"Nassau County - Long Island, New York"

Mineola, NY- Nassau County Comptroller George Maragos released his audit of Community Housing Innovations (CHI), an agency that provides housing and human services to low and moderate income individuals. The audit found the agency to have minor instances of noncompliance with the Nassau County Living Wage Law. During the audit CHI noted that 14 employees had been underpaid a total of $1,600 for the years 2010 and 2011 and retroactively made payment to the affected employees.

“We are very encouraged by the significantly increased level of compliance with the County’s Living Wage Law as indicated by the minor violation discovered with this audit,” Comptroller Maragos. “My office will continue to conduct Living Wage audits in order to ensure that contractors that do business with Nassau County are playing by the rules and do not short change their employees. I am pleased that this company has agreed to reimburse the affected employees for their lost wages.”

The Comptroller’s office is recommending CHI review their pay rates, at minimum, every August 1st, to ensure that they are paying the amounts mandated by the Living Wage Law in a timely manner. CHI acknowledged that they had underpaid employees during 2010 and 2011, due to an oversight and will be conducting quarterly checks of Nassau County pay rates to ensure compliance.

The Nassau County Living Wage Law was enacted by the Nassau County Legislature in 2006 to raise the minimum wage of County employees and employees working for most of the County’s contractors. The Comptroller’s Office is responsible for monitoring compliance with the Law. The Living Wage is currently $14.91 an hour without health benefits, or $13.11 with health benefits.

Maragos: Provider of Affordable Housing Repays Shortchanged Employees