Gent Uniform Rental Corp. v. County of Suffolk Department of Labor
Opinion of the Court
The petitioner entered into a contract with the County of Suffolk to provide certain uniforms for county employees for the period of May 1, 2005, to April 30, 2007. The contract contained clear and unambiguous language stating that the County’s Living Wage Law, Local Law 12-2001 (hereinafter the Living Wage Law), which set a minimum wage and required certain benefits to be paid to the petitioner’s employees, applied to the contract, and that the petitioner agreed to comply with that law upon execution of the contract. Thus, contrary to the petitioner’s contention, it was required to comply with the Living Wage Law in its performance of the contract (see Willsey v Gjuraj, 65 AD3d 1228 [2009]). The record establishes that the petitioner failed to comply with the Living Wage Law and, thus, the Supreme Court properly denied the petition in proceeding No. 1.
The Supreme Court properly granted the motion of the County of Suffolk and the Commissioner of Public Works of the County of Suffolk, and the separate motion of UniFirst Corporation (hereinafter UniFirst), which was awarded a contract to supply uniforms to the employees of the County, to dismiss proceeding No. 2 pursuant to CPLR 3211. The petitioner lacks standing to challenge the County of Suffolk’s award of the contract to UniFirst to supply uniforms, which is the subject of that proceeding. Since the petitioner’s prior contract to supply uniforms was terminated and the petitioner was disqualified from bidding on future contracts with the County for the supply of uniforms, there was no injury to the petitioner due to the award of the contract to UniFirst Corporation (see Maraia v Orange Regional Med. Ctr., 63 AD3d 1113 [2009]). Furthermore, the petitioner failed to show that the alleged injury fell within the zone of interests sought to be protected by law (see Matter of Montano v County Legislature of County of Suffolk, 70 AD3d 203 [2009]).
The Supreme Court also properly denied the petitioner’s motion for leave to renew the petition in proceeding No. 1 and to consolidate proceeding No. 1 with proceeding No. 2. The petitioner’s newly-discovered evidence allegedly demonstrating that UniFirst was not compliant with the Living Wage Law in performing its contract with the County would not have changed the Supreme Court’s prior determination in proceeding No. 1 to deny the petition. Regardless of any alleged noncompliance by UniFirst, the petitioner still breached its prior contract with the
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.