems facing organized labor. I believe
in the mission of organized labor because I have personally experienced how profoundly it
can help the lower-middle class. I wouldn’t be where I am today without the support of the
Carpenters’ union. My father was a 50-year union carpenter who worked on projects all
across New York State. I myself was in the union as an apprentice carpenter before joining
the Navy.

My experience as a prosecutor has helped me to achieve historic results for defrauded

Given the tough economic times we’re living in and the high unemployment rate faced by New
Yorkers (8.2% in July 2010 compared to 4.5% in 2007), I support the aggressive action
Attorney General (AG) Cuomo has taken to fight for proper legal wages and to combat
workers compensation fraud, and I will continue to investigate claims in which companies
underreport their number of employees to dodge taxes, a practice that ultimately cheats the
unemployment insurance fund. As your next Attorney General, I will continue the good work
begun under AG Cuomo, and will focus on workers’ rights.

One of my Democratic opponents has pledged to create a permanent Task Force within the
Division of Social Justice to prevent abuses of workers’ rights. I believe that creating a new
Task Force will only delay the process of addressing workers’ rights, because the fact is that
the infrastructure and laws already exist for the AG’s Labor and Civil Rights Bureau to work
with the Department of Labor and the Department of Tax and Finance to combat these
abuses. The issue at hand is that there needs to be a committed enforcer of existing laws
who supports the rights of workers within the OAG, and I will be an AG committed to this goal.

A final, basic point needs to be made before any discussion of specific initiatives, whether it
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be Prevailing Wage laws, Unemployment Insurance, or Workers’ Compensation. It is that
being pro-labor, as I am, is not to be in opposition to employers’ rights. This is a false
premise. For if there is one basic problem in our state, a problem that applies across the
many specific areas of labor that I will work to correct as your AG, it is that there must be a
level playing field in employers’ compliance with existing laws. As noted above, the problem
is not so much a legislative failing, since there are many sweeping as well as detailed laws on
the books that provide for equitable working conditions. Rather, the problem is that many
employers and contractors do not observe the laws, whether it be paying employees off the
books, mischaracterizing the correct status of employees, cooking the books, or outright
embezzling of state funds. Indeed, to point to but one representative example, a recent study
suggests that over 50,000 construction workers in New York City alone are paid off the books,
in violation of the law.

If this imbalance between employers that are law-abiding, and those that abuse the law, is
corrected, it frees up vast funds that benefit both management and labor, and makes our state
more competitive, as it will be grounded on an honest and incentivized labor market. Worker
rights are thus in substantial part an enforcement issue, and that is what the OAG is
particularly well suited to do. I laud AG Cuomo’s activities to date in aggressively enforcing
the labor laws and prosecuting offenders throughout the State, and will continue that initiative.
It is time to level the playing field between honest business owners and those that bilk the
system, to the benefit of owners and workers alike.

Ensuring Fair Access to the Prevailing Wage

Prevailing wage laws are grounded in the principle that wages should be based on the cost of
living in a given area, and not on an arbitrary minimum. Presently, New York City and certain
other regions of the state have adopted such laws, and statewide, certain building service
contractors must pay the prevailing wage to their employees. (Labor Law § 231) I support
these laws, and would also promote their adoption in economically hard hit regions throughout
the State where they are not presently in force. I would also advocate a broad interpretation
of who is covered under prevailing wage laws, to ensure that workers who should be
protected by such laws are not being cut out of these benefits by overly-narrow classifications
of who is covered. But as noted above, in addition to the possible expansion of coverage, it is
important to ensure that the current laws on prevailing wage are enforced and not
circumvented, and that no state building service contractor or local employer seeks to operate
above the law by manipulation or deceit.

Protecting the Unemployment Insurance Fund for Workers

In this time of great economic stress and unacceptably high unemployment, at a minimum it is
essential that state law protections relating to unemployment are enforced, and I will do so as
Attorney General. There has been a litany of abuses by employers too systemic to list,
demonstrating that here, as elsewhere, it is the fair and uniform application of law that I, as
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AG, can and will ensure through aggressive investigation and possible prosecution of
employers who seek to skirt the law either by paying their employees off the books,
misclassifying them to lower their unemployment obligations, or simply outright refusing to pay
the mandated payments to the state unemployment insurance fund. I will thus use, for
example, Labor Law § 633, which makes it a criminal misdemeanor for an employer to refuse
(willfully) to pay his or her contributions into the state fund. All employers should be on an
equally footing competitively, and those who are unemployed should not have their benefits
impaired by employers’ abject, illegal refusals to contribute to the state fund.

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 Ensuring Employers Meet Their Obligations
Under New York's Workers' Compensation Laws

My position on New York Workers’ Compensation Law parallels my position with respect to
unemployment insurance: the problem lies as much in the enforcement of the laws as in the
laws themselves. No reasonable person disputes that workers are entitled to safe and
equitable working conditions, and the New York Workers’ Compensation Law provides a
comprehensive solution directed to that end. There may be room for improvement, but in
these economically stressful times, the first priority has to be to utilize our present resources
as effectively as possible, and here, too, the Attorney General can play a pivotal investigative
and enforcement role to ensure that workers obtain the rights to which they’re entitled under
the Workers’ Compensation Law. Thus, for example, in conjunction with the state Department
of Labor (DOL), I will vigorously investigate and enforce New York’s Worker’s Compensation
Law § 52(1)(a), which makes it a felony for an employer to fail to meet his or her workers’
compensation obligations.

Aggressive Investigation and Enforcement

There will be no stronger advocate for labor rights in the OAG than I will be. As your Attorney
General, I intend to use the broad, remedial powers granted to the OAG to investigate and
prosecute labor law violations under Labor Law § 214, and will utilize the present Labor
Bureau of the OAG to field questions and to protect your rights. As well, there are other
existing statutory provisions that grant the OAG significant powers to enforce labor laws and
ensure employer compliance. For example, Labor Law § 198-a criminalizes an employer’s
refusal to pay fair wages as set out in the Labor Laws; § 198-b prevents kickbacks, Penal Law
provisions §§ 215.10 and 135.60 respectively make it a misdemeanor to tamper with
witnesses or engage in coercion – laws that can be used to protect whistleblowers, who can
provide an invaluable service to the AG in ferreting out invisible but illegal employer activities;
and Executive Law § 63(12) generally grants the AG the authority to investigate and prosecute
those who appear to be repeatedly engaged in the fraudulent or illegal conducting of business
activities. In summary, there are numerous provisions in current state law that gives the OAG
great powers to protect employees, and penalize abusive employers, and it simply requires
the will and dedication to use those tools. As your Attorney General, I will have that will and
dedication.

I will also encourage greater coordination between the OAG and the DOL, which has
extensive enforcement and compliance resources. It is simply foolish to duplicate efforts, and
the DOL has long played a role in protecting Labor rights. Greater cooperation will lead to
greater protection for New Yorkers.

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 Other Labor Related Issues

During this campaign, on June 4th, I met in Waterford with Sheet Metal Workers Local 38 at a
picket line outside Albany Medical Center to express my support, and then went to join
workers at Momentive Performance Materials to attend the “Rally for a Just Contract” for
IUE/CWA 81359. And again, on July 1st, I stood on the picket line with workers of RWDSU
Local 220 who went on strike to fight for fair wages at the Mott plant in Williamson. At their
request, I wrote a letter to the Dr Pepper Snapple Group CEO, urging management to re-
engage with the leadership of the union without further delay, and to pursue negotiations to
achieve a fair contract. The ongoing importance of unions and the need for labor protections
are in my blood, and I will continue to fight on behalf of labor workers to achieve equitable and
fair contracts and protect employee rights whenever they are in jeopardy. As well,
on July 20th, I wrote a letter to Governor Paterson calling on him to sign the Violence Against
Nurses’ bill (S.4018 (Hassell-Thompson)/A.3103 (Koon)). As the brother of a nurse and
advocate for worker protection rights, I raised this issue at a recent AG debate, seeking the
support of one of my opponents for this legislation. When Congress passed the health care
reform bill, many Republican Attorneys General, led by Bill McCollum of Florida, announced
that they would challenge the constitutionality of the statute. I immediately wrote to George
Gresham of 1199, since 1199 had taken a leading role in supporting the passage of the
Obama plan, and told him that, if elected AG, I will make active use of amicus briefs to block
Republican AGs from bowing to the Tea party.

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Sean Coffey for Attorney General- P.O. Box 4533 Grand Central Station, New York, New York 10163
Phone: 212-557-6100, Fax: 212-557-6102, Web: www.coffey2010.com
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