Levy Targets Contractors

SUFFOLK COUNTY, N.Y. -- In what authorities called the largest operation of its kind ever in Suffolk, County Executive Steve Levy Tuesday announced a massive sting operation against home improvement contractors in the illegal underground economy.

In a six-day operation last week, authorities issued 80 tickets against contractors for violations ranging from failure to pay sales tax and unemployment insurance to failure to have a license, Levy told a news conference. Some 380 contractors including landscape contractors, roofers, driveway pavers, carpenters and painters were questioned throughout eastern Suffolk County during the operation, set to expand into western Suffolk.

"Legitimate businesses operating in Suffolk County are being undercut on a daily basis by those who would cheat the system," Levy said. "Our enforcement officials are committed to leveling the playing field by targeting those businesses that are failing to pay taxes and evading licensing laws."

Many of the contractors rely on Latino day laborers for manpower, including some undocumented immigrants. Levy said the operation is not aimed at day laborers, although local officials will be forced to contact U.S. immigration officials or other authorities if immigrants who are in the country without legal papers are detected.

Flanked by top county police, legislative and law enforcement officials, Levy also said authorities will ensure contractors are complying with federal laws requiring employers to hire only laborers with legal work status.

"We are here to enforce the laws, not just sales tax, not just unemployment or workers compensation insurance, but also federal immigration and labor laws," Levy said. "We shouldn't be selective."

The issue of day laborers is highly contentious on Long Island, with critics saying they should be deported if here illegally and supporters saying the economy can't function without them and they have no legal way of emigrating. The reaction of immigrant advocate groups to the sting operation ranged from anger to a wait-and-see attitude.

Patrick Young of the Long Island Immigrant Alliance said he's in favor of an operation aimed at curbing abuses by contractors who, for instance, don't pay day laborers their wages. But if the plan is to try deporting workers, he said it will backfire.

"The jury is out," Young said. "It will be in quickly if it does come down as immigration enforcement."

Latino advocate Rev. Allan Ramirez had a harsher assessment. The day laborers "get brutally attacked on the streets by the hate groups," he said. "And then they get brutally attacked by the politicians in what are supposed to be the halls of justice."

Ramirez said Levy is singling out Latino day laborers since he is not going after other cash businesses such as restaurants and Laundromats. "He's trying to take away the basic human rights of people to work and put a roof over their head and feed their families," Ramirez said.

But Levy said he is merely trying to enforce the law, and denied he is caving in to anti-immigrant sentiment. "I don't think enforcing the law is pandering," he said. He added that 12 businesses including stores selling jewelry, footwear and memorabilia also were targeted in the operation for failing to collect sales tax.

Levy was accompanied by Suffolk County District Attorney Tom Spota, Suffolk County Police Chief of Detectives Kenneth Rau and Joseph Caracappa, presiding officer of the Suffolk County Legislature, who all endorsed the plan. Charles Gardner, director of the county Consumer Affairs Office, called it the largest such sting operation ever conducted in Suffolk.

"Unlicensed contractors are a menace to consumers," he said. "They are a threat to legitimate businesses."

Authorities said the 80 Field Appearance Tickets issued during the operation are the equivalent of an arrest. Violations of county licensing laws are unclassified misdemeanors punishable by up to one year in jail and fines of up to $5,000.