Arbeitslosenselbsthilfe O l d e n b u r g
Kaiserstr. 19
D-26122 Oldenburg (Oldenburg)
Empfaenger : /a/www: welfare-workfare-state Absender : meisenscher@igc.apc.org (Michael Eisenscher) Org.-Empf. : LABNEWS@CMSA.BERKELEY.EDU Weiterleiter owner-labnews@CMSA.BERKELEY.EDU Antwort an : LABNEWS@CMSA.BERKELEY.EDU Betreff : NY Court Rejects Workfare Pay Claim Datum : Sa 19.09.98, 20:07 (erhalten: 20.09.98) Groesse : 3512 Bytes ----------------------------------------------------------------------
N.Y. Court Rejects Claim for More Workfare Pay
By Judith Havemann
Washington Post Staff Writer Saturday, September 19, 1998; Page A05
A New York appeals court has thrown out a lawsuit by workfare participants who demanded they be paid as much as city employees for their efforts. The decision Thursday was an important victory for Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani (R), who wants to require hundreds of thousands of welfare recipients to clean the streets and work in city offices in exchange for their benefits.
The decision, while confined only to the state, is expected to bolster fledgling workfare efforts across the country by providing key legal support for a controversial program in the nation's largest city.
State appellate justices unanimously dismissed welfare recipients' arguments that they deserve the same pay as city employees, up to about $10 an hour. The welfare clients work for their benefit checks; the benefits are calculated at the $4.75 hourly minimum wage.
"There is a historical recognition that public assistance recipients are not public employees," the court said, citing New York's constitution and state law. The decision overturned an earlier ruling that workfare participants must be paid at the prevailing rate for city workers doing similar jobs.
Union officials with the city's largest public employee union, District Council 37, did not respond to requests for comment on the ruling, but labor officials in Washington said they expected the decision to be appealed.
Mary J. O'Connell, an attorney for District Council 37, told the Associated Press that the decision allows the creation of a "subclass of employees."
Debra Sproles, spokesman for the New York Human Resources Administration, said welfare recipients do not perform the same functions as city employees. "This decision will help us do what we need to do to prepare clients to become self-sufficient and obtain work in the private sector," she added.
New York City has 32,378 public assistance recipients who are required to participate in the Work Experience Program in exchange for their checks. Most work for the parks department and in public works. The city has another 713,000 individuals, including children, receiving welfare under either federal or state programs.
Giuliani announced last summer that he wants the city to move toward "universal engagement" in work experience.
A Labor Department spokesman said yesterday, "We have long held the view that working welfare recipients should be treated like other workers under federal employment laws, including being paid the minimum wage. While court decisions interpreting state and local laws don't bind the federal government, we will study this case closely to see if it is consistent with our view."
Last year, the White House endorsed a Labor Department conclusion that welfare recipients are covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act, and are entitled to the federal minimum wage. The interpretation has stirred controversy in Congress, where Republicans have argued that that could make it too expensive to put recipients into workfare jobs.
Unions fear that if welfare recipients can be hired for less than current employees, cities and other organizations will use this cheaper source of labor to replace current employees.
C Copyright 1998 The Washington Post Company
Index of Welfare-Workfare-State Archives
Last Modified: October 1998