For years, thousands of New Yorkers—many of them low-income workers and non-native English speakers—paid upfront fees to employment agencies that never found them jobs, or received only partial refunds when the law guaranteed them their money back. The Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) has now moved against three of the worst offenders, securing millions in civil penalties and compensation for affected job seekers.
The action followed reporting by City Limits that exposed the pattern. DCWP's compliance review found that employment agencies were systematically breaking state law. New York's Employment Agency Law is clear: agencies cannot charge upfront fees or deposits. If they do and fail to place someone in work, they must refund the full amount within seven days. Yet Golden Rose in Crown Heights was charging $50–$150 per applicant and keeping the money. Eleny's Employment Agency in Midtown was taking $100–$200 per person with misleading paperwork. CMP collected advance fees and refused to return them on demand.
These weren't isolated slip-ups. The violations reveal how employment agencies exploit the most vulnerable job seekers—people who can't afford to lose $100, who may not speak English well enough to read the fine print, who are desperate enough to pay upfront because they trust the agency will deliver. Instead, they lost money and wasted time.
We're a new kind of news feed.
Regular news is designed to drain you. We're a non-profit built to restore you. Every story we publish is scored for impact, progress, and hope.
Start Your News DetoxEnforcement and Next Steps
DCWP brought cases against all three companies through the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings (OATH). The outcome: millions in penalties and restitution orders. While not every affected worker has recovered their full amount, the agency is pursuing compensation case by case and through larger enforcement actions.
Beyond these three cases, DCWP is now sending notice letters to every employment agency in the city ahead of license renewal season. The message is direct: review your practices, check your records, ensure you're compliant. It's a compliance campaign designed to prevent violations before they happen rather than just punishing them after.
The work isn't finished. Enforcement actions like these create deterrence, but the real test is whether employment agencies change their behavior when they know the city is watching. For job seekers, the lesson is important: you have rights. If an agency asks for money upfront, that's illegal. If you pay and don't get placed, you can demand a refund. City Limits' reporting made this enforcement possible—a reminder that when workers' voices are heard and documented, systems can actually shift.
