But attorneys familiar with the program — who often represent clients in appeals with Empire State Development — said that in the past decade the agency has begun to heavily scrutinize woman-owned companies that had male business partners — particularly those who were white.
“If you have a husband and wife, maybe both of them have come from families that do construction, but maybe the wife went to business school and the husband went right into the field and they want to start a company,” said James P. Youngs, an attorney at the Syracuse-based law firm Hancock and Estabrook. “They look at that with a very close eye. … They’re very sensitive to misuse of the program. They’re just exceptionally sensitive to it, and I think that has caused them to come (to) some of these conclusions.”
Youngs added he did not attribute “ill-will” to anyone within the program. The appeals process can be complex, and the agency analysts are often cross-examined and questioned about how they reached their decision to deny a company.
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The tighter scrutiny of applications was in response to complaints made about fraud, said Briana Wright, another attorney with Hancock Estabrook. Many business owners have similarly cited anecdotal evidence of white- or male-owned companies using women or minority employees as a front in order to gain certification illicitly.
But there is a sense that the agency may have overcorrected. “They threw the baby out with the bath water in trying to address any sort of fraud,” Wright said. “And so there are oftentimes very legitimate businesses that are owned and operated and run by women, but because of technicalities, they’re denied certification.”
