Last week, New York City Mayor Eric Adams appointed Vilda Vera Mayuga as the City's new Commissioner of the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection. In announcing the appointment, City Hall said, "Mayuga will deepen the agency's mission of ensuring there are robust protections in place for city workers and consumers, and that such protections are fairly and equitably applied."
Believed to be the largest municipal consumer protection agency in the country, the DCWP was also the country's first municipal agency -- created in 1969 -- that was dedicated to consumer protection. The DCWP's first commissioner was Bess Myerson.
The DCWP licenses businesses in more than fifty industries and enforces a variety of laws, including the City's Consumer Protection Law. In recent years, the DCWP has brought advertising-related enforcement actions in matters involving environmental claims, price gouging, and car advertising.
Since July 2018, Mayuga served as deputy secretary for Economic Opportunity at the New York State Department of State. She has also held a variety of other positions in government, including serving as chair of the New York State Industrial Board of Appeals, deputy commissioner for worker protection at the New York State Department of Labor, and assistant attorney general in the Civil Rights Bureau of the Office of the New York Attorney General.
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