HELLS KITCHEN — A Midtown deli owner must pay her employees $300,000 in back pay and damages after violating minimum-wage requirements, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.
Maria Park, who owns Village 38 delicatessen at 575 Eighth Ave., provided some employees with meager weekly allowances ranging from $350 to $550 even if they worked 60 hours a week, while other employees were paid an hourly wage that was below $7.25, investigators found.
Park also violated overtime pay laws and record-keeping protocol, authorities said.
“Village 38 delicatessen’s owner shorted these low-wage workers for her financial gain. By doing so, she also gained an unfair advantage over competitors who obey the law and pay employees wages they earned,” said Maria Rosado, the Wage and Hour Division’s deputy regional administrator in New York.
The findings stem from a U.S. Labor Department case that was filed in federal court in September 2014.
Park could not immediately be reached for comment.
