Prevailing wage laws exist to protect workers — but only if workers know their rights and recognize when those rights are being violated. A series of recent enforcement actions by New York state and city agencies offers a revealing look at how prevailing wage theft happens, how it gets caught, and what workers can do to protect themselves.
Here are some takeaways.
- Prevailing Wage Theft Is More Common Than You Might Think
It can be tempting to assume that if your employer is paying you above a minimum wage, you are being compensated fairly. These recent cases show how wrong that assumption can be.
In March 2024, the New York City Comptroller’s Office reached a settlement with Montis Construction, LLC, a subcontractor working on a New York City Transit Authority project. Investigators found that Montis was falsifying certified payroll reports — claiming to pay workers $25.38 per hour while actually paying them only $15 per hour in cash. Supplemental benefits that workers were entitled to receive were never provided at all.
Similarly, in a June 2025 action, New York Attorney General Letitia James secured $400,000 from Secured 24, LLC, a company that provided school security guards to more than 100 New York City schools. Secured 24 was collecting reimbursements from the schools based on the assumption that guards were being paid required prevailing wages — but those wages were quietly being withheld from the workers themselves.
These are not edge cases. The NYC Comptroller’s Bureau of Labor Law has collected over $11 million in wage recoveries under Comptroller Lander’s tenure alone. Prevailing wage violations are a widespread and ongoing problem on public works and government-funded projects.
What you can do: If you work on a public works project, a government contract, or a building that receives tax benefits, you may be entitled to prevailing wages. Keep track of your hours worked, your pay rate, and any benefits you receive. Compare what you are actually paid against what the applicable wage schedule requires. If something does not add up, that discrepancy matters.
- Falsified Records Are a Red Flag — And Investigators Know How to Find Them
In the Montis Construction case, the company tried to cover its tracks by submitting falsified certified payroll reports. These documents claimed workers were being paid the prevailing rate — but investigators uncovered the truth by digging into the actual cash payments workers received.
When employers falsify payroll records, it can make wage theft harder to detect initially. But these cases show that falsified records are not a reliable shield. Investigators from the Comptroller’s Bureau of Labor Law conduct audits and cross-reference payroll certifications against other evidence, including worker interviews and financial records. In Montis’s case, the falsification was discovered, and the company is now barred from bidding on any New York City or state public work contracts for five years.
This pattern matters for workers because it explains why your own records are so important. If your employer is falsifying payroll reports, the documentation you keep — pay stubs, bank records, cash payment records, hours worked — can become critical evidence in an investigation or claim.
What you can do: Save your pay stubs or any documentation of your wages. If you are paid in cash, keep a personal log of the amounts you receive and the dates you receive them. If you notice that your employer’s certified payroll reports do not match your actual take-home pay, that is a serious warning sign worth reporting.
- Repeat Violations Happen — And Enforcement Follows
One of the most striking findings in the recent NYC Comptroller action against 160 Madison Ave LLC involves the word “again.” The Comptroller’s Office had previously settled with the same company back in 2020 for $285,000 — after finding that the building owner had failed to pay its service workers prevailing wages from 2016 through 2019. After that settlement, the company was required to come into compliance. It did not.
A second investigation found that 160 Madison Ave continued underpaying 15 employees for years afterward. The June 2025 settlement totaled $650,000 — more than double the original penalty — and required additional training and compliance measures.
For workers, this is an important lesson: a prior settlement or enforcement action against your employer does not necessarily mean the problem has been fixed. If you work for an employer with a history of wage violations, it is worth paying close attention to whether those violations have actually stopped.
What you can do: You can search public records and press releases from the NYC Comptroller’s Office, the New York State Attorney General, and similar agencies to see whether your employer has been subject to prior wage investigations. If your employer has a history of violations and you believe the conduct is continuing, that history may be relevant to any complaint you file.
- Government Contracts and Tax Benefits Create Wage Obligations — Know Which Apply to You
A thread running through all three of these cases is the connection between public money and prevailing wage obligations. In each situation, the employer was receiving funds from government sources — whether through a public works contract, school reimbursements, or a real estate tax exemption — and the law required them to pay workers accordingly.
The 160 Madison Ave case illustrates this clearly. The building receives tax benefits under New York’s 421-a program, which provides significant property tax reductions to developers in exchange for various obligations — including paying building service employees prevailing wages. The building owner was pocketing those tax savings while shortchanging the workers whose wages those savings were supposed to support.
Workers in many industries may not realize that their employer’s participation in a government program triggers wage protections for them personally. Construction workers on public projects, building service workers at properties with tax abatements, security guards at schools funded through city programs — all of these workers may have prevailing wage rights they are unaware of.
What you can do: If you work on a government contract, a publicly funded project, or a building or facility that receives government support, ask whether a prevailing wage schedule applies to your work. The NYC Comptroller’s Office, the New York State Department of Labor, and similar agencies publish wage schedules for covered work. If you are unsure whether you are covered, those agencies can help you find out — and you can file a complaint if you believe your wages have been withheld.
The Bottom Line
Prevailing wage laws represent a promise: that workers on public projects and government-supported work will be paid a fair, lawful wage. These recent enforcement actions are a reminder that the promise is not always kept — and that when workers speak up and document what is happening, they can recover their stolen wages. Employment attorneys who handle wage claims can help you understand your rights and evaluate your options.
