Green Grocer Agrees To Provide Back Wages To Workers

State Attorney General Spitzer today announced a settlement with a Brooklyn greengrocer which requires the store to pay $28,852 as a result of its failure to pay minimum and overtime wages to its workers.

This settlement is part of the Attorney General’s ongoing efforts to combat labor law violations in the greengrocer industry.

Heung S. Park d/b/a S and S Farm, located at 317 Knickerbocker Avenue in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn, has agreed to pay a total of $28,852 to four workers who received between $300 and $340 weekly for 71 to 76 hours of work for close to a year. The minimum wage in New York State was recently raised from $5.15 per hour to $6.00 per hour. For minimum wage earners, weekly hours in excess of forty must now be compensated at $9.00 per hour.

"Workers should report possible labor violations to my office," urged Spitzer. "The dignity of receiving a living wage for an honest day’s work is of concern to all New Yorkers. Labor advocates, community leaders and business representatives all need to make sure that workers receive the protections to which they are lawfully entitled."

"Hopefully, this settlement will serve as a wake-up call to abusive employers throughout our community. Immigrant workers, regardless of their immigration status, have rights, and we will continue to organize to defend those rights until all employers respect our dignity," said Luis Flores, a member of Make the Road by Walking's Workers in Action Committee. Make the Road by Walking is a Brooklyn not-for profit-organization dedicated to fighting for workers’ rights.

The Attorney General’s initiative to improve working conditions in the greengrocer industry began in 1999. Between 1999 and 2002, his office investigated many stores, settling with some and filing lawsuits against others. Recoveries on behalf of workers totaled more than one million dollars.

In 2002 the Office created the Greengrocer Code of Conduct. Two hundred store owners signed the Code, and pledged to comply with the law and submit to unannounced monitoring. Those who signed were afforded amnesty by the Attorney General’s Office. Monitoring showed a minimum wage compliance rate of over 95% on the part of signatories. From 2002 through 2004, the Attorney General’s Office focused its compliance efforts on the monitoring procedures.

The Code expired in February, 2005. Because representatives of the greengrocer industry have shown little interest in extending the Code, the Attorney General’s Office has again begun devoting its resources to investigations and the bringing of court actions, although it remains prepared to work with industry representatives to reinstate the Code.

Make the Road by Walking, a community organization based in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn, brought the case to the Attorney General’s attention.
The Attorney General’s Office remains interested in hearing from employees of greengrocer stores who believe they are being underpaid. Anyone wishing to report labor law violations should call the Greengrocer hotline at (800) 729-1180 or (212) 416-8700.

The case was handled by Assistant Attorney General Terri Gerstein of the AG’s Labor Bureau, which is under the direction of Bureau Chief M. Patricia Smith.