Wage Theft in SoHo: March of Hearts for Living Wages Targets Wage-Stealing Retailers
NEW YORK, NY – Today, community groups, labor leaders and elected officials joined retail workers in a march against stolen wages and unpaid overtime. The March of Hearts, organized by the Retail Action Project (RAP), calls on two retail chains in SoHo—Shoe Mania and Mystique—to pay its workers millions of dollars in back-wages. The current and former employees at these stores say that legal restitution is just one step in a battle for workers’ rights and economic justice in New York City.
“For decades the retail sector has been a free-fire zone of worker abuse. With this march we’re putting every merchant on notice that New Yorkers have zero tolerance for employer lawlessness and that retail workers deserve a living wage,” said Stuart Appelbaum, President of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU).
Many retailers routinely break the law by denying their employees minimum wage and overtime pay. At Shoe Mania, employees are suing the company for more than $3 million in unpaid wages, while former workers from Mystique Boutique and its sister stores Amsterdam, Madness and Exstaza, are demanding the company pay them approximately $2 million in back wages.
“Those who violate wage and hour laws are not welcome in our community,” said Damaris Reyes, Executive Director of Good Old Lower East Side (GOLES). “We are committed to ending wage exploitation and wage theft and will do everything in our power to make sure that our neighbors receive a living wage.”
At Mystique, many workers reported they were putting in excessive overtime without receiving the time-and-a-half pay they have earned. Additionally, they claim that they had worked for as little as $5.15 per hour, $2.10 less than the federal and state minimum wage. Workers also report that the owners of Mystique fired 30 workers after they attempted to win back their stolen wages. At Shoe Mania, workers have also been subject to illegally low pay and unpaid overtime.
“For over three years, I worked at Shoe Mania 11 hours a day, six days a week. That’s over 65 hours every week! But I was never paid overtime. Whenever I got my paycheck, it would only show that I worked 40 hours per week,” said Ahmed Dalhatu, former stock worker at the recently-closed 11 West 34th Street Shoe Mania store. Shoe Mania workers also report being forced to work long hours in dirty and dimly-lit basements without sufficient break time.
“With families struggling to make ends meet, it’s simply disgraceful that these two businesses won’t fairly compensate their employees,” said Manhattan Borough President Scott M. Stringer in a statement in support of the marchers’ demands. “Mystique Boutique and Shoe Mania need to do right by their hard-working employees and pay back wages.”
Shoe Mania and Mystique employees are not alone in experiencing the brunt of these violations. According to the National Employment Law Project (NELP)’s recent report, “Working Without Laws: A Survey of Employment and Labor Law Violations in New York City,” 21 percent of low-wage workers in New York City are paid less than the minimum wage. More than one-third of workers reported that they are forced to work overtime, and in 77 percent of these cases they were not paid the legally required overtime rate by their employer. Additionally, 29 percent of the workers surveyed are subject to “off-the-clock violations,” whereby companies will ask workers to show up early or stay late, without being paid for that part of their working time. In real numbers, NELP estimates that in any given week, more than 300,000 low wage workers in New York City are victim of at least one pay based violation and, as a result, workers lose more than $18.4 million per week in earned wages.
Wage and hour violations rest at the heart of the problem that retail workers must face on a daily basis, and in New York City, more low-wage workers are employed in retail than in any other single sector of the economy. Within the retail sector, 44 percent of workers earn less than $10 an hour, which does not cover basic living expenses such as shelter, food and health care.
“The only time my pay went up was when the minimum wage increased. For the nearly three years I worked at Shoe Mania, I never once got a single raise,” said John Montaño, former sales worker at the 853 Broadway Shoe Mania store. “If Shoe Mania were required to pay us a living wage, we would have enough to provide for ourselves and our families,” he added.
“We firmly believe in the importance of a living wage for all workers. The kinds of abuses that have been exposed need to be eliminated and we stand in solidarity with working people,” said New York State Assembly member Deborah Glick.
With growing support from labor unions, community groups, elected officials and hundreds of retail workers throughout New York City, RAP members and supporters are demanding that employers be held accountable when they violate wage and hour labor laws. In addition, RAP is fighting for a living wage for New York’s retail workers.
About Mystique
Workers at Mystique Boutique are currently organizing to recover back wages from their employer. The workers allege that in at least the past six years, Mystique Boutique and its sister stores Amsterdam, Madness and Exstaza have violated state and federal minimum wage and overtime laws and retaliated against workers for asserting their rights. Workers at these stores originally came to RAP for help with organizing and to win back wages. Mystique may owe as much as $2 million for minimum wage and overtime violations. Many security and stock workers reported putting in 66-hour work weeks without overtime pay and working for as little as $5.15 per hour, $2.10 below the legal minimum wage. In other cases, particularly amongst sales staff, workers reported that they received hourly pay without being paid overtime for hours worked in excess of 40 hours. Workers also reported that the owners of Mystique terminated more than 30 workers who were suspected of having been involved in the organizing effort.
Mystique Boutique is a SoHo-based clothing retail chain with seven Manhattan locations currently employing approximately 90 sales, stock, cashier, and security workers. Their retail locations are as follows: Madness (#2), 305 Canal Street; Amsterdam Boutique, 365 Canal Street; Mystique, 412 Broadway; Amsterdam, 454 Broadway; Exstaza, 491 Broadway; Mystique 547 Broadway; Mystique, 324 5th Avenue.
About Shoe Mania
RAP is assisting nearly 150 current and former Shoe Mania employees who have filed a collective-action lawsuit against the company seeking approximately $3 million in damages for violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act and New York State labor laws. The claims have a statute of limitations going back six years (three years under federal law and six years under state law).
The alleged violations include, but are not limited to:
- Non-payment of the time-and-a-half overtime premium for weekly hours worked in excess of 40.
- State and Federal minimum-wage violations for commission-based workers in the Sales Dept.
- Fines levied against workers for company policy violations, such as tardiness, lost inventory, or use of cell phones at work.
- Off-the-clock work performed by workers at the beginning and end of scheduled shifts.
Shoe Mania is an NYC-based shoe retail chain with four Manhattan locations currently employing approximately 100 non-clerical sales, stock, cashier, and security workers. Their retail locations are as follows: 853 Broadway; 331 Madison Avenue; 30 East 14th Street; 654 Broadway.
About RAP
The Retail Action Project (RAP) is dedicated to building worker and community power to challenge injustices in the retail industry and ensure that retailers provide stable jobs with living wages, benefits and respect. RAP is a community-labor partnership of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU/UFCW) and Good Old Lower East Side (GOLES). For more information, visit http://www.retailactionproject.org and http://www.rwdsu.org.