Yesterday in New York, the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund filed a complaint on behalf of a Nepali immigrant worker who was subjected to abuse, fraud, and labor violations at the hands of his former employer, Masala Wok & Grill in Long Island: Nepali Worker Announces Lawsuit Against NY Restaurant for Fraud and Severe Labor Abuse.Rabin Kumar Biswokarma filed the complaint in New York Supreme Court, Suffolk County against the restaurant's owners, Shivaji Pathak and "Tony Malik," alleging violations of both New York state and federal laws, including unpaid wages, minimum wage, overtime, and spread of hours. Here's an excerpt from AALDEF's press release:
Biswokarma, who now lives in New York City, was hired as a kitchen assistant at Masala Wok & Grill in July of 2011. He was required to live in isolated group housing with his co-workers, which included a basement space with extremely poor conditions that endangered his health. He chopped meat and vegetables, cooked, and cleaned for a minimum of 10 to 12 hours a day often without breaks, once for 21 days straight. Pathak and Malik even denied him leave to seek medical attention after he injured his hand with a kitchen knife.Unfortunately, this is a fairly common occurrence. The part about the exploited worker, I mean. The part about standing up and speaking out against unfair labor practices, far less common. More here: Nepali Worker Announces Lawsuit Against NY Restaurant for Fraud and Severe Labor Abuse.
Though Biswokarma had been promised a salary of at least $500 a week, Pathak and Malik gradually lowered his pay week by week, paying him as little as $100 a week and eventually paid him nothing at all. Because Masala Wok & Grill is located in Selden, a Suffolk County town located hours from New York City, Pathak and Malik essentially forced Biswokarma to choose between homelessness or working indefinitely for little or no pay.
