MANHATTAN — Getting fired from Upper East Side sweet spot Dylan's Candy Bar left two former employees with a bad taste in their mouth.
Anthony Mera and David Oscos filed unfair labor practice allegations with the National Labor Relations Board last Friday, accusing the store of getting rid of them in retaliation to their participation in an ongoing protest of the luxury candy shop.
Both Mera and Oscos were fired on Feb. 8, they said.
Mera said he was told he was axed because Dylan's Candy Bar management objected to a Facebook post Mera had left on a previously fired colleague's page.
While Mera’s comment did not name anyone, it alluded to a tyrannical supervisor, he said.
“I posted something on a friend’s wall,” said Mera, 21, of the post that has since been deleted. “It was strictly for comedy.”
He was called into the Dylan's office and fired more than two weeks after writing the message, he said.
Oscos was terminated after failing to call in sick when he had strep throat in December, he said management told him.
A day before his shift, Oscos said he texted his manager to let him know about his condition. The manager asked him to send a note. Oscos texted him a photo of the prescription, he said.
The exchange was never talked about until a month later, when he was fired for not having proper documentation, said Janna Pea, spokeswoman for the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, which represents the workers.
Mera, who has not found a job since being fired, said he would not return to Dylan’s even if asked. He filed the complaint for the people who are still working at the candy store.
“This is to ensure that Dylan’s doesn’t retaliate against them,” he said.
Mera and Oscos were among a handful of Dylan's workers who held protests outside the store and started an online petition last year asking for full-time working hours. The workers also wanted a pay increase from less than $10 per hour to $13.99 per hour, which is the same as the cost of a pound of bulk candy at the store.
Representative for the candy store declined to comment.
