Gotham Pizza failed to pay minimum wage and overtime pay to its workers
NEW YORK – New York Attorney General Letitia James announced today that she has recovered $175,000 for Gotham Pizza employees who were defrauded of their wages. Attorney General James’ investigation found that between 2016 and 2019, Gotham Pizza and its owner Michael Shamailov knowingly and intentionally failed to pay at least 10 employees minimum wage, overtime and tips at its three Manhattan locations. .
“No matter how you slice it, fair pay is not a suggestion – it’s the law,” said Attorney General James. “For years, Gotham Pizza has taken advantage of its hard-working employees by not paying them for their work. I am proud to recover the money that was long owed to them and cheated on them, and I will always fight to ensure that New Yorkers get their fair share of the pie.
Gotham Pizza currently has three locations in New York City: 1443 York Avenue (Upper East Side), 1667 First Avenue (Yorkville), and 144 Ninth Avenue (Chelsea).
The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) investigation found that from 2016 to 2019, at least 10 employees were paid below minimum wage, between $6 and $10 an hour when they should have been paid $11 at $15. Moreover, they were never paid overtime after working more than 40 hours a week and did not receive full tips. Gotham Pizza’s actions violated New York’s minimum wage ordinance and labor laws, which require all employers to pay covered employees the applicable minimum wage and any legally required overtime rates for all hours. worked more than 40 hours in a work week.
The deal requires Gotham Pizza to pay a total of $175,000 to the 10 workers. Gotham Pizza must also provide the OAG with compliance reports containing payroll information for its employees to ensure their cooperation with the law. Additionally, OAG will conduct ad-hoc interviews with Gotham workers to confirm wages are being paid regularly and properly. If Gotham Pizza fails to meet the terms of the agreement or provide workers with required compensation, OAG reserves the right to pursue civil action.
The OAG Office of Labor enforces worker protection laws that protect workers from wage theft and other exploitation and investigates alleged violations of minimum wage, overtime, prevailing wage, and other statewide labor laws. If anyone has questions or believes they have been the victim of wage theft or other labor law violations, please contact OAG at 212-416-8700 or [email protected].
The agreement announced today marks the most recent effort by Attorney General James to crack down on wage theft. Earlier this month, Attorney General James secured nearly $900,000 for more than 200 NYCHA construction workers who were underpaid by Lintech Electric. In March 2022, she announced deals with two home health agencies to cheat employees on their pay and submit bogus Medicaid claims. That same month, she secured a deal with Sanford Apt. Corp (Sanford), a co-op apartment building in Flushing, Queens, which refused to pay its superintendents for their work.
“As a former commissioner of the New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, I have made protecting our city’s workers a priority,” said Julie Menin, Member of the New York City Council. “It is intolerable that Gotham Pizza violated worker protection laws and paid below minimum wage. I commend Attorney General Letitia James for being proactive in prosecuting companies that commit wage theft and the exploitation of their workers.
“While making sure others were eating, these workers had food stolen from their own table,” said New York City Council member Erik Bottcher. “Fortunately for all New Yorkers, we have Attorney General James making sure that the theft of wages and the exploitation of workers do not go unpunished. I am grateful to him and everyone in the Attorney’s Office general, especially the Bureau of Labor, for their incredible work on behalf of our state.
The OAG investigation was led by Detective Steven Pratt of the Major Investigations Unit, under the supervision of Detective Supervisor Michael Leahy, Deputy Chief Mario Rivera and Deputy Chief Antoine Karam. The Investigations Office is headed by Chief Investigator Oliver Pu-Folkes.
This case was handled by Assistant Attorney General Jennifer S. Michael, Legal Assistant Yadira Filpo, Legal Department Document Specialist intern Berenice Peck and former intern James deBoer, under the supervision of the Chief of the Criminal Justice Section of the Labor Office Richard Balletta and Office Manager Karen Cacace. The Office of Labor is part of the Social Justice Division, which is headed by Chief Deputy Attorney General Meghan Faux and overseen by Senior Deputy Attorney General Jennifer Levy.
