New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman on Thursday announced a nearly $5 million settlement with National Grid, which “failed to properly pay” its New York workers as required under state and federal law in the months after Hurricane Sandy. The resolution follows an investigation into employee complaints, according to the attorney general’s office. National Grid, […]
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman on Thursday announced a nearly $5 million settlement with National Grid, which “failed to properly pay” its New York workers as required under state and federal law in the months after Hurricane Sandy.
The resolution follows an investigation into employee complaints, according to the attorney general’s office.
National Grid, a multi-state electric and gas utility company serving upstate New York, has already repaid previously unpaid wages.
In addition to those wages, the agreement requires National Grid to pay another $750 to every hourly employee who worked for the company between Nov. 1, 2012, and March 31, 2013.
Those payments to 6,500 workers will total more than $4.8 million, Schneiderman’s office said.
“Some of the affected employees in this case reported that they were unable to repair their own homes after the storm because of National Grid's underpayments,” Schneiderman said in a news release. “National Grid's workers will receive some compensation, and an explanation, for the financial hardship they endured in the aftermath of the storm.”
National Grid has been in discussions with the New York Attorney General’s office for “several months,” says Jackie Barry, spokesperson for National Grid.
“We are pleased to have reached an agreement so that this matter is resolved. We regret the inconvenience and frustration that the payroll issues have caused for our employees,” says Barry.
The utility’s conversion to a new computer system, which involved changes to its time-keeping and payroll systems, resulted in National Grid’s failure to “properly” pay employees from Syracuse to Long Island, Schneiderman’s office said.
The new system was scheduled to “go live” on November 5, 2012. Despite the forecasts of a hurricane headed for the East Coast, National Grid “failed to delay” this company-wide computer conversion, the attorney general's office said.
It led to what Schneiderman's office called a “massive disruption” to National Grid’s pay and timekeeping system, including nonpayment of wages, nonpayment of overtime, and inaccurate wage statements to employees.
In addition, the attorney general's office found that staffing resources devoted to fixing the system remained “insufficient” for more than a month after the disruption, according to the news release.
In the course of the investigation, Schneiderman’s office collaborated with the office of the Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley, which announced a similar settlement with National Grid on Thursday.
Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com
