Workers at dollar store chain claim to have endured ‘sweatshop wages and conditions’ in $2M lawsuit

[Omaha Steve]

Source: NY Daily News

BY KELDY ORTIZ , STEPHEN REX BROWN

The discounts at a chain of dollar stores also appeared on the company payroll, a lawsuit charges.

Fifteen workers — most of them undocumented — at the stores in the Bronx and Queens say they were paid as little as $2.27 an hour for 11-hour days, six days a week, with no overtime.

If they got any lunch break at all, it was only 15 minutes, documents filed in Manhattan Federal Court charge.

“They treated us like trash,” said Carlos Laguna, 45, who worked three years at Bergen Discount on Willis Ave. in the Bronx.

FULL story at link. FULL title didn't fit: EXCLUSIVE: Workers at dollar store chain claim to have endured ‘sweatshop wages and conditions’ in $2M lawsuit



Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/dollar-store-workers-sweatshop-claims-2m-suit-article-1.2142405

[donnasgirl]

1. Omaha

I have a neighbor who's daughter worked at our local dollar general. when NY raised the minimum wage the first thing that was done was they cut her hours from 30 HRS to 18, and when her father showed us her pay stubs she never received her raise in pay. Does anyone here have any advice for the kid?

[magical thyme]

2. state dept. of labor

at least in Maine, ime that is one area they will go after them. If she didn't get paid, the state didn't get its tax receipts.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

3. Talk to the Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division

U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division

Local Offices
There are over 200 WHD offices throughout the country with trained professionals to help you.

Select a State:

New York

[donnasgirl]

4. Thank You Very Much

I will pass on the information.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

5. For example: Western Mass. farm cited again for labor violations

Western Mass. farm cited again for labor violations

By Megan Woolhouse Globe Staff February 19, 2015
[email protected]

A Western Massachusetts farming operation, previously fined for underpaying and mistreating migrant workers, has been cited again by the US Department of Labor for similar wage violations and ordered to pay more than $80,000 in back wages and penalties.

Chang & Sons Enterprises Inc., a Whately farm that grows berries and bean sprouts for wholesalers and retailers across the Northeast, paid workers $5 an hour in cash, below the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, Labor Department officials said.
....

The Chang family has operated farms in Massachusetts for more than 30 years. This is the third time the company has been investigated by the Labor Department for underpaying workers. Investigators first warned Chang of violations in 2009, Matos said. A 2011 inquiry led to a settlement of more than $310,000 in fines and back wages for 14 workers in 2013. In that case, a task force of state and US investigators closed what they described as “farm labor camps” after finding underpaid migrant workers living in squalor in a farmhouse.

Matos said the latest investigation resulted in Chang’s agreement to pay additional fines and back wages to six workers. Matos said each worker will receive about $13,000. The settlement also required Chang & Sons to hire an independent monitor to oversee its operations for three years.

[jamzrockz]

6. $2.27 per hours

It must have been complete hell trying to survive anywhere in US on that pay. The sad part is that nobody should shopping at those stores cos their prices are not even any cheaper than regular grocery store prices