Brooklyn workers headed to trial in Atlantic Yards case
A federal judge has issued a decision denying building developer Forest City Ratner and now defunct organization Brooklyn United for Innovative Local Development (BUILD) summary judgment on a case involving claims of unpaid wages and false promises of employment.
Ratner is known for developing the Barclays Center and the Atlantic Yards project in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn. BUILD was responsible for hiring and training workers to work in and around the Atlantic Yards.
According to the suit, plaintiffs were participants in a jobs training program negotiated as part of the Atlantic Yards development. The program, called the Pre-Apprenticeship Training Program (PATP), was intended to “train community residents for construction jobs within the arena and project.” The seven plaintiffs participated in the PATP in fall 2010, and several quit jobs to participate. As alleged in the complaint, BUILD and other project officials told participants that they would earn memberships in building trade unions upon completion of the program and would be employed to work within the Atlantic Yards.
Instead, the plaintiffs state, they were employed for two months in the construction of a house in Staten Island — work for which they received no wages or other compensation.