Opal Construction sues Town of Babylon over apprenticeship requirements

Opal Construction Corp., a Bay Shore-based construction and paving company, has filed a federal lawsuit against the Town of Babylon over what it calls “unconstitutional” apprenticeship requirements.

The suit, filed last week in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York  in Central Islip, challenges a 2012 town ordinance that requires general contractors, contractors or subcontractors on private projects of 100,000 square feet or more to participate “in an approved apprenticeship training” program. Babylon's apprenticeship requirement is similar to ordinances found in other municipalities on Long Island and in New York State, said Hayden Pace, an attorney for Opal. 

The ordinance “takes work away from the small and midsized operations” because they lack the financial resources needed to participate in apprenticeship programs, Pace said. "Many of the small and midsized contractors and subcontractors don’t have the means to implement an apprenticeship program, therefore they're ruled out” for work on larger private projects. 

A spokesman for the Town of Babylon said the town was aware of the lawsuit but could not comment on pending litigation.

The Association for a Better Long Island, the Long Island Builders Institute, and Associated Builders and Contractors, trade groups for builders and developers, have been urging townships on Long Island with similar ordinances to stop enforcing them. The groups identified Opal as a subcontracter that could sue because it has been hurt by the requirements, Kyle Strober, executive director of ABLI, said.  

"Long Island is at a competitive disadvantage . . . especially when governments are overreaching [their] authority on completely private developments and exponentially increasing the cost of doing business,” Strober said in a statement. ABLI and its partners are “fully prepared to bring similar litigation” against other townships, he said.

Earlier this year, U.S. District Judge Denis R. Hurley in Central Islip issued a preliminary injunction against the Town of Oyster Bay's enforcing a similar requirement.

Oyster Bay Councilman Louis Imbroto said last year that apprenticeship programs allow people to learn a trade, "creating a skilled workforce" that "sets these people up to have careers in construction they can carry with them for the rest of their lives."

The Town of Brookhaven told ABLI in a letter last week that it would not enforce its apprenticeship requirements on private development while Oyster Bay's preliminary injunction is in place.

In 2017, Opal Construction submitted the lowest qualified bid for a $3.7 million private construction project on Route 110 at the site of a former driving range, according to court documents.

While Opal work crews began to clear the site in preparation for construction, an official of the New York State Laborers’ union Local 66 told representatives of Opal that “they could not work on the project because Opal did not have an apprenticeship program that complied with Babylon’s ordinance,” according to the lawsuit.

A number of apprenticeship programs in the metropolitan area are run by unions.

Officials with Local 66 did not respond to requests for comment.

The town subsequently “issued a stop work order, citing Opal’s alleged noncompliance" with the ordinance, the suit said.

Opal was paid $400,000 for work completed but was forced to “assign the bid to another company,” the suit said. 

Babylon’s application of the ordinance precludes Opal from “participating in construction projects” in the town and “continues to have a direct economic effect” on Opal’s ability to “earn a living,” according to the lawsuit. The company has since become affiliated with an apprenticeship program, which it said it has cost $12,5000 in membership fees, plus the cost of hiring apprentices "at $30 per hour for at least 200 hours per year regardless of need," the suit said.