NYC groups push for maximum sentence for contractor in worker death case

Dive Brief:

22 New York City-area groups — including trade unions, the District Attorney's office and general contractor representatives — are asking the judge in a Manhattan worker death case to sentence convicted contractor Harco Construction to the maximum penalty, according to the Real Deal.
Harco was found guilty last month of manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and reckless endangerment in the death of 22-year-old Carlos Moncayo, who died when an improperly shored-up excavation collapsed at one of the company's projects.
In addition to a fine of $35,000, the Manhattan DA is seeking an additional penalty — that Harco pay for a worker safety print and TV campaign in English and Spanish. The sentencing announcement is expected on July 13.

Dive Insight

The only Harco employee onsite when the accident occurred was superintendent Alfonso Prestia, who is awaiting trial, as is the excavation contractor, Sky Materials Corp., and its supervisor. At Harco's trial, the court determined that the company ignored repeated warnings from officials that its unsecured, 13-foot trench created hazards for workers. State safety officials called the court's decision a "landmark," and District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. said that it reinforced the message to contractors that "managing a project from afar does not insulate a corporation or general contractor from criminal liability."

The Harco incident was one of the New York City worker safety cases that spurred Vance's office to create the Construction Fraud Task Force, which identifies and prosecutes corruption and unsafe work practices in the city's construction industry.

Representatives from an organization of New York union construction managers and contractors, the Building Trade Employers' Association, said they were "sick and tired" of lawbreaking construction companies like Harco "defining the public perception of how serious and important public and worker safety is to them," according to DNA Info.

A November New York Times investigation discovered not only that worker deaths in New York City had risen over a two-year period because of a lack of sufficient safety measures, but that immigrant worker deaths were disproportionately higher than other groups. The Times said this was because many immigrants were worried that complaining about working conditions would jeopardize their jobs and reveal their undocumented status.