Совет Нового Орлеана ужесточил контроль за подрядчиками, обязав их платить работникам справедливую зарплату

The New Orleans City Council on Thursday adopted rules aimed at holding city contractors accountable for failing to pay workers their fair share and other employer violations. The council added teeth to a five-year old “responsible bidder” law that lays out a process for investigating possible violations and disqualifying contractors bidding on public projects. It requires contractors to disclose certain information during the bidding process and imposes financial penalties for violations. It also expands the types of contracts that must comply with the city’s policies. “This ordinance is about increasing accountability and transparency. The city of New Orleans should not be awarding contracts to companies that repeatedly violate federal, state, and local labor laws,” Councilmember Matt Willard said. The revised law bars the city from contracting with a firm deemed "non-responsible" based on certain criteria. It applies to public works contracts worth $25,000 or more and nonprofits and other entities that receive $250,000 or more in public funding. It requires city officials to evaluate every contractor and investigate possible violations within 30 days. Violations could lead to a $500 fine on contractors for the first violation and $1,000 for every violation thereafter. The city's chief administrative officer also has to submit a report to the City Council by Oct. 1 each year if any contracts received waivers from the requirements the previous year. The report would explain the need for the project and reasons for not selecting a responsible contractor. The move follows workers and labor leaders’ complaints of a culture of exploitation by construction contractors. Some employers classify workers as independent contractors to cut costs on benefits like workers compensation and overtime pay, they said. In turn, contractors are able to undercut competition and land city contracts by having the lowest bid. "When a contractor is willing to cut corners when it comes to its workforce and its legal responsibilities, we have to ask whether those same shortcuts could show up in the work itself," said Jennifer Hernandez, the director of government affairs for the International Union Of Painters & Allied Trades. There's also a pattern of contractors hiring workers through staffing brokers who take a cut of workers’ pay, Council President JP Morrell has said. That practice likely leads to violations of the city’s living wage ordinance, which requires city contractors to pay an hourly wage of $16.01, he has said. “They're showing on paper this person is making $17, $18 an hour, but they might be making $12 because the broker is taking a cut off the top,” Morrell said last month.