Workers file suit over wages
Former employees describe ‘egregious’ labor violations
By Gillian Graham
Staff Writer
Dan Lin arrived in Maine in July 2005 expecting to make nearly $3,000 a month as a waiter at the Super Great Wall Buffet.
More than four years later, he returned to protest what he says are “egregious” violations of labor laws by the owners of the South Portland restaurant.
Standing outside the darkened restaurant Tuesday afternoon, Lin was joined by other former employees to explain why they filed a federal lawsuit against owners Ren Qi Chen, Siow Wooi Chang and Xue Wen Chen.
The lawsuit by nine former employees alleges the owners required wait staff, cooks and buffet staff to work 70 hours per week only for customer tips, a violation of minimum wage and overtime provisions in the Fair Labor Standards Act and Maine Employment Practices Act. The owners also made employees pay $125 weekly “kickbacks” and sign a set of false documents indicating they were paid, according to the lawsuit.
Ren Qi Chen, Siow Wooi Chang and Xue Wen Chen could not be reached for comment by the Sentry’s Wednesday publication deadline.
Lin and Yan Chen, a former waitress and lead plaintiff, and their lawyer, Jeff Stone of McTeague Higbee of Topsham, held a press conference outside the restaurant to call attention to the lawsuit and ask patrons to boycott the business.
Before speaking, Lin and Yan Chen joined protesters holding signs in English and Chinese to chant, “What do we want? Justice. When do we want it? Now.” Also in attendance were supporters from the Justice Will Be Served campaign, a non-profit New York-based group that advocates better working conditions for employees in the service industry and other employment groups.
“I came here from New York to work. When I got here, I found out I had to pay in order to work and the boss forced me to sign a document saying I was paid to work,” Lin said through an interpreter.
Lin, 34, said he talked with other employees at the restaurant about working conditions. When the bosses heard he questioned the arrangement, Lin said he was not allowed to wait tables during busy hours.
“On top of not being able to make tips, I still had to pay $250 every two weeks,” he said. “If you didn’t pay you were immediately fired. On top of that [the boss] said he would hire the mafia to take care of me.”
Lin, who moved to the United States in 1990, now lives in New York City after leaving the restaurant in July 2008. But Lin said he is still afraid of retaliation from his former employers. He called for the state attorney general to investigate and prosecute the owners.
“America is supposedly a democratic country,” he said. “Why do these employers think they are above the law?”
Chen, 41, said through an interpreter she was required to work 75 hours per week, was paid “sweatshop” wages and lived in a dark basement. The employees were referred to the restaurant through various employment brokers in New York City’s Chinatown and were told by Chang that food and lodging would be provided, according to the lawsuit.
Once they arrived in Maine, employees lived in one of two Portland houses owned by the defendants. Between nine and 11 Chinese-speaking employees lived four to six people to a 6-by-100-foot basement room, according to the lawsuit. The rooms were squalid with no windows and a single outlet for a rice cooker, according to employees. The rooms also flooded when it rained, leaving mold on the walls, according to the lawsuit.
“We got together to demand a stop to these conditions and the boss one by one fired us,” Chen said.
Jei Fong, an organizer with the Chinese Staff and Workers’ Association, based in New York City, said these types of working conditions are found across the country.
“These conditions are reprehensible and should not be tolerated,” she said. “We are calling on the state and federal government to prosecute the employers criminally.”
Stone said the plaintiffs are asking to be reimbursed for unpaid minimum wage and overtime wages, $500 per day for every day they were not given a 30-minute rest break, compensatory and punitive damages and attorneys’ fees.
Stone estimated employees were underpaid close to $500,000 between 2003 and 2009. He also said the employees want to be treated with respect and dignity.
“We live in a beautiful state in Maine,” he said. “This is not the way life should be.”
Staff Writer Gillian Graham can be reached at 282-4337, ext. 213.
By Gillian Graham
Staff Writer
Dan Lin arrived in Maine in July 2005 expecting to make nearly $3,000 a month as a waiter at the Super Great Wall Buffet.
More than four years later, he returned to protest what he says are “egregious” violations of labor laws by the owners of the South Portland restaurant.
Standing outside the darkened restaurant Tuesday afternoon, Lin was joined by other former employees to explain why they filed a federal lawsuit against owners Ren Qi Chen, Siow Wooi Chang and Xue Wen Chen.
The lawsuit by nine former employees alleges the owners required wait staff, cooks and buffet staff to work 70 hours per week only for customer tips, a violation of minimum wage and overtime provisions in the Fair Labor Standards Act and Maine Employment Practices Act. The owners also made employees pay $125 weekly “kickbacks” and sign a set of false documents indicating they were paid, according to the lawsuit.
Ren Qi Chen, Siow Wooi Chang and Xue Wen Chen could not be reached for comment by the Sentry’s Wednesday publication deadline.
Lin and Yan Chen, a former waitress and lead plaintiff, and their lawyer, Jeff Stone of McTeague Higbee of Topsham, held a press conference outside the restaurant to call attention to the lawsuit and ask patrons to boycott the business.
Before speaking, Lin and Yan Chen joined protesters holding signs in English and Chinese to chant, “What do we want? Justice. When do we want it? Now.” Also in attendance were supporters from the Justice Will Be Served campaign, a non-profit New York-based group that advocates better working conditions for employees in the service industry and other employment groups.
“I came here from New York to work. When I got here, I found out I had to pay in order to work and the boss forced me to sign a document saying I was paid to work,” Lin said through an interpreter.
Lin, 34, said he talked with other employees at the restaurant about working conditions. When the bosses heard he questioned the arrangement, Lin said he was not allowed to wait tables during busy hours.
“On top of not being able to make tips, I still had to pay $250 every two weeks,” he said. “If you didn’t pay you were immediately fired. On top of that [the boss] said he would hire the mafia to take care of me.”
Lin, who moved to the United States in 1990, now lives in New York City after leaving the restaurant in July 2008. But Lin said he is still afraid of retaliation from his former employers. He called for the state attorney general to investigate and prosecute the owners.
“America is supposedly a democratic country,” he said. “Why do these employers think they are above the law?”
Chen, 41, said through an interpreter she was required to work 75 hours per week, was paid “sweatshop” wages and lived in a dark basement. The employees were referred to the restaurant through various employment brokers in New York City’s Chinatown and were told by Chang that food and lodging would be provided, according to the lawsuit.
Once they arrived in Maine, employees lived in one of two Portland houses owned by the defendants. Between nine and 11 Chinese-speaking employees lived four to six people to a 6-by-100-foot basement room, according to the lawsuit. The rooms were squalid with no windows and a single outlet for a rice cooker, according to employees. The rooms also flooded when it rained, leaving mold on the walls, according to the lawsuit.
“We got together to demand a stop to these conditions and the boss one by one fired us,” Chen said.
Jei Fong, an organizer with the Chinese Staff and Workers’ Association, based in New York City, said these types of working conditions are found across the country.
“These conditions are reprehensible and should not be tolerated,” she said. “We are calling on the state and federal government to prosecute the employers criminally.”
Stone said the plaintiffs are asking to be reimbursed for unpaid minimum wage and overtime wages, $500 per day for every day they were not given a 30-minute rest break, compensatory and punitive damages and attorneys’ fees.
Stone estimated employees were underpaid close to $500,000 between 2003 and 2009. He also said the employees want to be treated with respect and dignity.
“We live in a beautiful state in Maine,” he said. “This is not the way life should be.”
Staff Writer Gillian Graham can be reached at 282-4337, ext. 213.
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