Over $1.1 Million Recovered for Rikers Island Janitors
On January 22, 2025, New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) signed an agreement with a firm providing janitorial services at New York City’s Rikers Island jail complex, which promised to pay $1,029,175 in restitution to workers from whom managers extorted kickbacks during the COVID-19 pandemic. The firm, CleanTech, kicked in another $100,000 to cover costs of administering the settlement.
The brazen shakedown targeted 250 workers, for whom CleanTech reported paying more wages than they received. That cost the employees taxes withheld on money they never got, an expense the firm faced, too, so it stuck its hands further into their pockets and withheld pay for sick leave. Crew chiefs were unleashed who demanded part of the workers’ pay as a bribe to keep their jobs. Those that complained or spoke out were summarily fired.One worker said she was expected to kick back $120 of her $720 weekly pay; if she worked overtime and earned $1,000, crew chiefs demanded $240. “If you don’t pay the money, you don’t have work,” they threatened. James did not say how many of the workers were immigrants, but CleanTech was required to post notice of the recovery in English and Spanish. The Assurance of Discontinuance (AOD) was signed with the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) by R.G. Kleber, who has been President of CleanTech since its 1974 founding. See: In re CTE Inc. & CT Maint. Corp. d/b/a CleanTech, AOD No. 24-100, N.Y. OAG (2025).
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