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State Department of Labor investigators have found supermarket baggers in Brooklyn and Queens were paid no hourly wage or overtime after regularly working more than 40 hours a week and were only compensated with tips from customers during a six year period.

According to the state department, taken together, a Fine Fair store in Brooklyn and a C-Town on Corona Avenue in Elmhurst owe employees more than $400,000 in back wages.
Labor Department investigators found that during a period of six years, Fine Fair and C-Town Supermarket employed baggers but did not pay them any wages. Instead, the baggers worked for tips only.

At C-Town employers were declaring workers tips as wages to avoid federal standards and legal oversight.

At Fine Fair in Brooklyn, some of the 12 workers employed collected a paltry $4 per hour while paying their employer $25 per week from their tips. C-Town supermarket had their three baggers work up to 75 hours a week for tips only, with no hourly wages or overtime wages paid.

The minimum wage in New York is $7.15 per hour, and workers must be paid overtime at 1.5 times their regular rate for all hours past 40 in a given week.

Spokesperson Leo Rosales was harshly critical of the stores for exploiting their workers and for breaching the fundamental labor contract that employees be compensated according to legal standards.

“It’s not only illegal, it’s frankly immoral to subject these hard working New Yorkers to work these long hours without any hourly wage or overtime,” he said.
One employee, 65 year-old Guadalupe Medina de Morales worked at C-Town for almost seven years as a bagger working only for tips. She typically was paid from $15 to $25 each day and worked from 2 to 10 p.m. including weekends with only Fridays off.

During her seven years employment, she never collected a paycheck and therefore is owed thousands of dollars. Ms Morales only became aware of the abuse after the New York State Department of Labor investigated and realized she was being exploited.

She believes three other baggers worked under the same conditions.

State Labor Commissioner M. Patricia Smith said in a statement that such gross abuse cannot be tolerated.
“We see these hard-working baggers every time we go to the market and if we tip them, we assume they are getting paid at least the minimum wage,” said Commissioner Smith. “In the past, waiters and bathroom attendants have been plagued by these kinds of abuses from employers who refuse to pay them for their work. Now, we are seeing this disturbing trend continue with supermarket baggers and this will not be tolerated.”

Mr. Rosales believes this misconduct is more widespread than popularly understood, usually occurring in “Latino communities where workers don’t know their rights.”
At C-Town three workers are estimated to be owed more than $329,000 in back wages, or about $50,000 to $100,000 each.
Fine Fair has agreed to settle before the case can go before a labor arbiter and will pay its employees more than $96,000 in unpaid wages.

C-Town refused to comment and has not agreed to pay back any wages to employees at this point. If the case remains unsettled, a labor arbiter will decide the issue.
The misconduct was discovered by the Fair Wages Task Force and currently has investigations open in two other stores in the city.

The State Labor Department encourages workers to contact the department regarding wage and hour issues. Investigators will answer any questions from employers or workers regarding compliance with New York’s labor laws. Information is also available on the department’s web site – www.labor.state.ny.us or by phone at: 1-800-447-3992.