The Country's First Municipal Consumer Protection Agency—the Department of Consumer Affairs—Celebrates Its 50th Anniversary

NEW YORK, NY – The Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA), the first municipal agency of its kind in the country, today marks its 50th anniversary and celebrates its rich history protecting and enhancing the daily economic lives of New Yorkers. DCA, which was established in 1969 and was recently renamed the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP), has now evolved to protect and enhance the lives of all of the players in the marketplace, including consumers, business and workers. DCWP also released a video featuring eight past commissioners (Bruce Ratner, Mark Green, Richard Schrader, Fred Cerullo, Jane Hoffman, Gretchen Dykstra, Jonathan Mintz, and Julie Menin) celebrating the Agency’s history, accomplishments, and the staff that makes it all a reality.

“I am honored to be a part of an agency that has been serving and protecting the lives of all New Yorkers for 50 years,” said DCWP Commissioner Lorelei Salas. “Through hard work and dedication, we continue to successively carry out the Agency’s mission and are there for New Yorkers in their everyday lives whether they know it or not. I want to thank everyone who has been a part of this agency’s journey and I am excited to see what the future holds.”

DCA was created on April 29, 1969 when City Council passed the landmark Consumer Protection Law that gave the agency its broad authority to protect the public from deceptive business practices, making it the first municipal agency of its kind in the country. It was at this time that the City’s Department of Markets, which included the City’s Weights and Measures division, merged with the Department of Licensing to form one unified Department of Consumer Affairs.

In 2006, DCA again evolved with the changing marketplace with the creation of its Office of Financial Empowerment (OFE), the first local government initiative in the nation aimed expressly at educating, empowering and protecting those with low incomes. In 2016, following DCA’s successful implementation of the City’s Paid Sick Leave Law, DCA’s mandate expanded yet again to add the Office of Labor Policy & Standards (OLPS), which is NYC’s central resource for workers and a dedicated voice for workers in City government. OLPS is the largest municipal labor standards office in the country and is charged with conducting original data collection and research, policy development, education and outreach on key workplace issues, and advocating for and enforcing a new generation workplace protections.

In 2016, under the leadership of Commissioner Salas, DCA announced a new, expanded mission that reflected the expansion of its work and how that work ultimately fosters stronger, more sustainable, and thriving communities. The Agency’s anniversary comes hand in hand with the its new name—the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, which Mayor de Blasio announced at his 2019 State of the City address and reflects the Agency’s new expanded mandate.

For more information about the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, visit nyc.gov/dca.