Justice On Its Way To The Owners Of Saigon Grill

A few weeks ago a judge ordered restitution to be paid to the exploited workers of Saigon Grill in their civil case. Now Attorney General is bringing the criminal trial to Simon and Michelle Nget, for their negligent and unlawful behavior as the owners of the establishment. We aren't talking about a slap on the wrist here, Cuomo's got more than 400 charges against the couple.

From The NY Times:

The owners of the two Saigon Grill restaurants in Manhattan were arrested Wednesday on more than 400 criminal charges, including violating minimum-wage laws, falsifying business records and defrauding the state’s unemployment insurance system.

Simon and Michelle Nget, the owners of the popular pan-Asian restaurants, pleaded not guilty to those charges as well as to charges of demanding illegal payments from their deliverymen, tampering with witnesses and creating fraudulent records to cover up their actions.

Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo announced the arrests of the Ngets, who have been locked in a two-year battle with 36 deliverymen that has included calls for a boycott, picketing in front of their restaurants and a judge’s order for them to pay $4.6 million for wage violations.

The Ngets are in a whole lot of trouble, and everything they get is definitely deserved. Abusing their employees in that manner was sickening and justice is sorely needed here. The restitution was fantastic, but keeping them behind bars for a while.

Now I'm sure that Saigon Grill is but one of many restaurants that take advantage of their workers to some degree, especially here in Manhattan. While it sucks to be made an example of, if the story of the Ngets and their restaurant can make restauranters follow minimum wage laws (among others), then throw the book at them.