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.

Victory For The Workers Of Saigon Grill!

This week a long and hard-fought battle finally came to a glorious conclusion for the deliverymen of Saigon Grill. For years the owners of the New York City chain restaurant had grossly underpaid and overworked their employees who brave the streets to bring customers their orders. Despite the threat of losing their jobs, the workers brought their complaints up to the legal system and now they can finally be compensated to the tune of $4.6 million dollars.

From The NY Times:

A federal judge has awarded $4.6 million in back pay and damages to 36 delivery workers at two Saigon Grill restaurants in Manhattan, finding blatant and systematic violations of minimum-wage and overtime laws.

In a decision dated Monday and released on Tuesday, Magistrate Judge Michael H. Dolinger of United States District Court in Manhattan found violations of federal and state wage laws in awarding up to $328,000 to some of the deliverymen. On issue after issue, Judge Dolinger ruled against Saigon Grill and its owners, Simon and Michelle Nget, saying they paid $520 a month to many deliverymen who worked more than 260 hours each month. This meant their pay came to less than $2 an hour, far less than the federal and state minimum wage.[...]

Judge Dolinger found that the company had often illegally deducted pay — from $20 to $200 — when deliverymen committed infractions like letting the restaurant door slam on their way out or failing to log in a delivery. The case covered wage violations from 1999 to 2007.

The judge concluded that Saigon Grill should pay not just back wages but also damages because the owners, he said, had so blithely ignored the law.

With so much injustice going on in these times, it is nice to see some good news like what happened in this case. The deliverymen deserve every last penny the judge awarded for the way the Nget's treated their employees. Not only did Saigon Grill get what they deserve as well, but as the article points out that many other restaurants have taken heed of this and improved conditions for many more deliverymen.