Crains New York - January 28, 2013 - (Page 10)

OPINION CRAIN’S There they go again O ur loopy City Council, ostensibly aiming to help unemployed people find work, last week opened up new ground for businesses to be sued. It passed a bill that lets job applicants take employers to court if they think they’ve been rejected because of their jobless status. Unemployed people deserve a fair shake, of course, but the only jobs the council’s action will create are for tort lawyers—a segment of the economy that hardly needs help. Mayor Michael Bloomberg rightly warned that the measure would make it harder for businesses to hire people and pledged to veto it. But council Speaker Christine Quinn, a mayoral contender who is trying to signal to leftwing Democratic primary voters that she is not in the mayor’s pocket, was apparently in no mood to negotiate. She moved the bill to a vote and declared that the council would override Mr. Bloomberg’s promised veto. Ms. Quinn insists there’ll be no flurry of lawsuits, citing the experience of other city laws protecting job applicants from discrimination based on race, religion and such. Well, as the police like to say, if crime is rare but happens to you, the statistics won’t make you feel any better. There is an active industry of law firms in this town that hunt for aggrieved workers and deep-pocketed businesses to sue. Ms. Quinn’s declaration that employers who do the right thing “have nothing to worry about” is worthless. If an employer were to frown while remarking to an applicant that CRAIN’S ONLINE POLL NEW YORK BUSINESS editor in chief Rance Crain publisher, vp Jill R. Kaplan his résumé showed a long gap since he last worked, that would be enough for the job-seeker to bring legal action. Even frivolous cases demand that the business hire an attorney to defend itself. To avoid the risk altogether, employers might refrain from even interviewing unemployed applicants. The council’s bill could well leave unemployed people sitting by the phone, wondering why it’s not ringing. The bill is championed by the National Employment Law Project, which seems to be behind much of the City Council legislation that has been rankling business interests lately. The advocacy group’s view is that without the threat of litigation, employers won’t take seriously a prohibition against employment-status discrimination. But there is no hard evidence to support that contention. Few jurisdictions ban the practice, so it’s presumptuous to assume that only tort lawyers are capable of enforcing it. Washington, D.C., has a statute that allows workers to file a complaint with a city agency, but not to sue. Perhaps the City Council should study how that law is working before rushing ahead with legislation that subjects businesses to the full force of the city’s litigating class. The City Council puts businesses at the mercy of tort lawyers COMMENTS Tennis, everyone USTA COURTS QUEENS SHOULD SUBWAY TRAINS SLOW DOWN TO 10 MPH FOR SAFETY WHEN ENTERING STATIONS? Yes. Slower trains would prevent injuries and deaths and spare operators grief. No. A slowdown would disrupt the whole system and make station platforms more crowded and dangerous. Date of poll: Jan. 22 172 votes 46% Yes 54% No FOR THIS WEEK’S QUESTIONS: Go to www.crainsnewyork.com/poll to have your say. 10 | Crain’s New York Business | January 28, 2013 Annie Karni’s Dec. 17 article on the possible expansion of the U.S. Tennis Association complex in Queens was well researched and well written. I write simply to inform that the USTA is great for the borough. For example, right after Hurricane Sandy, the USTA donated $300,000 worth of bottled water, Gatorade, brandnew clothes and other items to the Rockaway peninsula and $100,000 in cash to the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City. The USTA has also helped local economic development through its executive-level participation in the Queens Tourism Council. During the last U.S. Open, the USTA donated a kiosk to the council. For the entire two weeks of the tournament, QTC members gave tennis patrons information on the borough’s best places to stay, play, eat and more. Many businesses and cultural venues benefited immediately, and our hotels will have more guests attending the next U.S. Open. It really helped. —rob mackay Director of public relations, marketing and tourism Queens Economic Development Corp. TIME TO CUT PUBLIC HEALTH BENEFITS? Re Greg David’s Jan. 9 blog post, “Health benefits for city workers are terminally ill”: It’s disgraceful that we as taxpayers are footing these astronomical health care costs for public employees when many of us can’t even afford basic care for ourselves and our families. It’s about time that New York City gets realistic in its benefit packages, which will still be much better than the private sector’s benefits. The city should not be facing such a fiscal black hole because it fails to cut back on some of the fringe benefits for its employees. Many employers in the EDITORIAL editor Glenn Coleman managing editor Jeremy Smerd deputy managing editors Valerie Block, Erik Ipsen assistant managing editor Erik Engquist senior producer, news Elisabeth Butler Cordova news producer Amanda Fung contributing editor Elaine Pofeldt columnists Greg David, Alair Townsend crain’s health pulse editor Barbara Benson senior reporters Theresa Agovino, Aaron Elstein, Lisa Fickenscher, Matthew Flamm reporters Chris Bragg, Daniel Geiger, Andrew J. Hawkins, Annie Karni, Adrianne Pasquarelli web reporter, producer Nazish Dholakia art director Steven Krupinski deputy art director Carolyn McClain staff photographer Buck Ennis copy desk chief Steve Noveck copy editor Thaddeus Rutkowski data editor Suzanne Panara assistant data editor Emily Laermer researchers Eva Saviano, Amy Stern intern Ali Elkin ONLINE AND INTERACTIVE SERVICES senior web developer, interactive Chris O’Donnell ADVERTISING, MARKETING AND PRODUCTION director of custom content Trish Henry senior account managers Irene Bar-Am, David Harkey, Courtney McCombs, Suzanne Wilson senior account executive Jill Bottomley Kunkes sales coordinator Danielle Wiener newsletter product manager Alexis Sinclair credit Todd J. Masura (313-446-6097) director of audience & content partnership development Michael O’Connor senior marketing manager Catherine Schutten director of conferences & events Courtney Williams reprint sales manager Lauren Melesio production and pre-press director Michael Corsi advertising production manager Suzanne Fleischman Wies TO SUBSCRIBE: private sector, particularly smaller businesses, are dropping health coverage as a benefit because of the rising costs. As a city, and as a nation, we will not stand a chance to get our fiscal house in order if realistic steps are not taken, and very soon. —eg For print and digital subscriptions or customer service, e-mail customerservice@crainsnewyork.com or call 877-824-9379 (in the U.S. and Canada) or 313-446-0450 (all other locations). $3.00 a copy for the print edition; or $99.95 one year, $179.95 two years, for print subscriptions with digital access. www.crainsnewyork.com/subscribe TO ADVERTISE: Contact Trish Henry at thenry@crainsnewyork.com or call 212-210-0711. www.crainsnewyork.com/advertise FOR INFORMATION ON OUR EVENTS: ONLINE READER’S RESPONSE TO EG You are advocating a race to the bottom. The problem is that you should be able to afford health care, not that city workers get it. City workers haven’t received raises in three years, and now you’d like to cut their benefits as well. The problem is if you cut city workers’ benefits, you still wouldn’t be able to afford health care for your family. Shouldn’t that be the priority? Shouldn’t we all advocate for privatesector benefits to get better (hint: unions do that), rather than trying to bring city workers down? —flatbush fred CRAIN’S WELCOMES SUBMISSIONS to its opinion pages. Send letters to letters@crainsnewyork.com. Send columns of 475 words or fewer to opinion@crainsnewyork.com. Please include the writer’s name, company, address and telephone number. Contact Courtney Williams at cwilliams@crainsnewyork.com or 212-210-0257. www.crainsnewyork.com/events TO CONTACT THE NEWSROOM: 711 Third Ave., New York, NY 10017-4036 editorial phone: 212.210.0277 fax 212.210.0799 Entire contents ©copyright 2013 Crain Communications Inc. All rights reserved. ®CityBusiness is a registered trademark of MCP Inc., used under license agreement. CRAIN COMMUNICATIONS INC. BOARD OF DIRECTORS chairman Keith E. Crain president Rance Crain treasurer Mary Kay Crain Cindi Crain executive vp, operations William Morrow senior vp, group publisher Gloria Scoby group vp, technology, circulation, manufacturing Robert C. Adams vp/production, manufacturing David Kamis chief information officer Paul Dalpiaz founder G.D. Crain Jr. (1885-1973) chairman Mrs. G.D. Crain Jr. (1911-1996) secretary Merrilee Crain (1942-2012) http://www.crainsnewyork.com/subscribe http://www.crainsnewyork.com/advertise http://www.crainsnewyork.com/events http://www.crainsnewyork.com/poll

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Crains New York - January 28, 2013

Crains New York - January 28, 2013
In the Boroughs
In the Markets
The Insider
Business People
Opinion
Greg David
Alair Townsend
Report: The Business of Sports
The List
Classifieds
Small Business
For the Record
New York, New York
Source Lunch
Out and About
Snaps

Crains New York - January 28, 2013