Because of the upheaval of business during the Covid-19 pandemic in New York City, the Fine and Interest Reduction Enabling Recovery (FAIRER) program was launched as a temporary amnesty program for individuals and small businesses whose OATH Environmental Control Board (ECB) judgements were entered into court prior to June 23, 2021.

Originally slated to run for September 20-December 20, 2021, the deadline to file has recently been extended to March 20, 2022.

Depending on the type of judgements and the date of those judgements, you might be able to get as much as 75% off of your OATH ECB fines under FAIRER. Those penalties and any interest on them may also be waived.

How to Participate

On www.nyc.gov/mysummons, you can look up your outstanding OATH ECB judgments by name and address, ticket number, or OATH ID number. The list will also indicate whether the judgment is eligible for the program or not, for your convenience

You can then select those judgments, agree to the terms, and pay the necessary amount. You must pay by March 20, 2022 to participate.

In addition, certain violations require Certificates of Correction to be filed with the issuing agencies before any amnesty can be issued. These violations will have a ‘requires correction’ note on the payment website.

Which Judgments Qualify

The types of judgements that may qualify, and their reductions, are as follows:

• Judgments resulting from a default decision and order: If eligible, respondents or payors will only have to pay the base penalties. They will not have to pay default penalties or accrued interest.
• Pre-pandemic judgments (judgments adjudicated and entered prior to March 7, 2020): If eligible and excluding default penalties, respondents or payors will only have to pay 75% of the imposed penalties, and will not have to pay accrued interest.
• Pandemic judgments (judgments adjudicated and entered from March 7, 2020-June 23, 2021*): If eligible and excluding default penalties, respondents or payors will pay 25% of the imposed penalties and will not have to pay accrued interest.

* Includes judgments made on March 7, 2020, but NOT on June 23, 2021.

According to one source, nearly 21,000 businesses and individuals have already resolved their unpaid judgments through the FAIRER Program. With the recent extension, many more who struggled during the pandemic will be able to benefit and keep themselves afloat.

For more discussion on OATH updates, see our recent article.

For assistance filing your Certificates of Correction or resolving your project violations, contact our expert team at Outsource Consultants.

Resources

• FAIRER Program
• OATH Summons Lookup
• Decoder – “Make an OATH: Updates on Violation Hearings and Defaults”