Real solutions for protecting workers and helping small businesses

In late July, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced new ventilation requirements for New York nail salons, the latest in a series of unilateral actions meant to protect vulnerable workers. Though I support the intent behind these executive orders, which have expanded and made permanent his Task Force on Worker Exploitation, I do not agree with the heavy-handed policies and harsh enforcement tactics to which they have led.

For any plan to address social or economic injustice, the most important concern should always be the outcome. Last year, the governor used his emergency powers to mandate that all New York nail salons purchase wage bonds, a type of workers’ insurance. The aim was to stop employee underpayment and generate back wages for exploited workers. In pursuit of this goal, his office launched a wide-ranging crackdown on predominantly Asian American businesses, with strict penalties for all infractions. Bond approval and premium rates were based on credit history and credit score, which had a disproportionate, negative impact on immigrant and minority communities.

Overnight, a $35 million market was created for insurance companies leading to hurdles and headaches for immigrant-owned small businesses. Many of these neighborhood shops could not afford the steep collateral necessary to purchase a wage bond. The Task Force’s actions shut down numerous good operators and cost hundreds of jobs, hurting both entrepreneurs and workers in the process.

Now the governor has pressed on with new regulations for safer working conditions. In his aim to protect employees from harmful chemicals – an idea I support – he is mandating that nail salons install ventilation systems costing anywhere from $10,000 to $150,000. For many New York City stores, this would mean costly retrofitting of older buildings, and even more expenses to comply with city-specific regulations. In an industry already crippled by previous unilateral regulations, this will once again lead to countless closed stores and lost jobs. And just like before, a $75 million market has suddenly appeared for manufacturers specializing in ventilations.

The governor and I share the same intentions of protecting vulnerable workers, but I join my fellow lawmakers in offering solutions that get at the real root of the problems of worker compensation protection and workplace safety. My colleague, Assembly member Linda Rosenthal, has already sponsored two different bills in the Assembly that would more equitably address the same issues. Her bill A.5501 would create a wage lien for employees to claim unpaid wages, and strengthen existing wage laws concerning wage theft. It would empower workers in all low-wage industries, not just a specific subset of one industry. Instead of depending on private insurance companies, whose products the Department of Financial Services would not even indemnify, this law would enable mistreated workers themselves to uphold their rights.

A second bill she has sponsored, A.526, would ban nail polish and nail hardeners that use toxic chemicals. This goes to the source of the problem – the manufacture and sale of hazardous products. By holding the major corporations that create them responsible, not small business owners, it makes it clear who is truly accountable. Instead of imposing onerous regulations around the use of toxins, it would prohibit them completely. If protecting workers from poisons is really our goal, we should pass a law to keep them out of our state. Forcing new ventilation requirements and stricter penalties onto mom-and-pop shops only puts more of them out of business – further disadvantaging the very same workers we are trying to protect.

Every week I meet another small business owner planning to shut down and move out of New York. Most of them share the same intentions as Governor Cuomo – safe workplace environments and employee protection – but unilateral actions like these new ventilation requirements have forced them to shut down. Action is important, but we need an inclusive, collaborative approach in order to truly help these workers.

Assemblyman Ron Kim represents District 40 in Queens.