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U.S. District Court Award Judgment of $4.6 Million for Labor Law
Violations
Thirty six employees of Saigon Grill Restaurant, after more than
one and a half years of battling with Saigon Grill owners Simon
and Michelle Nget, were awarded $4.6 million for federal and state
labor law violations by, Magistrate Judge Michael H. Dolinger of
the U.S District Court for the Southern District of New York. These
workers worked at the Saigon Grills located on Amsterdam Avenue
on the Upper West Side and on University Place in the Village until
they were fired in March 2007 in retaliation for organizing a union
and planning to bring the lawsuit against the owners. The workers
were represented by Davis Polk & Wardwell in conjunction with
the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF).
Judge Dolinger awarded all of the workers' claims, including, failure
to pay minimum wage and overtime compensation- most workers received
$1.60 per hour for more than 80 hours of work per week. He also
awarded claims for charging workers fines and kickbacks for arbitrary
reasons such as for rushed deliveries or for slamming the restaurant
door. After accusing the delivery workers of extortion and lying
to the public all this time, the Court found Saigon Grill's owners
story non-credible. In addition to the corporate owners, the Court
found individually liable, owners Simon and Michelle Nget and manager
Sung Truong.
This is a victory for all NYC delivery workers, who during this
long-time battle at Saigon Grill, the struggle emboldened thousands
of other delivery workers to come out in support and to fight against
common industry-wide problems at their workplaces, as well. In response
to what the New York Times called the "deliverymen's rebellion",
restaurants throughout the City have reduced delivery workers' long
work hours and doubled their wages.
Read press from the victory press conference:
http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/local&id=6463294
http://www.abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=6090850&page=1
http://nymag.com/daily/food/2008/10/saigon_grill_workers_get_46_mi.html
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5ia5fEQbyRLbha1VKchDsZNTe0ksgD93V9EOG0
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