New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has filed a lawsuit to block a newly enacted law that would grant the city's teaching assistants — among the lowest-paid workers in the public school system, earning as little as $32,000 a year — a one-time $10,000 bonus. The law, known as the Respect Check Act, was passed by the City Council and took effect automatically after Mamdani declined to veto it, a move he made because the Council had sufficient votes to override him. Mamdani argues the legislation violates New York's Taylor Law (a nearly 60-year-old statute guaranteeing public sector workers the right to organise and bargain collectively), contending that compensation decisions must be reached at the bargaining table rather than through the legislative process — a position disputed by the United Federation of Teachers, which backed the bill and argues the Council specifically designed it to comply with the law.