N.Y.C. Charter § 3502: Section 3502. Office of Community Hiring and Workforce Development.

a.

Office established. The mayor shall establish an office of community hiring and workforce development. Such office may be established as a separate office or within any department the head of which is appointed by the mayor. The office of community hiring and workforce development shall be headed by a director who shall be appointed by the mayor or head of such department. The director shall, as the director deems appropriate, adopt rules consistent with the purpose of this chapter relating to employment goals on transactions, including rules:

(1) requiring contractors and subcontractors to agree to publicly disclose employment opportunities;

(2) establishing a procedure for the certification of individuals as economically disadvantaged candidates, economically disadvantaged region candidates, or both, provided that such certification procedure shall, to the extent the director deems feasible, use data sources and administrative processes established or maintained by the city for other programs or operations in order to minimize administrative burdens on contractors, subcontractors, and individuals;

(3) establishing a procedure by which the director shall identify and deem union referral systems as referral sources and may approve other referral sources for the purposes of this section, whereby the director shall:

(i) publicly release a referral source solicitation that includes a description of functions of a referral source, the manner in which responses must be submitted, and the criteria by which responding entities will be approved, and authorize one or more entities, as appropriate, to function as referral sources, based on the criteria included in the solicitation;

(ii) authorize an agency in writing to function as a referral source; or

(iii) authorize, in writing, an entity engaged pursuant to an agreement with an agency for employment recruitment services or other workforce development services to function as a referral source;

(4) establishing a procedure through which the director may provide information regarding referral sources to contractors, subcontractors, prospective contractors, and prospective subcontractors;

(5) establishing a procedure by which the director shall monitor and criteria by which the director shall evaluate the performance of each referral source on an annual basis, and where the director determines that a referral source has performed inadequately, terminate or suspend the referral source;

(6) requiring contractors to agree to make best efforts to employ qualified economically disadvantaged region candidates in order to meet employment goals relating to building service work based on:

(i) the percentage of building service opportunities filled by economically disadvantaged region candidates, provided that in calculating such goals, absorption hires shall not be considered; or

(ii) the percentage of building service opportunity labor hours performed by economically disadvantaged region candidates, provided that in calculating such goals, building service opportunity labor hours performed by absorption hires shall not be considered;

(7) requiring contractors and subcontractors to agree to make best efforts to employ qualified economically disadvantaged region candidates to perform no less than a percentage of the cumulative hours of construction work on transactions involving construction work, and additionally requiring, to the extent feasible consistent with the maximum ratios of apprentices to journey-level workers established by the New York state department of labor, that such contractors and subcontractors agree to make best efforts to employ apprentices who are qualified economically disadvantaged region candidates to perform no less than a percentage of such cumulative hours of construction work, provided that construction work performed by apprentices who are qualified economically disadvantaged region candidates shall be credited towards the achievement of both employment goals set forth in this paragraph. Where a transaction is not subject to a project labor agreement, such goals shall be established pursuant to paragraph twelve of this subdivision and where a transaction is subject to a project labor agreement, such goals shall be established pursuant to subdivision f of this section;

(8) requiring contractors to agree to make best efforts to employ qualified economically disadvantaged candidates in order to meet employment goals relating to work on transactions that neither involves construction work nor building service work, and establishing such goals based on:

(i) the percentage of the cumulative hours of labor performed by such candidates;

(ii) the percentage of employment opportunities filled by such candidates; or

(iii) the total value of the transaction;

(9) requiring subcontractors to agree to make best efforts to extend offers of employment to qualified candidates in order to meet any employment goals described in paragraph six or eight of this subdivision and established pursuant to rules adopted by the director;

(10) establishing a schedule of civil penalties, based on factors including but not limited to a contractor's industry or any relevant occupations employed by a contractor or subcontractor, that the director or an applicable agency may impose on a contractor due to the contractor's or subcontractor's non-compliance with an obligation created pursuant to this section and a procedure for the imposition of such penalties, which will not exclude other remedies established in this charter or any other law, provided that any civil penalties imposed pursuant to this paragraph shall not exceed two thousand five hundred dollars for each non-compliance with such an obligation or each failure to correct such non-compliance;

(11) designating paper or electronic formats for the submission of documents related to the selection and operation of referral sources and contractors and subcontractors subject to goals pursuant to paragraphs six through nine of this subdivision, as applicable, including but not limited to, documents containing information required pursuant to para graphs one and three of this subdivision, subdivision c and subparagraphs (v) and (vi) of paragraph one of subdivision d of this section; solicitation documents and responses, including bids and proposals; and data related to labor performed pursuant to transactions, including payroll reports, as applicable; and

(12) (i) authorizing the director, in consultation with the city chief procurement officer, as such term is defined in rules promulgated by the procurement policy board, to establish factors by which goals described in paragraphs six, seven, eight, and nine of this subdivision, other than for goals established pursuant to such paragraph seven in connection with transactions subject to a project labor agreement, will be established for individual transactions, including:

(A) the scope of the transaction;

(B) the availability of qualified economically disadvantaged candidates and economically disadvantaged region candidates and apprentices;

(C) the nature of any employment opportunities that the director expects will result from the transaction; and

(D) any other similar factors.

(ii) prior to setting a goal pursuant to this subdivision for an individual transaction, the agency entering into the transaction shall consider the goals set for previous, similar transactions and whether such goals were appropriate for such transactions.

b.

Lists of economically disadvantaged regions. No later than ninety days after the effective date of this section, and at least once during each twelve-month period thereafter, the director shall publish a report including an updated list of all economically disadvantaged regions within a radius of one hundred miles of the city or all such economically disadvantaged regions within the metropolitan area. Nothing shall preclude an individual whose residence is within an economically disadvantaged region that is not included in such list from qualifying as an economically disadvantaged region candidate for the purposes of goals set forth under this section.

c.

Reporting. No later than one hundred eighty days after the effective date of this section and each quarter thereafter, the office of community hiring and workforce development shall publish a report on a website maintained or controlled by the city, pursuant to rules adopted by the director, that shall include, for each transaction subject to a goal established pursuant to paragraph six, seven, or eight of subdivision a of this section, information demonstrating the corresponding contractor's progress towards meeting such goal and, if applicable, any subcontractor's progress towards meeting any goal established pursuant to paragraph seven or nine of subdivision a of this section, and aggregate information regarding the overall progress towards meeting such goals as well as the demographics and compensation of economically disadvantaged region candidates, economically disadvantaged candidates, and apprentices who are economically disadvantaged region candidates, as applicable, relative to all individuals employed by such contractor and, if applicable, subcontractors on such transaction. Such report shall also include aggregate information regarding the total number of economically disadvantaged candidates and economically disadvantaged region candidates hired, including the number of such candidates hired by contract type and the resulting financial benefits of the program. In compiling this report, the director shall, to the extent he or she deems feasible, use data sources established or maintained by the city for other programs or operations in order to minimize administrative burdens on contractors and subcontractors, provided that where the director determines that such data sources cannot be used to complete such report, the director may adopt rules requiring contractors and subcontractors to provide such additional data necessary to complete this report, and to certify the accuracy of such additional information. Nothing in this subdivision shall be interpreted to authorize the director to promulgate rules requiring labor organizations to provide information on a regular basis to complete such reports.

d.

Best efforts.

(1) In determining whether a contractor or subcontractor has exercised best efforts to meet the employment goals established pursuant to subdivision a of this section, the director shall consider the degree to which the contractor or subcontractor has endeavored:

(i) to review economically disadvantaged region candidates' and economically disadvantaged candidates' qualifications, as applicable, in good faith;

(ii) to advertise employment opportunities, as applicable, in a manner reasonably intended to attract qualified economically disadvantaged candidates or economically disadvantaged region candidates, except that contractors and subcontractors performing construction work pursuant to a project labor agreement shall not be required to advertise employment opportunities for construction work;

(iii) to coordinate with referral sources or apprenticeship programs, as applicable, in order to employ such candidates identified by such referral sources or apprenticeship programs, provided that for contractors and subcontractors performing construction work pursuant to a project labor agreement, the director shall only consider the degree to which the contractor or subcontractor has endeavored to meet such goals by complying with the referral provisions of such project labor agreement;

(iv) to review and organize the work under the transaction in order to eliminate obstacles to meeting such employment goals;

(v) to monitor and to document the contractor's or subcontractor's efforts to meet the employment goals;

(vi) to contact the office of community hiring and workforce development at routine intervals, or as otherwise required by rule, to inform the director of the contractor's or subcontractor's efforts to meet the employment goals; and

(vii) to take all other commercially reasonable actions to meet the employment goals.

(2) In order to exercise best efforts, neither contractors nor subcontractors are required:

(i) to undertake an undue financial burden;

(ii) to terminate or reduce the work levels of any of a contractor's or subcontractor's existing employees;

(iii) to extend an offer of employment to an individual whose labor would not be commercially useful;

(iv) to forgo filling building service opportunities with absorption hires; or

(v) to forgo requesting, employing, or hiring any individuals or assigning individuals to perform construction work in accordance with the terms of:

(A) an agreement with a union referral system to which a contractor or subcontractor is a signatory; or

(B) an agreement with a referral source for the sourcing of labor to which a contractor or subcontractor is a signatory, provided that such contractor or subcontractor demonstrates to the satisfaction of the director that such agreement was entered into in furtherance of a bona fide interest in sourcing labor.

e.

Discretionary application of goals. Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, employment goals authorized under paragraphs six, seven, eight and nine of subdivision a of this section may, but are not required to be, established for transactions that are emergency procurement contracts procured pursuant to the procedure set forth in section three hundred fifteen of this charter.

f.

Adjustment of construction goals for project labor agreements. Where the city has entered or enters into a project labor agreement and such project labor agreement includes numerical goals regarding the sourcing of economically disadvantaged region candidates and apprentices, such numerical goals set forth in such project labor agreement shall apply to transactions subject to such project labor agreement.

g.

Wage payment assurances. The director may promulgate rules setting forth standards and a procedure by which contractors and subcontractors that the director has determined have a record of failing to pay wages, including but not limited to prevailing wages and benefits required pursuant to article eight of the labor law, to individuals performing construction work under a transaction shall be required to provide additional assurances acceptable to the director in order to receive credit towards the achievement of employment goals set forth in paragraph seven of subdivision a of this section.

(2023 N.Y. Laws Ch. 669, 11/17/2023, eff. 5/15/2024)