DOB won’t collect personal info on undocumented construction workers

City will instead use ID numbers to track training

The Department of Buildings will not collect personal information from undocumented construction workers despite a new law that will require officials to keep track of safety training completed by laborers.

The City Council approved a construction safety bill in September, which requires workers to complete at least 40 hours of safety training by 2020. DOB Commissioner Rick Chandler said on Wednesday that the city will use ID numbers rather than personal information to keep track of workers who have gone through the necessary training, Crain’s reported.

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“How can you ensure privacy and at the same time get the department the information it needs to act on enforcing the law with the goal of safety—not the goal of turning people in?” Chandler said during an event held by Crain’s.

The city has taken other steps in response to President Trump’s pledge to ramp up deportation efforts. Before the inauguration, the de Blasio administration moved to destroy information on undocumented New Yorkers from the municipal identification program. Two Republican Assembly members from Staten Island sued to block the administration, but a judge ruled against them in April 2017. [Crain’s] — Kathryn Brenzel