New York City Comptroller Brad Lander on Tuesday said his office reached a settlement of over $70,000 with real estate management firm Planned Companies and the owner of a Williamsburg residential building for failure to pay the prevailing wage and supplemental benefits to building service employees.
Sam Spilkes LLC, owner of an 82-unit residential building at 282 South 5th Street in Williamsburg hired Planned Companies to provide service employees, such as cleaners and doorpersons, according to a press release.
The investigation at Spilkes’ building found that Planned Companies failed to pay prevailing wage and supplemental benefits to employees between December 2018 through June 2020. The back wages and penalties settled for work performed at the Williamsburg building total $72,697.83.
“Workers deserve to be paid every dollar they’ve earned,” said Lander. “My office will not tolerate repeated violations of prevailing wage laws."
The settlements include interest, civil penalties, as well as a requirement for Planned Companies and the building owner to train payroll personnel on the prevailing wage, coordinate with the Comptroller on prevailing wage trainings for building service employees, and post notices at all buildings subject to prevailing wage requirements.
This was not the first investigation into Planned Companies and Spilkes. In January 2020, the Comptroller’s Office found that Planned Companies did not pay prevailing wages as required by law at the same Williamsburg building owned by Spilkes. Spilkes agreed to pay over $450,000 in lost wages to the building service employees.
In order to prevent future violations, the 2024 settlement agreements include additional measures focused on training and compliance.
