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“The defendants in this case acted out of greed, cheating over 150 hardworking employees out of hundreds of thousands of dollars in wages they earned,” Schneiderman said.
By Forum Staff
Two grocers that operate food markets in Queens and Long Island recently admitted to failing to pay workers nearly $450,000 in wages, according to State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.
The NY AG trumpeted the guilty pleas and convictions of S&L Vegetables, Corp. and J&B Vegetables, Inc., two grocers that did business as Apna Bazar Cash & Carry and operated food markets in Floral Park and Hicksville, NY. Each Apna Bazar market pled guilty to one count of third-degree grand larceny, one count of first-degree falsifying business records, one count of failure to pay wages, and one count of willful failure to pay contributions.
The plea agreement mandates that Apna Bazar pay a total of $447,832.11 for unpaid wages and $162,445.47 in unpaid unemployment contributions to the State Department of Labor.
Last week, Queens Supreme Court sentenced each Apna Bazar market to a three-year conditional discharge with a condition that the stores undergo monitoring for one year. The court also ordered the defendants to pay restitution for the back wages and unemployment insurance contributions, which the attorney general’s office confirmed has been paid in full by the defendants.
“The defendants in this case acted out of greed, cheating over 150 hardworking employees out of hundreds of thousands of dollars in wages they earned,” Schneiderman said.
An investigation conducted by the NYSDOL and referred to the attorney general’s office revealed that between 2012 and 2015, Apna Bazar repeatedly failed to pay proper minimum wage and overtime to more than 150 employees working at both of these markets. Many of these employees worked more than 60 hours per week, but were paid a fixed daily amount, which often resulted in paychecks that were well below the state minimum wage for even a typical 40-hour workweek. In addition, the employees did not receive proper overtime compensation of time-and-one half for working over 40 hours in a week. Both Apna Bazar entities also failed to accurately report to the NYSDOL the number of employees working at both locations during this period, falsifying their State Quarterly Combined Withholding, Wage Reporting, and Unemployment Insurance Return forms—resulting in significant underpayment of unemployment contributions to NYSDOL.
“In this case, the employer chose to attempt to skirt their Unemployment Insurance obligations,” said State Labor Commissioner Roberta Reardon. “The Department of Labor takes the responsibility of investigating these crimes very seriously and will continue to refer these cases to law enforcement offices around the state.”
