A demolition company has agreed to pay $1.5 million to settle claims that it repeatedly flouted New York's workers' compensation laws, retaliated against injured workers and failed to address reports of sexual harassment. Alba Services, a nonunion demolition subcontractor, must pay $1.4 million to nearly 700 current and former employees, as well as $100,000 to a settlement administrator who will coordinate those payments to employees, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced Tuesday.
In political jargon, heat means pressure on politicians to do something they may be reluctant, for whatever reason, to do. But heat itself high temperatures, sometimes in triple digits, that afflict inland California each summer is a political issue with life-and-death consequences. Assembly Bill 1336, now awaiting Gov. Gavin Newsom's signature or veto, is the latest skirmish in a decades-long conflict over protecting workers from heat effects on their health, whether they work outdoors or inside.
The ruling underscores systemic issues in workers' compensation, highlighting delays, denials, and economic stress faced by injured construction workers, particularly in high-risk environments.