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NYC Restaurateurs: Having to Pay Our Workers is Destroying Us

Gawker.com

Let’s take a moment from our busy Sundays to remember the plight of New York City’s fancy restaurant owners, who—because of “draconian state regulations” passed earlier this year—have become increasingly vulnerable to lawsuits filed by employees seeking back pay and tips. Why can’t those workers just enjoy the privilege of working and “being seen” in popular restaurants?

The New York Post reports that greedy and self-serving servers, cooks, and other restaurant employees have been filing an “avalanche” of “vicious lawsuits” since new laws protecting workers and increasing penalties on misbehaving employers went into effect earlier this year. The workers brazenly assert their rights by hiring “money-hungry” laywers who “prey” upon them by advertising in Spanish-language and ethnic newspapers and providing free information on wage and labor laws. (Lawyers should conduct their business in secret!) One such lawyer is Daniel Maimon Kirschenbaum, who has won at least $30 million in settlements on behalf of NYC restaurant employees; to inspire outrage about his success, the Paper of Record mentions that Kirschenbaum takes a 30 percent cut from the cases he wins or settles. This is actually lower than the average contingency fee, but still! If Kirschenbaum really cared about these workers, he would represent them for free.

And if the workers themselves really cared about the economy, or about people other than themselves, they would also work for free. Forcing their bosses to pay them what they’re owed “threatens to cripple” the whole NYC restaurant industry, the Post reports. Restaurateur Joe Bastianich, who has been sued by employees twice, tells the Post that he’s done opening restaurants in the city because he can’t bear the thought of being subjected to any more “frivolous” lawsuits filed by ungrateful workers who earn “70, 80, $100,000 a year” or more. “You’re forced to settle,” he told the Post. “Why go to trial and risk a $5 million settlement if you can settle for a million and a half?”

In exposing this grave injustice-avalanche, which could shutter all of new York’s best restaurants and result in a famine among the city’s elite, the Post doesn’t mention that some of the city’s big-time restaurateurs might have contributed to their own problems. The publicist of Geoffrey Zakarian, a chef who owned the now-closed restaurant Country, says her client filed for bankruptcy earlier this year “because of the ‘enormous costs of defending a class-action lawsuit by former employees.’” However, in April the New York Times reported that one of Zakarian’s business partners had come out in support of the workers, while another accused him of violating labor laws. Both partners settled with the workers.

The Post article also includes no quotes or salary info from workers themselves, because don’t they complain enough? But the Restaurant Opportunities Center of New York, an organization that represents NYC workers, reports that the median salary of NYC restaurant workers is only $20,000. A National Employment Law Project survey of 1,439 restaurant workers called Working Without Laws: A Survey of Employment and Labor Law Violations in New York City reports that “fully 21 percent” of participants reported being paid less than the legal minimum wage, mostly by $1 or more. Seventy-seven percent hadn’t received overtime pay, and 55 percent hadn’t received any documentation of their earnings as required under state law. None of this would matter if the workers were less selfish.

About that last statistic: The Post quotes a lawyer who represents some teary-eyed pizzeria owner in Queens who had to pay employees damages because “he wasn’t keeping proper time records, so he didn’t have a defense.” Easy solution to this problem: keep some damned records. Then you can document how you’ve never taken wages or overtime pay from your employees, and expose them as the heartless, self-serving bastards they truly are.

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35 Comments

  • Outrageous

    Every lawyer justifies their actions while laughing all the way to the bank. This is an unmitigated chillul Hashem. Instead of suing restaurants, why not teach Jews about Judaism?

    What a waste of a mind and talent!

  • It is what it is

    I personally don’t blame Kirschenbaum for profiting over this class action lawsuit. He saw an opportunity to make a ton of cash and he took it; much respect. To portray him as being anything but an upstanding and admirable person by anyone is disgusting. He was able to do this because US laws and regulations allowed him to. Who wouldn’t want to be 9,000,000 Dollars richer. He’s doing what Jews do best – see an opportunity, and cash in.
    This guy is a good Jew/ person etc. and to think otherwise is complete antisemitism.

  • miami beach bum

    If you were a waiter who was not being paid what he or she legitimately earned, you may think that this is a kiddush hashem. if a restaurant owner does not pay the waiter the full amount that he is due, is that a chilul hashem? who decides which side is the chilul hashem side? maybe you should all think a little and grow up.

  • It is what it is

    I personally don’t blame Kirschenbaum for profiting over this class action lawsuit. He saw an opportunity to make a ton of cash and he took it; much respect. To portray him as being anything but an upstanding and admirable person by anyone is disgusting. He was able to do this because US laws and regulations allowed him to. Who wouldn’t want to be 9,000,000 Dollars richer. He’s doing what Jews do best – see an opportunity, and cash in.
    This guy is a good Jew/ person etc. and to think otherwise is complete antisemitism.

  • Me too

    The precious article had such a clear agenda. I wonder how much the post was paid to launch this one aided attack. Funny that they couldn’t dig up any dirt on the lawyers- no dirty business, no cheatin, nothing illegal or unethical. The worst they could say is that he did his job well. Pheh.

  • Wondering

    Simple Question: Was the motive to help the workers? or was the FAT lawyer compensation the motive?

  • full right

    i have no problem with these lawyers cashing in. Just pleaes for the love of everything kosher, stop suggesting that this is noble

  • There is no mind.....only GREED

    To number 1
    Thre is no mind….. Just greed.

    Not to mention the huge chilul hashem this guy makes by putting ads in the spanish newspaper asking illegal alliens to come forth to sue their hard working employers so they I.E. HE, could make huge amounts of cash.

    Why doesntbthis guy help the employees of Levana’s Restaurant (his parents and aunt and uncle’s restaurant) to get ‘their fair share of the profits” ?

    Shame on you !!!!

    Its lawyers like you who keep the reputation of lawyers alive and well

  • dont pay any attention

    I woulddent give this any attention. Why is Lawyer Daniel Maimon Kirschenbaum on this site? bc he is a lubab? i wouldn’t trust t lawyer

  • PZ

    what does Why can’t those workers just enjoy the privilege of working and “being seen” in popular restaurants? mean?

    this is odd.
    anyway, Jews can be very creative and clever, but when restaraunts are soooo fancy, you forgot that the food is kosher and take it for granted. Its like the kosher version of goyim……

  • Milhouse

    #3, what is “legitimately earned”? Why are they entitled to that money? This is pure extortion, and the money they extract is gezel.

  • Yanky

    Contrary to what you naysayers suppose, Mr. Kirschenbaum is a great Jew and an even better American. He didn’t find a “legal loophole” to go after these employers, he is doing exactly what the federal and state government want him to do. He is enforcing the law established by the federal government in the Fair Labor Standards Act and by the State of New York. It isn’t something backhanded, rather in many cases it is affirmatively encouraged by the law which grants an automatic 33% in attorney fees in order to encourage attorneys to take otherwise low value cases.

    Thank you Mr. Kirschenbaum for doing the right thing by protecting hardworking and unprotected employees while making an honest living to support your family and community.

  • CH resident

    I am still not understanding how a lawyer who sues on behalf of waiters who are being cheated out of their wages, by their millionaire bosses no less, is making a chilul hashem. Can anyone explain this? Is it because he’s making a good living while doing so? Is everyone who makes a good living also making a chilul hashem? Seriously not understanding this logic. Or do the rules of logic not apply to ch.info commenters?

  • Avraham Yosef Follick

    To #1, after all, you know what the Torah says about paying workers their wages on time.

  • $$$$$ talks

    COORECTTT : Why doesntbthis guy help the employees of Levana’s Restaurant (his parents and aunt and uncle’s restaurant) to get ‘their fair share of the profits” ? go see if your parents and aunt/uncle did pay their workeers too.so Sir look in your own pot.

  • Dovid

    This is what tort is about. These workers were not paid what they had a contract with the employer to receive. There were monetary damages. In fact this is theft al pi Torah and legally. Kirschenbaum is simply doing what the purpose of civil law is, to get damages. There is no shame in making money doing that. There is shame in making money from breaking contracts from your employees.

  • Anyone think they would know?

    The Manhattan elite are on a different planet just double the menue prices pay the help more and they will never know the difference.

  • Some important facts to consider:

    The folks working at these restaurants had no problem working under these conditions. Case in point: They did for years. Mr. Kirschenbaum discovered a legal loophole to make millions on the backs of honorable people who had been doing nothing illegal. While he does not directly pursue clients with a phone call, he and others advertise in places where they know they will get the business – essentially an end run around otherwise illegal activity.

    This has nothing to do with giving poor people a fair shake. The plaintiffs in these cases do not make a lot on this. I would not be surprised to learn that he “invented this business” based on inside knowledge of how the restaurant business works – given that his family are in that business. Either way it’s shameful and unethical.

    Say what you will about those who defend child killers. As sleazy as they are at least you can say they are serving a legitimate function i.e. providing someone with their constitutionally enshrined right to a defense. But these guys are just shakedown artists with no regard for decent hardworking people and who would rather destroy a business leaving many of those same lower income people whose interests they purport to defend unemployed.

  • DaasTorah

    Kirschenbaum is doing a major kiddush Hashem! He is standing up for the little guy who regularly gets taken advantage of. Baruch Hashem for Kirschenbaum!

  • to #26 Daas Torah???

    The “little guys” are the ones that LOOS their jobs! this guy is like working for judge reed in the rubashkin case!! never trust Kirschenbaum . the mexican workers got a few pennys and lost their job since Kirschenbaum shot down the rest. dont u get in Mr. “Daas Torah”?? its a loop hole that he found in the system. they weren ness treating their workers bad! he can come after ANY rest.

  • Stand tall Maimon!

    Anyone can cry foul about anyone doing any job,
    for example, and I’m not picking on anyone in particular,
    a plumber is “taking advantage” of a person with a broken toilet and fixing for a high price or anyone who manfactures a stupid little item, and then charges 20 dollars for something that cost him 2 dollars to manufacture (I know R&D is high and customs and insurance and marketing as well, are lowering the margin, but still a high enough margin), etc.
    Bottem line is he is doing a job to support his family, and is helping all these minimum wage workers get paid what “they’ve” earned, so they can support their families
    the fact that he is making a decent percentage fighting for “their” rights, shouldn’t bother anyone of you trolls, that’s the going rate in his field, just like a plumber in his field

    Now if he can just negotiate that the employers have a higher minimum wage for waiters and lower tip amount down from 15-18% “after tax” for 5 minutes of service, now that’s a service for the genral public ;)

  • HUH?

    Im a bit confused…mostly by some of these comments, it seems to me that this article is pro the workers, as it seems fair to be, because if you dont treat your workers fairly, you get punished. a+b=c no? The law is there for a reason and it must be upheld, there are people who make sure that it is and they are called lawyers, does anyone seriously think that they should work for free? Do you work for free?

  • Jewish family?

    aside for the surprising amount of wimpy, jealous, and backwash logic that too many of you displayed in you comments, your stigmatized and convoluted “perspectives”, particularly your inept and amateur application of the term “chilul hashem’ truly compounds the pathetic state of this articles readership.
    this is not a problem that is remedied by ”education” after all, a knowledgeable fool is till a fool. but even this a digression and not the crux of the issue.
    how dare you fools criticize a competent and responsible member of our Jewish family!
    sham on all of you!
    your attitudes are a farther symptom of the tenuous and malformed notions you have of what it means to be a Jew.
    this is disgusting.

  • go-ds right hand man

    fact a businesses success is dependent on supply and demand ,,the goverment has already subsidized to many businesses to sink or swim ,,, if a business needs to circumvent laws and regulations for profitability then either the place or the business isn’t good enough

  • CH Resident

    Maimon,

    With all due respect, you have chosen law as a profession and more specifically shaking down businesses. Whether it’s justifiable, I don’t know, because I don’t know the specifics of this case, but how can you assume that you can shake down a small business (we aren’t talking fortune 500 businesses, we are talking restaurants which struggle for survival as most eventually fail) for many millions of dollars and be immune of disdain?

    I don’t think it’s jealousy, because people seem to celebrate Ben Federman’s immense success because he isn’t hurting anybody as his means of earning his not so modest living. Perhaps it’s the epitome of hypocrisy that you take on people struggling to take care of their families by offering a service (i.e. food service industry), and then when people get disgusted by that, you lecture people that they lack the decency to shut up. Do you not realize the thin line you walk, that you can be a savior to an abused class of people, or you can be the sleaziest scumbag shakeartist shaking down people for financial gain? You chose a career that tests your character every day, perhaps sometimes you fail to make appropriate judgement in which case to take and which case to reject?

    I hope you were in good judgement in taking on this case, yet I think instead of knocking people who speculate on your job, perhaps you should demonstrate your case to the media on why your’ pursuing this case was just. You can’t expect to undertake a 30 million dollar lawsuit without people noticing and chattering about the case’s merits or lack thereof. There really is no accountability of ethics of attorneys other than in the media. If that reality escapes you, is it possible you have chosen the wrong profession?

    I do give you the benefit of the doubt so long as you don’t plead the fifth and refuse to address the grievances of the middle class frustrated with the plethora of legal vultures. At this point I assume, hope and pray that you aren’t one of them.

  • Maimon, Ponder This:

    It says in Pirkei Avos among other sources that on rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, when deciding how to judge a Jew and to determine how their year will go, Hashem looks at how that individual judged others.

    If the person was forgiving and understanding of others then G-d will treat the person the same way he treated others. But if, on the other hand, the individual being judged was harsh, litigious, nit-picky, unforgiving, and in general held others completely accountable to the letter of the law, then G-d will judge that person in the same way.

    I truly and sincerely hope that you have your house in order so that when Hashem uses the same litigious, letter-of-the-law judgment tactic on you (midah kineged midah), that all of your T’s are crossed and I’s dotted.

    If so, may you be inscribed for a happy, healthy and successful new year.

    May we all judge others favorably and forgivingly so that G-d will see it and treat us as kindly as we treat others.

  • Outraged reader

    If any of these “Chilul Hashem” comments are coming from Crown Heights, here is my opinion on those who wrote them.

    1. they don’t do a damn thing the whole freaking day but loaf, and rationalize that those who make a living made it by some trafficking and profiteering. By this reasoning, by virtue of them NOT working (although shnorring all day long) they are noble, and by virtue of a lawyer going to work everyday and yes, getting a poor immigrant his wages back is pretending to be virtuous. It all makes sense: Remember: Working is for the exploiters, shnorring is for the spiritual elite: Or else how could we explain that some guys, coming out of a Lexus and dressed to the nines, are glued to the hard workers because after all, THEY make money, while the shnorrers, poor devils, have to shnor for it.

    2. Either they have no idea what an exemplary person Maimon Kirschenbaum is to everyone who deals with him, be it a neighbor, friend, family member etc… or more to the point, they are envious that some guys just got off the streets.

    To all those who wrote those disparaging and disgusting comments: You know who you are: Have the decency NOT to ask him for any favors and not to go to his sumptuous table. Life to short for him to waste it on you, and you don’t deserve it!!! You have just forfeited all his kindnesses! I just hope you have the good sense to realize that!!!