NYT: Settlement Gives Past Wages to Clothing Retailer’s Workers

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/12/nyregion/12yellow.html?ref=todayspaper

By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
Published: February 12, 2008

Yellow Rat Bastard, a trendy apparel retailer based in SoHo, has agreed to pay $1.4 million to settle a lawsuit over unpaid wages and overtime, the state attorney general, Andrew M. Cuomo, announced on Monday.

The settlement grew out of a lawsuit that Mr. Cuomo’s predecessor, Eliot Spitzer, filed 14 months ago, seeking more than $2 million on the grounds that Yellow Rat Bastard’s flagship store in SoHo and its 10 affiliates had repeatedly cheated its employees.

Donald Paul, who worked in the company’s main warehouse, applauded the settlement. Mr. Paul said he worked 60 to 70 hours many weeks, but was hardly ever paid extra wages for overtime. He said he was often paid $5.25 an hour, even when the state minimum wage was $6.75.

“Everything was off the books,” he said. “The settlement is great. We’re going to get the money we deserve.”

The lawsuit covers more than 1,000 current and former workers, not just at the flagship store at 478 Broadway in SoHo, but also at the chain’s other stores in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens. Those stores include Boys and Chicks, Dirty Jane/Sloppy Joe, Rubber Sole, Antique Orange, Tempo, and FAT Jeans and Shoes. Because of concerns that the company’s founder, Henry Ishay, was hiding assets, Mr. Cuomo’s office persuaded a state judge to freeze nearly $1 million in bank assets held by Mr. Ishay’s wife, Alla Levy.

Under the settlement, the attorney general’s office will continue to monitor the employment practices of Mr. Ishay’s companies. The settlement bans the companies from retaliating against employees who cooperated with the investigation or collected back wages under it. It also requires Mr. Ishay to mortgage family-owned property to guarantee that all wronged employees are paid in full.

FULL story at link.