By Patrick Hedlund
DNAinfo News Editor
CHINATOWN — Employees at a Mott Street restaurant were paid as little as $1.27 per hour and denied overtime wages for working as many as 65 hours per week, according to a lawsuit filed last week against the Chinatown eatery.
Former workers at Shanghai Café gathered in front of the restaurant at 100 Mott St. Wednesday afternoon to speak out about their experience at the Zagat-rated eatery, claiming they also had their tips pilfered and were treated with disrespect by senior staff.
"These types of abuses are unfortunately very common in New York City," said David Colodny, an attorney for the Urban Justice Center, which is representing the six workers in the lawsuit. "A lot of workers are unfortunately unaware of their workers' rights."
The suit, which says that the restaurant violated state and federal labor laws, alleges that the employees were denied minimum wage and overtime payments for working as many as six days per week for up to 11 hours a day.
The suit also claims that servers were forced to pool their tips, which were then doled out by management with portions withheld.
All six of the employees were fired from Shanghai Café in June when the ownership changed hands, although Colodny said that the changeover was done mostly on paper and that some of the former owners are still involved with the operation.
The employees included in the suit spent as many as seven years working at the restaurant, but decided not to speak out until now.
"Before, I really didn't know [what was going on]," Mooi Yang, 51, who worked for four years as a server at Shanghai Café, said through a translator. "Just recently I realized they were doing something illegal."
The workers were all fired when they confronted management about the situation, she explained, with the owners using the summertime overhaul of the restaurant as an excuse.
"I'm not scared now," Yang said, standing just across the street from her former workplace. "I have a lot of friends and workers supporting me."
A staffer at Shanghai Café said that no owners or managers were available to speak about the lawsuit on Wednesday.
