Back Pay Awarded to Employees of Three NYC Supermarkets

After a multi-year investigation, attorney general Andrew Cuomo has announced a $750,000 settlement for wage violations by a company that owns supermarkets in Chinatown, Elmhurst and Flushing. According to City Room, employees at the three stores worked 13 or 14 hours a day, seven days a week, totaling 90 hours a week in some cases. But most of them were paid just $360 a week, about the equivalent of $4 an hour. (The labor department says they should have made $714 a week at those hours.) In a statement, Cuomo said, "Employers who line their pockets instead of paying workers the wages and overtime they’ve earned will be brought to justice by my office." The Times tried to get a comment from Long Deng, the owner, but he's in China (hopefully not sourcing more labor). And Deng is not to be confused with the supermarket executives arrested in October for paying their grocery baggers with the tip change shoppers (sometimes) leave at the checkout.