Thirteen doorpersons at a Bushwick apartment building will share $219,000 in unpaid prevailing wages and benefits, part of a $419,000 recovery announced on October 22, 2026 by New York City Comptroller Mark Levine. The building at 960 Willoughby Avenue receives a 15-year tax exemption under the city’s 421-a housing program.
That exemption comes with a condition. As The Chief-Leader reported, 421-a buildings must pay certain building service workers prevailing-wage standards, and the Comptroller’s office says that did not happen here. Doormen and women, porters and other building staff in 421-a buildings are the people this affects, and the settlements show a worker can recover pay years after the fact.
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Two settlements, 14 workers, $419,000
The $419,000 total is made of two settlements, per The Chief-Leader’s account of the Comptroller’s announcement. One is $219,000 for 13 doorpersons who worked from January 2022 to November 2025. The other is $200,000 for one building service employee who worked from January 2022 to February 2025.
The doorperson settlement names three respondents: the owner, 1237 Myrtle Holding LLC, the property manager, Kai Management LLC, and the building services company, Ground Support Services. The single-worker settlement involves the owner and the manager. The paper said none of them could be reached for comment.
What the 421-a rule requires
The 421-a program gives developers of new apartment buildings a property tax break. In return, the law requires prevailing wages and supplemental benefits for certain building service employees. The 960 Willoughby Avenue building has 87 units, and the allegation in both settlements was a failure to pay the required wages and benefits.
The Comptroller’s office, through its Bureau of Labor Law, enforces prevailing-wage rules. Levine said building service employees and doorpersons “are on the frontlines of keeping New Yorkers’ homes safe and clean.” Claudia Henriquez, the assistant comptroller for labor law, said enforcing the requirements “is essential to protecting workers’ rights and holding property owners accountable.”
What prevailing wage means for a doorperson
A prevailing wage is a set hourly rate, plus supplemental benefits such as health and retirement contributions, that the city’s comptroller determines for a job title. A doorperson at a covered building is owed that rate for every hour. That is why a claim covering nearly four years of work can add up to $219,000 for 13 people.
A pattern of recoveries this year
This is not the first such recovery under Levine. In May, his Bureau of Labor Law announced more than $1 million recovered across five settlements, the largest being $618,495 for 24 workers on the Hunts Point Playground reconstruction in the Bronx.
The reported numbers do not break out interest, penalties or the split between wages and benefits, and no per-worker amounts were given. Several years of underpayment spread across 13 people can mean very different checks depending on hours and tenure.
How the case fits the tax break
A 15-year exemption on an 87-unit building is a large public subsidy, and the prevailing-wage condition is the public’s side of the bargain. When an owner takes the exemption but does not pay the required rate, the Comptroller’s Bureau of Labor Law can investigate, and the two settlements here resolved those allegations through settlements. The money recovered runs from January 2022 through November 2025.
Where the figures come from
The Chief-Leader is the source for these figures, and the Comptroller’s office holds the case file. A Comptroller press posting on 960 Willoughby Avenue could add the wage and benefit split.
Whether the 13 doorpersons will be paid by check, and when, was not reported. Anyone who worked at a building with a tax exemption and suspects the same shortfall can contact the Comptroller’s Bureau of Labor Law, the office that handled this case.
Owed back pay at a tax-break building?
Thirteen doorpersons waited from 2022 to 2025 for pay they were due, and the settlement does not say when the checks arrive. In a building with a tax exemption, a worker who keeps no record of hours, pay stubs and benefit statements has little to point to when an agency asks.
The Settlement & Refund Recovery System includes a claim log and payment tracker and a section on claiming when the receipts are gone. It records who promised what, on which date, and when a payment actually arrived.
Start a payment tracker for back pay in The Settlement & Refund Recovery System →
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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
