City Comptroller Brad Lander has won back nearly $3 million in back wages for 332 temporary employees working at some New York City Health + Hospitals facilities, according to settlement documents released today.
The money comes from a settlement Lander’s office reached with Winston Support Services, a Midtown-based staffing firm H+H contracted with for supplemental nonclinical staffing services, after a multi-year investigation. Winston neglected to perform due diligence and oversight, according to Lander, in terms of properly classifying its employees working at H+H facilities including Jacobi, Bellevue, Elmhurst and Lincoln.
According to Lander’s office, between April 2015 and June 2018 Winston misclassified 332 of its temporary workers as lower-paid employees despite their performing the duties of higher-paid positions under the comptroller’s wage schedule. As a result Winston underpaid the staff, who maintained medical and payroll records and made appointments for patients, by $1.8 million, settlement documents said. One employee was underpaid by nearly $100,000.
Tony Sclafani, a spokesman for Winston, told Crain’s the oversight was unintentional and the firm took immediate corrective action when the issue was brought to leaders’ attention six years ago. He added that Winston worked with city officials on a fix, acted in good faith and has since implemented internal procedures to prevent future issues.
Winston owes interest to the employees amounting to about $436,000, the documents show, as well as another $455,000 for civil penalties. In total, Winston owes $2.7 million to the comptroller’s office and must pay $2 million immediately by wire transfer. The remaining $730,000 must be paid within six months of the settlement being signed.
Claudia Henriquez, the director of workers’ rights at the Comptroller’s Bureau of Labor Law, told Crain’s that Lander’s office is in the process of identifying employees to issue checks for underpayment and interest. Christopher Miller, a representative for H+H, added that the health system requires temporary staffing vendors to comply with prevailing wage laws set by the comptroller’s office, and hasn’t worked with Winston since 2018.
H+H operates 11 public hospitals throughout the city, 30 Gotham Health community facilities and five long-term care facilities and contracts with outside firms for some staffing services.
Jacqueline Neber , 2024-04-23 11:33:03
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