Flaum Appetizing, a kosher food distributor in Brooklyn, settled with 16 immigrant workers who claimed that the company did not pay them for overtime work.
The $577,000 settlement May 7 came after 18 months of activism by the Orthodox social justice group Uri L’Tzedek and Focus on the Food Chain, a coalition that advocates for food workers’ rights.
The settlement resolves a federal lawsuit against Flaum and a National Labor Relations Board complaint.
In a dispute that began in 2007, Gross said the workers demanded to be paid time-and-a-half for overtime work, as called for by federal and state law, but Flaum management refused and fired the workers.
Grunhut said he did not fire the workers, most of whom were Mexican immigrants. Rather, he said, they were demanding back pay after leaving voluntarily.
The workers sued Flaum in Manhattan federal court and made a complaint before the NLRB, which decided in their favor. But Grunhut did not comply with the decision, claiming that the workers were undocumented immigrants. — jta