Owner of Ollie’s, Tomo pays record sum in labor dispute

Disputes over labor practices at local restaurants, such as Ollie’s and the now-closed Tomo, came to a halt on Wednesday when the New York State Department of Labor called out owner Tsu Yue Wang on his unfair treatment of employees. Wang agreed to pay a grand total of $2.3 million to the over 800 workers he wronged.

Wang’s millions mark the greatest sum ever collected for a single case in the State Labor Department’s history. The money will compensate workers for minimum wage and overtime underpayments. State Labor Commissioner M. Patricia Smith announced at a press conference that a Department investigation uncovered Wang’s labor swindle at his eight Ollie’s locations—including the local 116th and Broadway restaurant—and Tomo, now boarded up at 110th and Broadway.

“These restaurants are known throughout the city for supplying Asian food for families at reasonable prices,” Commissioner Smith said in a statement. “But as families enjoyed quality food at a price they could afford, workers toiled under the weight of below-minimum wages, late paychecks and lack of overtime payments. Many of these workers have waited a long time to reclaim these hard-earned wages. Today, I’m pleased to announce that their wait is over.”

Over the course of the investigation, which began in 2006, the Department discovered that individual workers were owed as much as $30,000 after several years of inadequate pay. The Department also released findings of “disturbing trends” in employee treatment, from the insufficient amount of compensation workers received to the infrequency of payments. Kitchen helpers who worked full time for up to 60 hours each week received $1,200 per month, which means they earned just $300 a week at $5 an hour. That amount is around half of the $500.50 employers are required to pay for such labor according to state law.

At Tomo, investigators found that about 100 workers were collectively owed over $1 million, which the Department is now seeking to recompense. Last month, Tomo’s then-employees rallied against Wang’s treatment, and were joined by peers from Ollie’s, as well as representatives from the 318 Restaurant Workers Union and the Chinese Staff and Workers’ Association. The protest was organized by restaurant labor union organization Justice Will Be Served, and raised questions about the circumstances surrounding the Japanese eatery’s imminent closing.
For months, Wang denied the Labor Department’s claim that he owned Tomo. The restaurant’s manager, Dee Loke, told Spectator in February, “The rent is too high. We cannot afford to continue.”

Yet according to Josephine Lee, CC ’01 and coordinator of the Justice Will Be Served campaign, rent wasn’t really the reason behind Wang’s decision to close Tomo’s doors. At the demonstration her group organized, workers dubbed Wang the “Sweatshop Boss.”

In January, Tomo employees filed a lawsuit against Wang. His response, according to Lee and 318 Restaurant Workers Union Vice President Fong Tsai, was to further worsen their plight through verbal abuse and cutting back on hours. At last month’s protest, Tsai said it was a “tactic to make employees quit. Get rid of workers. Stop them from organizing.”
Such protests have sprung up over the past few years not only at Tomo, but also at Ollie’s locations around the city.

“Nobody wants to dine in a sweatshop, and with this enforcement action, we are slamming the door shut on the mistreatment of workers at every one of these establishments,” Smith said.