Brooklyn Paper: Labor Conditions Grim at Olive Vine and Coco Roco

From today's Brooklyn Paper:

At Coco Roco on Fifth Avenue between Sixth and Seventh streets,
which was fined $214,672 for the alleged abuses, state officials
reported that a dishwasher worked 66 hours per week and received only
$360.00, amounting to $6 an hour with no overtime. One deliveryman
allegedly worked 72 hours per week and was paid $210, plus tips.

Seven other employees were reported to endure similar workweeks.

Workers at Olive Vine Café on Seventh Avenue between Lincoln and St.
Johns places, which was fined $88,196, also allegedly worked outrageous
hours for low pay. In one case, a deliveryman who also washed dishes
allegedly worked 72 hours for only $260. Three other employees’ wages
were also at rock bottom, the state said.

The minimum wage is $7.25 an hour.

Olive Vine Café owner Zaid Demis flatly denied the charges, saying
the agency fudges numbers to garner publicity. And Demis said the
department doesn’t even get its facts straight — fining him for four
years of back wages for a worker who only toiled at the restaurant for
four months.