Happy Labor Day.

New York was the site of the first recorded strike in American history. In 1882, the first Labor Day celebration in America took place here. Frances Perkins, FDR’s Secretary of Labor and the first female Cabinet member, started as an organizer here. After the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, workers joined together and kicked off a movement for safer workplaces here. The Fight for $15 movement began here. New York was built by workers and we fight for them.

My office just released a report on our past year of working to protect New Yorkers. As we celebrate the remainder of this Labor Day weekend with friends and family, I have some good news to share:

• In the last year, we recovered more than $2.7 million for more than 1,500 workers who were cheated out of their pay, including fast-food employees, home health aides, taxi drivers, restaurant employees, and construction workers. Since 2010, we’ve recovered nearly $30 million for more than 21,000 workers victimized by wage theft.
• We secured the latest of a series of groundbreaking settlements to end on-call scheduling at major retailers. On-call shifts are not a business necessity and should be a thing of the past. People should not have to keep the day open, arrange for child care, and give up other opportunities without being compensated for their time.
• We continued our fight to protect workers from exploitation. In March, we settled with 3 Domino’s franchisees who agreed to pay $480,000 in restitution to workers who were denied minimum wage, overtime, and other legally owed compensation. We’ve now secured settlements with more than half the franchise Domino’s stores in New York for a total of nearly $2 million in restitution.
• I proposed legislation to curb the widespread abuse of non-compete agreements by New York employers. Workers should be able to get a new job and improve their lives without being afraid of being sued. If enacted, our bill would provide the strongest protections in the nation to prevent employers from locking workers in to low-paying jobs.

I’ll never stop fighting for New York’s working families, and I encourage you to read our report if you’d like to learn more.

Remember, if you’re ever the victim of wage theft or abuse by your employer, you can always contact my office.

Have a peaceful and relaxing end to your Labor Day weekend.