NYC Will Hire Data Sleuths To Find Workplace Violations

NEW YORK — The City will assemble dozens of data experts to dig through companies’ own records for evidence of illegal practices.

The New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection is building a 36-person team to analyze algorithmic firings, surveillance-based pricing, wage violations and scheduling practices.

The City expects the bureau to be fully operational by October 2027.

It has hired nine data scientists and researchers so far and allocated $4 million for the effort.

“We’re actually going to be the agency that’s going to be able to look under the hood,” commissioner Sam Levine said.

The bureau could, for example, examine whether a ride-hailing company charges two customers different prices for the same trip and how the company’s system produced those prices.

How Could Data Find A Violation?

The City already requires delivery apps to provide information about workers' pay.

The companies' data helped City researchers develop the minimum-pay rule, which requires restaurant and grocery delivery apps to pay workers at least $22.13 an hour, excluding tips.

In July, the City reported that delivery workers' total hourly earnings, including tips, had risen to $27.32 from $10.48 in December 2023. The City also reported more than $2 billion in additional earnings since the minimum-pay standard took effect.

The delivery-worker rules now require companies to provide regular data to the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, giving regulators a way to track earnings, hours, tips and other information without relying solely on individual worker complaints.

Levine wants the new bureau to expand the approach across industries and companies.

Investigators could compare thousands of transactions for unusual pricing patterns, examine payroll records for missing wages or study scheduling data across an industry rather than investigate workers one at a time.

The City has already used data analysis and algorithmic tools to identify potential enforcement targets, according to testimony from department officials before the City Council.

“The best agencies are not sitting back and waiting for workers to come and complain, but they are proactively trying to find and prevent violations,” Terri Gerstein, director of the NYU Wagner Labor Initiative, told Patch.

What Labor Protections Does NYC Still Lack?

Gerstein said the City's new approach could open the door to a broader expansion of proactive labor enforcement, following a model already taking hold in states and cities across the country.

New York recently expanded the state Labor Department’s ability to place liens on employers, seize assets and issue stop-work orders after a judgment for unpaid wages.

Gerstein said New York could go further by allowing regulators to shut down a business earlier in serious wage-theft cases, before the enforcement process is complete.

“New Jersey has used this and has managed to resolve many cases very quickly," she said.

New Jersey allows its Labor Department to issue stop-work orders after an initial investigation finds wage, benefit or tax violations.

The orders can halt work at a site or, in some cases, across an employer’s operations until the violations are corrected.

In April, NJ investigators halted work by a subcontractor at two public construction projects after finding unpaid wages and other violations affecting 18 workers.

The companies could challenge the orders, but the work stoppages took effect during the enforcement process.

What Can Workers Do If They Suspect A Violation?

The new bureau will not give the City authority over every workplace or industry.

The Department of Consumer and Worker Protection licenses about 80,000 businesses across 55 industries, but the City can enforce only the labor and consumer laws within its jurisdiction.

The City handles complaints under laws covering work schedules, delivery-worker pay, paid time off and the use of artificial intelligence in hiring and other employment decisions.

Workers can report violations of City labor laws to the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection by calling 311.

For unpaid wages, minimum-wage violations, overtime or illegal deductions, workers can file a complaint with the New York State Department of Labor.