American Classic Broadway Diner in Yonkers And American Classic Executive Diner in Hawthorne have been ordered to pay the U.S. Department of Labor $837,356 for not paying the minimum wage or overtime to 29 employees.
The Sept. 28 judgment by federal Judge Cathy Seibel also names the corporate owners, American Diner Group Inc. and Chrisevan Corp., and the four brothers who run the diners, Haider Khan, Rabbani Khan, Usmani Khan and Zilani Khan, who all share the first name, Gulam.
The diners are owned by Rabbani Khan’s wife, Suhela Khan, according to court records. She was not named in the lawsuit filed last year by the U.S. Department of Labor.
The Labor Department claimed that employees regularly worked six days a week for 10 hours or more, yet were not paid overtime or the minimum wage.
Some busboys, for example, worked 55 to 66 hours a week and were paid just $25 a day. Even with tips ranging from $200 to $300 a week, they often received less than the $7.25 hourly minimum wage.
Servers were typically paid $5 an hour.
Cooks were paid from $525 to $725 a week for 50 to 60 hours of work, but received no overtime payments.
Dishwashers were paid a fixed $330 to $400 for 55 to 63 hours of work.
The parking lot attendant was paid $20 to work four hours one day a week and did not regularly receive tips.
The Labor Department said the Khans concealed Fair Labor Standards Act violations by creating false payroll records, paying employees in cash and off the books, and by directing employees to lie to investigators and to sign documents that said they had been paid correctly.
The judgment is based on $418,678 in back wages and an equal amount in damages for an average award of $28,874 per employee.
Seibel also ordered the Khans to keep adequate records and to not retaliate against employees.
The Khans did not respond to court summons to answer the charges.
Usmani Khan filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in February, claiming $1,126 in assets, $49,058 in liabilities and a monthly income of $800.
The bankruptcy case was dismissed after he failed twice to appear for a required creditors examination.
The Khans did not respond to a message left today at the American Diner Group, requesting comment, and no one answered the phone at Chrisevan Corp.
No comments:
Post a Comment