Two powerful contractor groups are demanding the City Council put the brakes on a proposal to create a sliding scale when awarding damages in construction-fatality cases.
The bill, which is sponsored by outgoing Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, would allow judges to consider a “defendant’s financial resources” in determining penalties for construction violations that result in death or serious injury.
The provision seems designed to prevent companies from being penalized out of business, but critics charged the council should be more concerned about the loved ones deceased workers leave behind.
“Ability to pay should not be a consideration when enforcing construction safety regulation,” said Louis Coletti, head of the Building Trades Employers’ Association.
The proposal would set a civil- penalty ceiling at $500,000 for companies and $150,000 for individuals deemed responsible for creating hazardous conditions that lead to death or serious injury on a job site.
Denise Richardson, director of the General Contractors Association, slammed the bill’s sliding-scale provision as “egregious.”
“The message this bill sends is that workers’ lives at larger, more established companies are more valuable than workers’ lives at smaller, less established firms,” she said.