Subway COVID Cleaners Stiffed Out Of $2.5M, Comptroller Says

NEW YORK CITY — Cleaners who disinfected scores of New York City subway cars during the COVID-19 pandemic's height were stiffed out of more than $2.5 million in pay by their employers, according to a pair of new lawsuits that's the latest in a long-running dispute over MTA contractor pay.

The lawsuits filed by city Comptroller Brad Lander Wednesday accuse two MTA contractors of failing to pay their workers prevailing wages.

Fleetwash, Inc. owes its workers nearly $877,000 in back wages and penalties, while Ln Pro Services is on the hook for $1.75 million, the lawsuits contend.

"During the tough days of the pandemic, the essential workers who cleaned our subways were the unsung heroes keeping New York City safe," Lander said in a statement.

"Sadly, many of these workers were cheated out of the prevailing wage they earned, all while facing terrifying conditions. This lawsuit brings these workers closer to justice and underscores the urgent need for accountability."

But Jennifer Redmond, an attorney for Ln Pro Services, shot back that the accusation is "outrageous," especially given the company is a minority and women-owned business.

She said the MTA's original bid for the contract explicitly stated it would be not be prevailing wage, as outlined by law.

"Cleaning in subway cars in non-prevailing wage work," she said.

Ln Pro's position is identical to that of MTA lawyers, as well as attorneys for Fleetwash, who jointly sued Lander in February arguing he misinterpreted the law when he argued that subway cleaning is prevailing wage work.

Fleetwash representatives didn't return Patch's request for comment. MTA spokesperson Aaron Donovan referred Patch to court records.

"The MTA's position is described in its legal filing on the matter," he said in a statement.

Disinfecting the subways was a major plank in the MTA's effort to both keep straphangers safe and reassure them that riding the rails wouldn't be a death sentence in the tense early days of COVID.

MTA officials, one day after the city's first official COVID-19 case, announced they'd regularly disinfect subways, buses and more.

The cleaning efforts became nightly as officials took the unprecedented step of closing subways for four hours.

"To make sure the transit workers are safe, to make sure the riding public is safe, the best thing you can do is disinfect the whole inside of the car, as massive a challenge as that is," then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo said at the time.

Lander's predecessor Scott Stringer about this time told MTA officials that prevailing wages applied to those emergency cleanings — a position that ultimately led to the lawsuits this week.

The lawsuits cover 400 workers who cleaned trains for months in the L train's Eighth Avenue/14th Street, 2 and 5 line's Flatbush Avenue and F train's 179th Street terminals.

Redmond, the attorney for Ln Pro, said the company works hard to make sure its employees are paid well.

"It is entirely 100 percent untrue," she said of Lander's accusations.