There shall be a division of labor services within the department.
a. The commissioner shall administer the provisions of this section and enforce a citywide program to ensure that city contractors and subcontractors take appropriate action to ensure that women and minority group members are afforded equal employment opportunity, and that all persons are protected from discrimination prohibited under the provisions of federal, state and local laws and executive orders with regard to recruitment, employment, job assignment, promotion, upgrading, demotion, transfer, layoff, termination, rates of pay and other forms of compensation. The commissioner may request and shall receive from any contracting agency of the city such assistance as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this section. "Minority group member" shall mean a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident who is a member of a racial or language minority group in New York city protected by the voting rights act of 1965, as amended, or such other groups as may be covered by rule of the agency.
b. The commissioner shall promulgate such rules as are necessary to implement the purposes of this section. The commissioner shall consult with the procurement policy board in drafting and adopting such rules.
c. The commissioner shall have the following powers and duties:
1. to implement, monitor compliance with, and enforce this section and programs established pursuant to local, state and federal law and executive order requiring contractors to provide equal employment opportunity;
2. to implement, monitor compliance with, and enforce on-the-job training requirements on construction projects;
3. to monitor compliance by contractors with state and federal prevailing wage requirements;
4. to advise and assist contractors, subcontractors and labor unions with respect to their obligations to provide equal employment opportunity;
5. to establish appropriate advisory committees;
6. to serve as a city liaison to federal, state and local agencies responsible for contractors' and subcontractors' compliance with equal employment opportunity; and
7. such other powers and duties as may be conferred on the division by law or executive order for the purpose of ensuring that persons or businesses which benefit from doing business with the city provide equal employment opportunity.
d. The commissioner shall develop appropriate language for inclusion in city contracts regarding the subject matter of this section. Such contract language shall be reviewed by the corporation counsel. Such contract language shall require that a contractor:
1. shall not discriminate against any individual in violation of any federal, state or local law;
2. shall inform any employee representatives authorized to bargain collectively for its employees of the contractor's obligations pursuant to this section, and negotiate with such representatives to obtain their cooperation in the implementation of such obligations;
3. shall require that any subcontractor it employs in the performance of the contract comply with the requirements of this section.
e. 1. The commissioner shall require employment reports to be submitted in such form and containing such information as the commissioner may prescribe, by contractors to whom agencies propose to award city contracts and their proposed subcontractors, when such contracts or subcontracts have a value above a monetary threshold that the commissioner shall by rule establish. The commissioner may by rule provide for appropriate exemptions from such requirements.
2. An employment report shall include, but not be limited to, employment practices, policies and procedures, including those related to preventing and addressing sexual harassment, statistics and collective bargaining agreements. The contracting agency shall transmit the employment report to the commissioner after the selection of a proposed contractor or subcontractor. The commissioner shall review all employment reports to determine whether such contractors and subcontractors are in compliance with the equal employment opportunity requirement of local, state and federal law and executive orders.
3. Except as provided in paragraphs 4, 5 and 6 of this subdivision, a contracting agency may award the contract or approve a subcontractor upon receiving the approval of the division, or after a number of days to be specified by rule have passed since it submitted the employment report of the proposed contractor to the division, whichever is sooner.
4. If the commissioner notifies the contracting agency that a proposed contractor or subcontractor has failed to submit a complete employment report, the commissioner shall require the contracting agency not to award the contract or approve the subcontractor until after a complete employment report has been submitted to the division for its review.
5. If the commissioner notifies the contracting agency that the division has reason to believe that the contractor or subcontractor is not in substantial compliance with the requirements of this section, the commissioner may require the contracting agency not to award the contract or approve the subcontractor until the contractor has agreed to take appropriate action to come into compliance with such requirements.
6. The commissioner may by rule provide for circumstances when a contract or subcontract may be awarded without the prior approval of the division, which shall include but not be limited to requirements contracts which may be awarded prior to the approval of an employment report, subject to the condition that a purchase shall not be made under the contract until the division has approved the employment report, emergency contracts, and contracts with contractors or subcontractors for which the division has previously approved an employment report.
7. The time schedules for actions required to be taken pursuant to this section shall be defined by rule of the procurement policy board in accordance with the provisions of section three hundred eleven.
f. Periodic review. The commissioner may require contractors or subcontractors to file periodic employment reports after the award of a contract in such form and with such frequency as the commissioner may direct by rule to determine whether such contractors or subcontractors are in compliance with applicable legal requirements and the provisions of this section.
g. Responsibilities of city agencies. The head of each city, county, borough or other office, position, administration, board, department, division, commission, bureau, corporation, authority, or other agency of government, where the majority of board members are appointed directly or indirectly by the mayor or serve by virtue of being city officers, or the expenses of which are paid in whole or in part from the city treasury, including the board of education, city and community colleges, the financial services corporation, the health and hospitals corporation, the public development corporation, school boards, and the city housing authority, shall:
1. assist the division in monitoring compliance with the equal employment opportunity requirements of contracts under its jurisdiction and refer and recommend matters to the division with respect to non-compliance with the provisions of this section;
2. designate a deputy commissioner or other executive officer to advise the commissioner concerning the activities and progress of the agency in carrying out its responsibilities pursuant to this section; and
3. in accordance with the provisions of section three hundred thirty-five, impose remedies and sanctions for failure to comply with the requirements included in city contracts pursuant to this section.
h. Enforcement, remedies and sanctions. Upon receiving a complaint or at its own instance, the commissioner may conduct such investigation as may be necessary to determine whether contractors and subcontractors are in compliance with the equal employment opportunity requirements of federal, state and local laws and executive orders. If the commissioner has reason to believe that a contractor or subcontractor is not in compliance with the provisions of this section, the commissioner shall seek the contractor's or subcontractor's agreement to adopt and adhere to an employment program designed to ensure equal employment opportunity, including but not limited to measures designed to remedy underutilization of minorities and women in the contractor's or subcontractor's workforce, and may, in addition, recommend to the contracting agency that payments to the contractor be suspended pending a determination of the contractor's or subcontractor's compliance with such requirements. If the contractor or subcontractor does not agree to adopt or does not adhere to such a program, the commissioner shall make a determination as to whether the contractor or subcontractor is in compliance with the provisions of this section, and shall notify the head of the contracting agency of such determination and any sanctions, including withholding of payment, imposition of an employment program, or other sanction or remedy provided by law or by contract, which the executive director believes should be imposed. The head of the contracting agency shall impose such sanction unless he or she notifies the commissioner in writing that the agency head does not agree with the recommendation, in which case the commissioner and the head of the contracting agency shall jointly determine any sanction to be imposed. If the agency head and the commissioner do not agree on the sanction to be imposed, the matter shall be referred to the mayor, who shall determine any sanction to be imposed.
i. Confidentiality. To the extent permitted by law and consistent with the proper discharge of the division's responsibilities under this section all information provided by a contractor to the division shall be confidential.
j. This section shall not apply:
1. to contracts for financial or other assistance between the city and a government or governmental agency;
2. to contracts, resolutions, indentures, declarations of trust, or other instruments authorizing or relating to the authorization, issuance, award, and sale of bonds, certificates of indebtedness, notes or other fiscal obligations of the city, or consisting thereof, except as otherwise provided by law or executive order; or
3. to employment by the city of its officers and employees which is subject to equal employment opportunity requirements of applicable law.
(Am. L.L. 2018/102, 5/9/2018, eff. 7/8/2018; Am. L.L. 2020/058, 6/29/2020, eff. 8/28/2020)
Editor's note: For related unconsolidated provisions, see Administrative Code Appendix A at L.L. 1991/061.