Subway Cleaners in NYC Just Won Millions in Back Pay
About 450 immigrant workers hired to disinfect New York City’s subways at the height of the pandemic were given inadequate equipment and paid less than the city’s prevailing wage. They have now won more than $3 million in back pay.
In August 2020, hundreds of immigrant workers were hired to disinfect the New York City subways. Underpaid, harassed, and often denied adequate equipment, the workers just won a settlement of more than $3 million. (Jose Perez / Bauer-Griffin / GC Images)
Hector Reyna had a hunch he was being duped.
One of hundreds of immigrant workers hired to disinfect New York’s subways at the height of the pandemic, the forty-eight-year-old from the Dominican Republic couldn’t ignore such a stark disparity between extraordinary needs of the moment and the low pay.
“I always asked myself the question,” he said. “Why so little money for such a risky job?”
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