Upstate Restaurant Workers To Receive Back Wages

Attorney General Spitzer today announced an agreement providing back pay to dozens of predominantly immigrant workers who cleaned popular chain restaurants in the upstate region.

Under the agreement, CanAmera Building Services, Ltd. will pay more than $63,800 in restitution to 137 of its workers who cleaned Friday’s, Chili’s, Outback Steakhouses and other establishments in Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo and other upstate cities.

"This agreement will not only provide back pay to deserving workers, but will also implement basic reforms to require the employer to uphold labor standards applicable for all New Yorkers," Spitzer said.

The Toronto-based company was alleged to have improperly classified its workers as independent contractors in order to deny them overtime pay and to have made other illegal deductions from their wages.

The Attorney General’s office found that between June 1, 2000, and December 31, 2004, CanAmera refused to pay overtime to the cleaners despite work schedules that approached 60 hours per week.

The investigation also found that CanAmera misclassified the workers as "independent contractors" allowing it to make illegal deductions from the employees’ pay. Many of these deductions were for arbitrary reasons, such as accidentally tripping security alarms. The company also frequently made workers pay deposits, which were frequently withheld, to ensure their right to work.

CanAmera has agreed to treat the cleaning workers as employees, thereby affording them the protections of the Labor Law, and to make other reforms. The agreement also creates a monitoring system to ensure that the CanAmera continues to provide all labor law protections to its cleaners employed in New York State.

The CanAmera case is the latest in a series of labor law enforcement actions by the Attorney General’s office. Previous cases have assisted supermarket delivery workers, pretzel vendors, construction workers, restroom attendants, day laborers and workers in the greengrocer industry.

To report labor law violations or to learn about your rights as a worker or your obligations as an employer, please contact the New York State Attorney General’s labor help line at 1-212-416-8700 or visit the website at: www.ag.ny.gov.

The case was handled by Assistant Attorneys General C. Michael Higgins and Donya Fernandez under the supervision of Labor Bureau Chief Patricia Smith and with the assistance of Winthrop Thurlow, Syracuse Regional Office Chief.