New York Attorney General Letitia James has successfully recovered nearly $1.13 million in stolen wages for workers employed by CleanTech, a maintenance company providing services at Rikers Island during the COVID-19 pandemic. An investigation by the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) revealed significant labor violations including wage theft, denial of paid sick leave, illegal kickbacks, and retaliation against workers who voiced their concerns.
As a result of these findings, CleanTech is set to pay $1,029,175 in restitution to approximately 250 affected workers. "Every worker deserves fair pay and should be treated with dignity and respect," stated Attorney General James. She emphasized her pride in returning the wages to those who rightfully earned them and reiterated her office's commitment to holding companies accountable for exploiting vulnerable workers.
The investigation into CleanTech began in 2022 following a complaint from Catholic Migration Services about an illegal kickback policy. The OAG discovered that between September and December 2021, CleanTech misreported paying prevailing wages while actually compensating employees below required rates and failing to provide paid sick leave. Workers were coerced into returning portions of their wages as kickbacks under threat of job loss.
One worker reported being forced to return $120 from her regular $720 weekly paycheck or $240 from an overtime paycheck totaling around $1,000. Crew chiefs would threaten termination if the kickbacks were not paid: "If you don’t [kickback] the money, you don’t have work." Another worker recounted similar experiences when working extra hours.
As part of the settlement with OAG, two crew chiefs involved lost their management positions; one is no longer employed by CleanTech. The company agreed to mandatory training for all crew chiefs and will pay OAG $1,129,175—$100,000 allocated for settlement administration costs—with any remaining funds used as restitution distributed through a claims process.
Additionally, CleanTech committed to broad reforms such as bilingual training on prevailing wage law led by New York City Comptroller's Bureau of Labor Law for management and subcontractors involved in such contracts. They will also provide bilingual notices about employee rights and submit compliance reports to OAG over three years.
Attorney General James encourages New Yorkers suspecting wage theft or other labor violations to file confidential complaints online or call (212) 416-8700. Her office has prioritized combating wage theft across various industries employing low-wage workers with notable recoveries made throughout recent years.
This case was managed by Assistant Attorney General Abigail Ramos with support from Legal Analyst Kenny Ip under Deputy Bureau Chief Young Lee and Bureau Chief Karen Cacace within the Labor Bureau—a division under Chief Deputy Attorney General Meghan Faux overseen by First Deputy Attorney General Jennifer Levy.