Section 1305. Division of Labor Services  


Latest version.
  • There shall be a division of labor
      services within the department.
        a.  The  commissioner  shall administer the provisions of this section
      and enforce a citywide program  to  ensure  that  city  contractors  and
      subcontractors take appropriate action to ensure that women and minority
      group  members  are  afforded equal employment opportunity, and that all
      persons  are  protected  from  discrimination   prohibited   under   the
      provisions  of  federal,  state and local laws and executive orders with
      regard to recruitment, employment, job assignment, promotion, upgrading,
      demotion, transfer, layoff, termination, rates of pay and other forms of
      compensation. The commissioner may request and shall  receive  from  any
      contracting  agency  of  the city such assistance as may be necessary to
      carry out the provisions of this section. "Minority group member"  shall
      mean a United States citizen or permanent resident alien who is a member
      of a racial or language minority group in New York city protected by the
      voting  rights  act  of 1965, as amended, or such other groups as may be
      covered by rule of the agency.
        b. The commissioner shall promulgate such rules as  are  necessary  to
      implement  the  purposes of this section. The commissioner shall consult
      with the procurement policy board in drafting and adopting such rules.
        c. The commissioner shall have the following powers and duties:
        1. to implement, monitor compliance with, and enforce this section and
      programs established pursuant  to  local,  state  and  federal  law  and
      executive  order  requiring  contractors  to  provide  equal  employment
      opportunity;
        2. to implement,  monitor  compliance  with,  and  enforce  on-the-job
      training requirements on construction projects;
        3.  to  monitor  compliance  by  contractors  with  state  and federal
      prevailing wage requirements;
        4. to advise and assist contractors, subcontractors and  labor  unions
      with   respect   to   their  obligations  to  provide  equal  employment
      opportunity;
        5. to establish appropriate advisory committees;
        6. to serve as a city liaison to federal,  state  and  local  agencies
      responsible  for  contractors' and subcontractors' compliance with equal
      employment opportunity; and
        7. such other powers and duties as maybe conferred on the division  by
      law  or  executive  order  for  the  purpose of ensuring that persons or
      businesses which benefit from doing business with the city provide equal
      employment opportunity.
        d. The commissioner shall develop appropriate language  for  inclusion
      in  city  contracts  regarding  the subject matter of this section. Such
      contract language shall be reviewed by  the  corporation  counsel.  Such
      contract language shall require that a contractor:
        1.  shall  not discriminate against any individual in violation of any
      federal, state or local law;
        2. shall inform any employee  representatives  authorized  to  bargain
      collectively  for its employees of the contractor's obligations pursuant
      to this section, and negotiate with such representatives to obtain their
      cooperation in the implementation of such obligations;
        3. shall require that any subcontractor it employs in the  performance
      of the contract comply with the requirements of this section.
        e.  1.  The  commissioner  shall  require  employment  reports  to  be
      submitted  in  such  form  and  containing  such  information   as   the
      commissioner  may  prescribe, by contractors to whom agencies propose to
      award city  contracts  and  their  proposed  subcontractors,  when  such
      contracts  or  subcontracts have a value above a monetary threshold that
    
      the commissioner shall by rule establish. The commissioner may  by  rule
      provide for appropriate exemptions from such requirements.
        2.  An  employment  report  shall  include,  but  not  be  limited to,
      employment practices, policies, procedures,  statistics  and  collective
      bargaining   agreements.  The  contracting  agency  shall  transmit  the
      employment report to the commissioner after the selection of a  proposed
      contractor   or   subcontractor.   The  commissioner  shall  review  all
      employment  reports  to   determine   whether   such   contractors   and
      subcontractors  are  in compliance with the equal employment opportunity
      requirement of local, state and federal law and executive orders.
        3. Except as provided in paragraphs 4, 5 and 6 of this subdivision,  a
      contracting  agency  may  award  the contract or approve a subcontractor
      upon receiving the approval of the division, or after a number  of  days
      to  be  specified  by rule have passed since it submitted the employment
      report of the proposed contractor to the division, whichever is sooner.
        4. If the commissioner notifies the contracting agency that a proposed
      contractor or subcontractor has failed to submit a  complete  employment
      report,  the  commissioner  shall  require the contracting agency not to
      award the contract or approve the subcontractor until after  a  complete
      employment report has been submitted to the division for its review.
        5.  If  the  commissioner  notifies  the  contracting  agency that the
      division has reason to believe that the contractor or  subcontractor  is
      not in substantial compliance with the requirements of this section, the
      commissioner  may  require  the  contracting  agency  not  to  award the
      contract or approve the subcontractor until the contractor has agreed to
      take appropriate action to come into compliance with such requirements.
        6. The commissioner may by  rule  provide  for  circumstances  when  a
      contract or subcontract may be awarded without the prior approval of the
      division,  which  shall  include  but  not  be  limited  to requirements
      contracts which may be awarded prior to the approval  of  an  employment
      report, subject to the condition that a purchase shall not be made under
      the  contract  until  the  division  has approved the employment report,
      emergency contracts, and contracts with  contractors  or  subcontractors
      for which the division has previously approved an employment report.
        7.  The  time  schedules  for actions required to be taken pursuant to
      this section shall be defined by rule of the procurement policy board in
      accordance with the provisions of section three hundred eleven.
        f. Periodic  review.  The  commissioner  may  require  contractors  or
      subcontractors  to file periodic employment reports after the award of a
      contract in such form and with such frequency as  the  commissioner  may
      direct  by  rule to determine whether such contractors or subcontractors
      are in compliance with applicable legal requirements and the  provisions
      of this section.
        g.  Responsibilities  of city agencies. The head of each city, county,
      borough or other office, position,  administration,  board,  department,
      division, commission, bureau, corporation, authority, or other agency of
      government,  where  the majority of board members are appointed directly
      or indirectly by the mayor or serve by virtue of being city officers, or
      the expenses of which are paid  in  whole  or  in  part  from  the  city
      treasury, including the board of education, city and community colleges,
      the   financial   services   corporation,   the   health  and  hospitals
      corporation, the public development corporation, school boards, and  the
      city housing authority, shall:
        1.  assist  the  division  in  monitoring  compliance  with  the equal
      employment opportunity requirements of contracts under its  jurisdiction
      and  refer  and  recommend  matters  to  the  division  with  respect to
      non-compliance with the provisions of this section;
    
        2. designate a deputy  commissioner  or  other  executive  officer  to
      advise  the  commissioner  concerning the activities and progress of the
      agency in carrying out its responsibilities pursuant  to  this  section;
      and
        3.  in  accordance  with  the  provisions  of  section  three  hundred
      thirty-five, impose remedies and sanctions for failure  to  comply  with
      the requirements included in city contracts pursuant to this section.
        h.  Enforcement, remedies and sanctions. Upon receiving a complaint or
      at its own instance, the commissioner may conduct such investigation  as
      may be necessary to determine whether contractors and subcontractors are
      in  compliance  with  the  equal  employment opportunity requirements of
      federal, state and local laws and executive orders. If the  commissioner
      has  reason  to  believe  that  a  contractor or subcontractor is not in
      compliance with the provisions of this section, the  commissioner  shall
      seek  the  contractor's or subcontractor's agreement to adopt and adhere
      to  an  employment  program  designed   to   ensure   equal   employment
      opportunity,  including  but  not limited to measures designed to remedy
      underutilization  of  minorities  and  women  in  the  contractor's   or
      subcontractor's  workforce,  and  may,  in  addition,  recommend  to the
      contracting agency that payments to the contractor be suspended  pending
      a  determination  of the contractor's or subcontractor's compliance with
      such requirements. If the contractor or subcontractor does not agree  to
      adopt  or does not adhere to such a program, the commissioner shall make
      a determination as to whether the  contractor  or  subcontractor  is  in
      compliance  with  the  provisions  of this section, and shall notify the
      head of the contracting agency of such determination and any  sanctions,
      including  withholding  of payment, imposition of an employment program,
      or other sanction or remedy provided by law or by  contract,  which  the
      executive   director  believes  should  be  imposed.  The  head  of  the
      contracting agency shall impose such sanction unless he or she  notifies
      the commissioner in writing that the agency head does not agree with the
      recommendation,  in  which  case  the  commissioner  and the head of the
      contracting agency shall jointly determine any sanction to  be  imposed.
      If  the agency head and the commissioner do not agree on the sanction to
      be imposed, the matter  shall  be  referred  to  the  mayor,  who  shall
      determine any sanction to be imposed.
        i. Confidentiality. To the extent permitted by law and consistent with
      the  proper  discharge  of  the  division's  responsibilities under this
      section all information provided by a contractor to the  division  shall
      be confidential.
        j. This section shall not apply:
        1. to contracts for financial or other assistance between the city and
      a government or governmental agency;
        2.  to  contracts,  resolutions, indentures, declarations of trust, or
      other  instruments  authorizing  or  relating  to   the   authorization,
      issuance,  award, and sale of bonds, certificates of indebtedness, notes
      or other fiscal obligations of the city, or consisting  thereof,  except
      as otherwise provided by law or executive order; or
        3.  to  employment  by the city of its officers and employees which is
      subject to equal employment opportunity requirements of applicable law.