Matter of Executive Cleaning Servs. Corp. v. New York State Dept. of Labor

Summary

The Appellate Division, Third Department held that a public library chartered as an education corporation was not a "public agency" under Labor Law § 230(3). Accordingly, a cleaning-services contract with the library was not subject to the prevailing-wage provisions of Labor Law article 9, and the Commissioner of Labor's determination was annulled.

Holdings

1. The notice of hearing was legally sufficient because it cited Labor Law § 235, identified the article 9 prevailing-wage investigation, described the public-building-service contract, and apprised petitioners of the charges sufficiently to prepare a defense.
2. The library was not a public agency within the meaning of Labor Law § 230 (3), notwithstanding its public purpose, school-district charter, elected trustees, and tax-based funding.
3. The contract was not subject to the prevailing-wage provisions of Labor Law article 9 because the library was not a public agency covered by Labor Law § 230 (3).
4. The request for declaratory relief was not authorized in a proceeding transferred to the Appellate Division under CPLR 7804 (g); that portion of the matter had to be severed and remitted to Supreme Court.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the Department of Labor's notice of hearing was jurisdictionally defective because it did not expressly state that the library was a public agency or identify the employee complaint as the basis for the investigation.
2. Whether a public library chartered as an education corporation is a public agency within the meaning of Labor Law § 230 (3) and therefore subject to the prevailing-wage requirements of Labor Law article 9.
3. Whether the contract for cleaning and janitorial services was subject to Labor Law article 9.
4. Whether the declaratory-judgment claim could be adjudicated in the CPLR 7804 (g) proceeding.

Disposition

other