Investigation recovers $178K for 8 employees from New York gas station, convenience store, Subway franchise operator

ALBANY, NY – A federal investigation has recovered $178,372 in back wages and damages for eight workers employed by the owner and operator of a gas station, convenience store and Subway franchise in New York who denied them their legally earned minimum and overtime wages.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found Shreeji 121 Inc., doing business as Down Town Mini Mart and Subway, and owners Dipakkumar Kapadia and Archanaben Kapadia, failed to pay seven employees their regular rates of pay for hours over 40 in a workweek. The employers also failed to keep records of hours worked and employee pay.

Shreeji 121 Inc. also operates Archdeep 2 LLC doing business as Subway in Newburgh, One Flight Up Lounge Inc. doing business as Deep International in Beacon and A&A Bensenville Mart LLC doing business as Bensenville Gulf in Bensenville, Illinois.

The division also learned the employer failed to pay minimum wage and overtime to one employee in Illinois.

The division recovered $89,186 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages for the affected workers to resolve the employer’s violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act’s minimum wage and overtime provisions. The department assessed $5,320 in civil money penalties for the willful nature of the violations.

“The U.S. Department of Labor is committed to safeguarding the rights of workers and making sure they receive all of their rightfully earned wages,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Jay Rosenblum in Albany, New York. “The Wage and Hour Division encourages workers and employers to contact us for help understanding their rights and responsibilities under the law.”

The FLSA requires that most employees in the U.S. be paid at least the federal minimum wage for all hours worked and overtime pay at not less than time and one-half the required rate of pay for all hours worked over 40 in a workweek.

Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, including a search tool to use if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the division. Employers and workers can call the division confidentially with questions, regardless of where they are from. The department can speak with callers in more than 200 languages through the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Download the agency’s new Timesheet App for iOS and Android devices in English or Spanish to ensure hours and pay are accurate.