Workers never paid any wages - survived only on tips
WHAT: Press Conference - Wednesday, May 24th @ 12pm
WHERE: In front of Food Bazaar Supermarket
454 Wyckoff Avenue - between Myrtle Ave. and Madison St.
Brooklyn, New York
L train to Myrtle/Wyckoff Ave
WHY: On Wednesday, a group of nine supermarket
workers will announce a lawsuit they filed against the Food
Bazaar Supermarket and its Chief Executive Officer Francis
An, for failing to pay them any wages for the entire time
they worked there as grocery baggers. Workers usually labored
more than 50 hours per week, and were forced to live off
customer tips that averaged only $100-200 a week, until
the supermarket fired them all without notice last year.
Some worked there for more than seven years, suffering egregious
abuses. Workers were often not allowed to eat all day or
to go to the bathroom without permission. They lost their
day’s tips when the supermarket forced them to pay
for items customers had left behind. Although the supermarket
owner did not pay them any wages, they were forced to do
work beyond bagging groceries. The workers substituted for
the cashiers while they went on break or left work early.
They cleaned their checkout aisles and were even forced
to pay the supermarket for the cleaning materials they used.
The workers, represented by attorneys at the Urban Justice
Center and Outten & Golden, filed a civil lawsuit in
federal district court on May 23rd seeking damages totaling
more than $1.5 million for violations of federal and state
wage laws committed by Food Bazaar Supermarket, a/k/a Bogopa,
Inc.
