Granovsky & Sundaresh obtained a major victory for New York City’s fast food workers last week, when a federal court issued final approval to the settlement, for $800,000, of a class action lawsuit brought on behalf of hundreds ofDomino’s Pizza workers employed in Brooklyn. Under the settlement, the workers will be receiving checks averaging more than $500 each, with some employees receiving checks as large as $3,700.
The lawsuit concerned violations of New York City’s Fair Workweek Law. That watershed law was first passed by New York City Council in 2017, to provide fast food workers with a measure of stability and predictability in their working lives.
Before the law was passed, many New Yorkers working in fast food couldn’t secure regular childcare or make even basic doctors’ appointments, because they never knew when they might be called in to work. Fast food establishments in the five boroughs would schedule their workers for shifts at the last minute, or would cancel shifts just hours before they were supposed to begin. Managers would schedule the same worker for a closing shift that lasted until 1am, and then for an opening shift that started at 9am that same day.
The Fair Workweek Law prohibits such practices, requiring fast food establishments in New York City to publish schedules two weeks in advance, and requiring the payment of premium wages for last-minute changes in schedules. It also requires special payments of $100 to workers who have to work so-called “clopening” shifts, where they close one night and then open the next morning. The law has recently been expanded to provide analogous protections to New York City’s retail workers.
The lawsuit alleged that six Domino’s Pizza franchises in Brooklyn openly violated the Fair Workweek Law from 2019 to 2021. The owners of those franchises, the lawsuit alleges, never even tried to comply with the law, instead using timekeeping software that provided no way to track compliance or pay the premium wages that the law requires. Under the settlement approved by the Magistrate Judge James R. Cho, over 700 employees of those six Domino’s Pizza franchises will receive compensation this summer for the Fair Workweek premium wages they were not paid between 2019 and 2021. The case isChowdhury v. Raja 786 Food Inc., No. 20-cv-4235, and was filed the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of New York in Brooklyn
The settlement is one of the first class action awards approved by a federal court for claims under New York City’s Fair Workweek Law.
The lead plaintiff was Mohammed Farhan Chowdhury, who bravely came forward in the summer of 2020 to report the wage violations at the Domino’s Pizza franchise where he had worked during the first wave of the pandemic. As the lawsuit recounts, Mr. Chowdhury’s boss repeatedly physically assaulted him at work, in front of his co-workers, after Mr. Chowdhury complained about how workers were being treated. Mr. Chowdhury looked for help from Granovsky & Sundaresh.
Lawyers from Granovsky & Sundaresh partnered closely with Mr. Chowdhuryto identify witnesses, locate documents, and ultimately achieve a measure of justice for hundreds of Mr. Chowdhury’s fellow workers. In connection with the settlement, Mr. Chowdhury will receive $100,000 to settle his claims arising from the assaults he suffered in 2020.
If you are a New Yorker working in retail or fast food, and if your employer is not providing you with regular, predicable shifts or is not paying you the wages and tips you have earned, the lawyers at Granovsky & Sundaresh can help.