Market Owner Charged With Stiffing Employees
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The owner of a gourmet market chain is being investigated by the state's labor department after workers say they were being stiffed out of overtime pay. NY1's Rebecca Spitz filed the following report.Nothing seems out of place at the Amish Market, a mini-chain of gourmet food stores in the city.
But look a little deeper and you'll find the owner is on the hook for not paying employees for overtime they worked.
"This employer was caught red handed with his hand in the gourmet cookie jar. But instead of cookies, he has $1.5 million to contend with," said New York State Labor Commissioner M. Patricia Smith.
That's a million and a half dollars in back pay.
There are four Amish Market and affiliated stores in the city, three in Manhattan, one in Queens.
In 2007, the state Department of Labor raided them all. They found 550 workers clocking between 45 and 60 hours a week but not being paid time and a half for their overtime.
NY1 spoke with a man who worked at the location on 9th Avenue, but didn't want to show his face for fear of retaliation.
"My experience was very bad, I would work 60 to 70 hours a week and would only get a salary of $300 a week," said the employee.
So far, the state Department of Labor has settlements for $1.2 million with Amish Market and its related stores called Zeytinia, Zeytinz and Zeytuna.
One of the Amish Markets is on East 45th street. When NY1 called, the manager of the store agreed to an interview, but later backed out.
A food workers' union learned about the shortchanging while trying to recruit new members.
The union has since joined the labor department's Wage Watchers program, created to identify businesses that try to skirt the system.
"Here in New York City, whether it's the restaurant industry, the gourmet food industry, the retail industry, it is to them, they factor it in as a cost of doing business. We need to change the laws," said Pat Purcell, Food Workers Union.
Some workers have begun to speak out. Earlier this month, workers protested outside Manhattan's Adriatic restaurant, saying they made as little as $20 for a full day's work. Others protested outside Tomo, on the Upper West Side. It quickly closed.
Last year, 36 delivery men who said they were cheated out of their wages picketed outside Saigon Grill. A judge ultimately awarded them more than $4.6 million in back pay and damages.
The union says that's not enough and will lobby the state Senate and Assembly to change the law so offenders pay in jail time.