Sunday, July 11, 2010

Astoria restaurant workers cheated out of pay

From the Daily News:

A popular Queens restaurant is being dragged to court for not paying its employees enough - seven years after the company settled a similar suit.

Two former employees charge that Elias Corner Restaurant for Fish, a well-known Greek seafood joint in Astoria, failed to pay minimum wage and overtime rates to workers, their attorney said.

According to the class-action lawsuit, filed June 21 in Brooklyn Federal Court, Kinga Koziel, who had worked at the restaurant for nearly five years before she left last February, and Milan Stosic, who was employed for more than a year, are owed about $200,000 in lost wages.

The ethnic food spot on 31st St. at 24th Ave. has previously been slapped with a court ruling for not paying their workers properly.

In 2003, the restaurant was ordered to pay $460,000 in restitution and interest to waiters and waitresses for failure to pay them proper wages, according to published reports.

Former state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer launched an investigation of the eatery in late 2001 after several waiters and waitresses complained that their only earnings were from gratuities - a violation of state and federal minimum wage and overtime laws.


Photo from NY Magazine

5 comments:

Joe for City Council said...

Unbelievable! They shelled out $460,000 a few years ago. You'd figure they'd learn their lesson. Probably would have cost them less, if they would have been legit from the start. These restaurant workers are hard working individuals. Putting in some grueling hours. They deserve to earn their wages!

Anonymous said...

Round up the usual Greeks.

Joe said...

Some of these off the boat Greeks are $$ LOADED yet as cheap as it gets when it comes to paying, kind of like a camal Jocky turned inside out.

I did sound system rentals in Astoria for weddings many years ago. Like clockwork every dam customer cried poverty to cheat us or pull some crap over a couple dollars.
They then go home and blow $90 per brick on their houses.
Some 16 year's ago Senator Paul Tzongas even tried to screw us by tring bailing out a rear door saying "oops" he was late for an airplane.
He rented a system to do a speech.
I think it was this same resteraunt catering hall

No Comment said...

"What happens in Astoria should stay in Astoria."

Unknown said...

he deserved to be sued,tho worst boss i ever seen,he threat his employees like a slavers.