Frozen Yogurt Shop Freezes Out it's Workers
Two sisters accuse East Village Yogurt Shop of stiffing them out of back wages.
18-year old Maryneschkav Paradas and 21-year old Vivaneska Paradas worked for the "Daydream Yogurt Shop" in Manhattan's East Village from early December 2008 to February 7th 2009. During that time, their work hours were long, payment was sporadic and sometimes they didn't get paid at all.
Because they were working "off the books" (meaning no taxes were being taken out of their paychecks), they were afraid to say anything, but when their families became concerned that they were being taken advantage of, they finally called Help Me Howard.
Howard talked to the owners and their lawyers and got them to agree to give the girls $1,100 each in back-wages missed in the month of January. But at the last minute the girl's mother decided that she wanted to take their case to the Labor Department instead.
When accepting a job, you should expect to fill out a W-2 Form, which will withhold money from your paycheck for taxes. If an employer does not provide this, you should be concerned, because if you are not documented as working there, your work history does not exist with Social Security and your employer does not have to pay taxes.
It's like you never existed there and have no work history to protect you.
You can contact the New York State Department of Labor with general questions regarding the wage & hour laws at www.labor.state.ny.us
To contact the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development, go to lwd.state.nj.us/labor
If you are from another state, contact you Attorney General's office to find out who overseas your state's labor laws.
Comments: 11
This is all very true. I was the graphic and interior designer for this yogurt shop and they owe me a couple thousand dollars as well. They haven't been returning any of my emails.
I find it odd that employees haven't been paid, yet one of the owners is driving around a brand new Range Rover....
Priorities!
Good for you girls! Nothing makes me happier to see workers fight for what is right. I also know what it feels like to work your butt off and not get paid for what you need to get paid for. I hope this works out for you girls and be glad that you have a mom to stick up for you.
Good for you girls! Nothing makes me happier to see workers fight for what is right. I also know what it feels like to work your butt off and not get paid for what you need to get paid for. I hope this works out for you girls and be glad that you have a mom to stick up for you.
Good for you girls! Nothing makes me happier to see workers fight for what is right. I also know what it feels like to work your butt off and not get paid for what you need to get paid for. I hope this works out for you girls and be glad that you have a mom to stick up for you.
That means those girls deserved not to get paid at there full amount.The audience is not aware of other factors that may have leaded the owner not to pay them at that very moment, so let's be fair, not only to those girls, but also to those who are depreciated merely of their status, like the very owners of every business. The owner offered to pay, but they wanted more!!! For what their irresistable beauty.give us a break. There are more significant problems out in the world. My phylosiphy is don't expect to be pampered for your age or just because you are a girl. Most of all, if the owner does not pay to his workers than he would never be managing the yogurt with other workers successfully. Get real.
I personally think the place has gone downhill in the recent month. I miss Gwen's shining face, and her ability to wield a blow torch! She was the driving force behind Daydream's creativity and unique appeal. Without her, it's just not the same. I won't be returning to Daydream until Gwen (and the flame-roasted s'more toppings) are back!
As far as Jody Rauch's comments are concerned, proper use of English spelling, grammar, and sentence structure would be appreciated. All the girls wanted was to be treated fairly. No employer should take advantage of his/her workers in such a despicable manner. Clearly from Mr. Ouellette's comments, this is not an isolated situation.
In my opinion the girls are very stupid. They were offered the money they deserved and worked for and fought for and yet refused to take it. They were being paid more then minimum wage and they were complaining?? People are losing jobs right now left and right and they are refusing to accept this money. I’m sorry but that’s completely dumb. Solely for this reason people are on pay roll and that’s why they should have signed a w-2 form but I’m sure they wanted to work for cash (who would refuse that) but then again expect to run into problems such as these, according to them they were being paid cash. As for the release form every establishment has the right to make their former employees sign a release form as they give them their last pay which they refused to do. To my understanding they refused to take their money because it is less then what they were supposed to get and because they did not want to sign the release form. That’s a bit strange to me because $1100 is a large lump sum to just refuse for such unreasonable reasons seems to me like there is something here more then just money. Now it is there word against their employer’s word. Very unintelligent on the girls’ part. To be quite frank it just doesn’t look like these two girls were let go for no reason there must have been a reason. So they should have taken the money they fought for and walk.
BTW NYU student before writing this comment I had to check out Daydream, I wanted to see what's all the fuss about. To tell you the truth I don’t know how it was when this shining Gwen character was there but I loved it! It is an awesome little shop. The employees are nice and looked pretty happy...the yogurt was amazing and they had some very fancy toppings very unique, loved it!Can’t wait till my next visit!!
I think the place has gone downhill in recent months
when the labor Department does the investigation,them we well see who has the reason,
Katherine,
You are correct to state that, ...it is bit strange (not to accept $1100) since it is a large sum of money and that there is something here more then just money.
The tendency is for people to believe that money can resolve anything and that is the problem it is probably more about principles than money. What the owners did was wrong since: 1) employee is a minor and 2) they did not pay both employees for services rendered.
One should not blame the employees especially when oftentimes employers try to take advantage especially of individuals they deem are weak and do not have the same resources; as is the case with an underage person. Furthermore, if the employee believes that they are owed more than they should not short change themselves further. Hopefully, the employees will go to the Labor Department and report the owners. The Labor Department should investigate and fine the establishment. Also, it is my understanding that there are some outstanding health concerns - has not passed inspection - among other issues at the establishment.
Well to add to all of your comments I also worked there and was promised 15 dollars an hour for managing the shop only to be paid 200 a wk (mostly 50+ hour work weeks)and only after working for weeks on end without pay with the promise of "we'll pay you nxt wk we proooomise" I was asked to step down from my position to let Gwen handle everything in the store which I had no problem.I still continued working there with a much lower pay. We did fill out w-2 form only to find out they were never even submitted. Marshy, Vivi, Greg (chef), Gwen and myself truly believed in the shop and our creations. Eventhough we worked our butts off to open in the winter and pull the shop through, business was slow and regardless of the fact that we weren't getting paid we loved Daydream and Gwen therefore our efforts, hard and dedicated labor never diminished. The owners wanted to pay us cash due to taxes they weren't willing to pay and stated this on more than one occasion. The reason Gwen and the girls left was because the Owners verbally assaulted Vivi and Marshy and PHYSICALLY assaulted Gwen. Even the police were involved and it was very ugly. Gwen is owed more than 13,000.00 that's right 13 THOUSAND dollars for all the work and hours she put in. I am also owed a large amaount of money much larger than Vivi and Marshy and due to all the situations we were put through we decided it be best to go straight to the Board of Labor. The girls are actually owed more than 1100 and the Owners wanted to settle for 8 and 9 hundred to Marshy and Vivi respectively....so you tell me who's wrong and who's right here. Anyone want to know why the girls and Gwen got into a verbal altercation just ask anyone who was there that night!!!!! They yelled @ Gwen and the girls in front of every single customer in the shop!!!! And then they stated no1 would get paid that they didn't need to pay anyone no matter how many hrs they'd worked, that they had no obligations. Yuck such pigs!!! All I have to say is that we all loved and believed in Daydream and the Owners John and Sam Mullokandov and they scarred us!!!!