TLC · OATH · 16 issuing agencies
Every guide gives you the rule, what it really costs, and where your licence starts being at risk. Taken from the rulebook, in plain English. Start with TLC below, or find the agency that wrote your summons.
TLC violations Summons from another agency How an OATH hearing works
TLC is the Taxi and Limousine Commission. One agency, two names for it. These are the summonses that carry TLC points and put your licence at risk: 35 RCNY Chapter 80, plus the criminal charge behind most vehicle seizures.
35 RCNY §§ 80-13, 80-27 · Critical Driver & Persistent Violator
How the 15-month point window works, and exactly where suspension and revocation start.
35 RCNY § 80-14(g)
Any phone use while the vehicle is moving. That includes a hands-free earpiece sitting in your ear.
35 RCNY § 80-13(a)(3)
The ones that carry points: speeding, red lights, stop signs, tailgating, unsafe passing.
35 RCNY § 80-13(a)(3)(vii)–(ix)
3 TLC points each, on top of what the DMV does. Two in 15 months puts you on the edge.
35 RCNY § 80-17 · penalties § 80-02(e)
The career ender. $10 over the fare and they take your licence on the first offence. No ladder, no second chance.
35 RCNY § 80-20 · penalties § 80-02(e)
It counts as a refusal if you ask where they're going before they sit down. Same ladder as overcharging.
NYC Admin Code § 19-506(b) · seizure § 19-506(h)
The criminal one. Up to $2,000 or 60 days in jail, car taken on the spot, and it reaches the owner too.
35 RCNY §§ 80-02(a), 80-11 · Admin Code § 19-506
Driving for hire while suspended, revoked or expired. They can take your vehicle.
35 RCNY § 80-13(a)(4)–(5)
Not swapping full details after a crash. 3 points, $350, and someone has to appear at OATH.
TLC is one of sixteen agencies whose summonses are decided at OATH. That is the city's own court, and it is not part of the state court system. If the name at the top of your ticket isn't TLC, it is almost certainly one of these. Find it and you get the rule, the price, and whether you can fix the problem instead of paying for it.
Driving, for-hire work, or a summons at JFK or LaGuardia. Idling tickets against a truck or bus fleet sit with Environmental Protection, under "My building" below.
35 RCNY ch. 80
TLC stands for the Taxi and Limousine Commission. Same agency, one name. It is the sixteenth on this list, and its guides are the section at the top of this page.
PORT AUTHORITY
A summons at the airport is a TLC summons, not a Port Authority one. Same rulebook, same tribunal, same points. And a flat $500 for picking up without a dispatch.
A shop, restaurant, base, office, or a licence you hold.
DOHMH
Restaurant letter grades, rats, day care and tobacco. You get seven days to fix things, the shortest in the city. And a B or C can never come from a first inspection.
DCWP
Licences, tobacco, pricing and worker rules. Working without a licence is charged per day, and the rules assume you kept going right up to your hearing.
NYC SHERIFF
Unlicensed cannabis, and untaxed or flavoured tobacco. Sealed doors, five-day deadlines, and $10,000 if you don't show up.
BIC
Trade waste hauling and brokering. Winning at OATH doesn't end it. The Commission can throw out the hearing officer's decision, and it's the only agency that can.
A house, apartment building or construction site. The owner usually pays.
DOB
Work without a permit, facades, elevators, unsafe conditions. The biggest fines at OATH. And fixing the problem counts as admitting it.
FDNY
Sprinklers, alarms, certificates of fitness, roof access. Fix it within 35 days of the offence and a first violation costs you nothing.
DEP
Idling, mould, backflow, noise and asbestos. Idling cannot be fixed at all. And a member of the public can collect half your fine.
LPC
Work on a landmark or in a historic district without permission. Admit it and file 14 days before the hearing and the fine is zero. Miss it and a repeat runs $250 a day forever.
OSE
Short-term rentals and illegal hotel use. The host pays, not the platform. And a first fixable violation can drop to zero.
Sidewalks, vending, noise and quality-of-life summonses.
DSNY
Dirty sidewalk, bins out early, snow, recycling. Small fines that turn into $300 the moment you skip the hearing.
DOT
Street work, permits, restoration, dumpsters and sidewalk cafés. There is no way to fix it after the summons. Your chance to correct comes before it.
NYC PARKS
Park rules, vending, dogs and trees. Nothing here can be fixed instead of paid. And about half the list is also a crime.
NYPD
Open container, littering, public urination, noise. The judge has to offer you community service instead of the fine. And you can ask to have it thrown out.
OTI
Pay phones on city streets. A nearly dead area with one real target.
Authorize us to appear How a hearing works →
Missed a hearing already? A first request to undo it is granted automatically within 75 days. Here's the rule.
Penalty figures carry their rule citation on each page and are current as of the date shown there; penalty schedules change and the rulebook controls, not this page. This is general information from a TLC industry registered representative. It is not legal advice, and Eternally Ready Alliance is not a law firm. OATH does not certify or screen representatives.
A photo of the summons or your licence is enough to start.
