The New York City Council filed its response in court on Sept. 17 to the lawsuit brought by Mayor Zohran Mamdani. The mayor's office and the Council are at odds over Local Law 129, which requires workforce stability payments of up to $10,000 for paraprofessionals. The Council asked the court to dismiss the suit or declare the law valid.
The New York City Council filed its legal response in court on Sept. 17 to the lawsuit brought by Mayor Zohran Mamdani. At issue is Local Law 129 of 2026, which requires workforce stability payments of up to $10,000 for public school paraprofessionals. The Council asked the court either to decline to hear the mayor's suit or to declare that the law is valid and does not conflict with the state Taylor Law.
Local Law 129 was introduced by Council Member Carmen De La Rosa and passed the City Council unanimously on July 17. It requires that eligible paraprofessionals who work during the 2026-27 school year receive payments calculated in proportion to the number of days they are employed, paid in four installments. The city Department of Education (DOE) is responsible for making the payments.
The Council argued that the paraprofessional shortage is a long-standing problem. It said that as of March 2026, there were more than 1,000 vacancies, and that students with disabilities continue to go without services guaranteed by law, with the city recently allocating $1.5 billion for related due process litigation costs. United Federation of Teachers (UFT) President Michael Mulgrew said a school survey conducted at the start of the new school year found thousands of paraprofessional vacancies, and that the positions are either left empty or filled on a rotating basis by substitute teachers.
The mayor's side holds that under the Taylor Law, which governs public-sector labor relations, working conditions must be set by the executive branch through collective bargaining, so the City Council cannot set payments by law. In its response, the Council countered that the Taylor Law's definitions section does not establish exclusive executive authority, and that the law is a narrowly tailored measure providing temporary payments while preserving the collective bargaining process. Speaker Julie Menin said she will defend the unanimously passed law to the end.
The city has more than 25,000 paraprofessionals. Council Member De La Rosa said that providing a one-time payment while collective bargaining has yet to produce a solution is practical progress. Whether the payments will be made will not be settled until the court rules.