Wage and Hour Division (WHD)

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WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. -- Patra Foods, Inc., doing business as Gateway Diner of Newburgh, and Alessia HI-DI, Inc., doing business as Gateway Diner of Highland, as well as two company officers have agreed to pay employees nearly $53,000 in back wages and interest to resolve a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Labor alleging violations of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, named as defendants the two restaurants and company officers George Georgakopoulos and Frank Georgakopoulos.

According to Sonia Rybak, assistant district director of the Hudson Valley Area Office of the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division, an investigation by her office revealed, in many workweeks during the period between Feb. 21, 2004 and Sept. 23, 2006, employees were not paid the federal minimum wage and were required to work overtime hours, but were not properly compensated for those hours. The investigation also disclosed that the employers failed to keep required records that showed, among other things, the hours worked each day and total hours worked each week by these employees.

The FLSA requires that covered employees be paid at least the federal minimum wage as well as one and one-half times their regular rate of pay for hours worked more than 40 per week. The law also requires that accurate records of employees’ wages, hours and other conditions of employment be maintained.

A consent judgment, signed by U.S. District Judge Stephen C. Robinson on May 25, prohibits the defendants from committing future violations of the minimum wage, overtime and recordkeeping provisions of the FLSA. Further, the judgment orders the defendants to pay back wages totaling $51,763 plus interest totaling $1,030 to 48 workers. The payments are to be made in 13 monthly installments beginning July 31, 2007 and ending July 31, 2008. If the defendants fail to make any payments, the court will appoint a receiver with power to seize and liquidate the defendants’ assets to satisfy the back wage payment order.

Finally, the court has ordered the defendants to orally advise all their employees in English and Spanish of their rights under the FLSA, the terms of this judgment, and the rights of employees to engage in activity protected by the law without fear of retaliation; and to post official FLSA posters where all employees may view them. The defendants agreed to entry of the judgment without admitting any of the alleged violations in the lawsuit.

The Wage and Hour Division’s Albany district and Hudson Valley area offices conducted this investigation, and the department’s suit was filed by the Labor Department’s Regional Solicitor’s Office in Manhattan. For more information about the provisions of the FLSA, call the department’s toll-free help line at (866) 4US-WAGE (487-9243). Information is also available on the Internet at www.wagehour.dol.gov.

(Chao v. Patra Foods, Inc., et al; Civil Action Number: 07-CV-3739-SCR-MDF)

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