Under the new legislation, a contractor is guilty of criminal corporate liability for the death or injury of a worker when it negligently, recklessly, intentionally or knowingly causes the death or serious physical injury of its employees while they are on the job. The law is named for Carlos Moncayo, a 22-year-old undocumented worker who died in a 2015 trench collapse.
Following the collapse, a police officer with a construction background noticed that the trench had not been properly reinforced. Justice Kirke Bartley Jr. of the State Supreme Court in Manhattan found New York City general contractor Harco Construction guilty of second-degree manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and reckless endangerment.
