Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr., today announced the creation of the Office’s first-ever Worker Protection Unit to investigate and prosecute wage theft and other forms of worker harassment and exploitation across Manhattan’s many industries. Building on the success of the Office’s Construction Fraud Task Force, which will be part of the Worker Protection Unit, the Unit will pursue criminal charges against individuals and corporations that jeopardize their workers’ safety and steal their wages.
D.A. Bragg also announced the creation of a first-ever Stolen Wage Fund for Manhattan victims of wage theft, funded through the D.A.’s Criminal Justice Investment Initiative and operated in partnership with the New York State Department of Labor.
Finally, in an effort to allow the Unit to bring appropriately strong charges against individuals and companies that cheat their workers, D.A. Bragg joined Assembly member Catalina Cruz and State Senator Neil Breslin to support their bill that would enable prosecutors to charge wage theft as larceny.
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