Despite a record settlement over unfair labor practices at Ollie’s Noodle Shop and Grill, diners around Morningside Heights can feel better about digging into their lo mein.
Ollie’s owner Tsu Yue Wang paid $2.3 million in compensation to the 813 workers owed minimum wage and overtime underpayments, the largest amount ever collected for a single case in the New York State Department of Labor’s history. Yet the settlement came at the culmination of a number of labor department investigations that did not include the Ollie’s branch at 116th Street and Broadway.
Department of Labor spokeswomen Michelle Duffy confirmed that, although five Ollie’s restaurants were investigated, the Morningside Heights location was left out. Duffy could not say definitively why this restaurant was excluded from the process, though she suggested, “Maybe there weren’t any complaints.”
According to current 116th Street Ollie’s manager Frank Chang, “116th is okay. There is no problem here.”
Tom Chou, the head waiter at Ollie’s who has worked there for over three years, agreed. “Workers like it here,” he said, adding that, “It is different people at the other restaurants. Here we are paid above minimum wage.”
Chou and Chang independently confirmed that the workers at this Ollie’s are paid $4.85 an hour, which is 15 cents greater than the New York State minimum wage for food service workers whose hourly salaries are based upon on expected tips. Chou said that the average employee works about 40 to 45 hours per week.
According to Chang, the Department of Labor visited the local branch a year ago and has not returned since. “We follow up on everything the department asks. They ask how many people work here, how much do we pay them, and we tell them. When they see that it is actually true, they don’t give us any trouble,” Chang said.
Questions are still being posed about Tomo Sushi and Sake Bar, which closed in February, and Caffe Swish, formerly next door to Ollie’s, which reopened as Vine in the beginning of March. Since February, two local protests mounted against Wang, the first outside Tomo and the second outside Vine.
Though Wang has denied any financial ties to Tomo, the Department of Labor found during its investigation that 100 of Wang’s former employees at the restaurant were owed about $1 million. Duffy could not comment further except to say that the department is still investigating Wang’s relation to Tomo.
Labor activists were not convinced by Wang’s claims. “It’s even on paper that he’s the CEO. He is the recognized owner of Tomo,” said Josephine Lee, CC ’01 and coordinator of restaurant labor union organization, Justice Will Be Served.
Chang also said that Wang was the owner of Tomo, though he said there is a certain mystery to Wang whom he has seen “very few times” and for whom he has no contact information.
Chang added that he knew little about Wang’s alleged dealings with Vine and Tomo. “They never tell us about Vine and Tomo. If he doesn’t want to tell us, we don’t ask the question.” Chang added that now, “with Ollie’s, everyone keeps their mouths shut.”
According to Vine manager Queenie Liu, Vine has “a different owner” and added that “we have new workers here.” Liu confirmed that there were a few employees who had worked for Swish, but no one came from Tomo to Vine.
COMMENTS
Comments will be moderated in accordance with our comment policy