LI gas station chain settles fed charges

A Riverhead-based gas station chain has agreed to pay more than $583,000 to settle federal charges that it failed to pay 35 current and former workers minimum wage and overtime, the company's second such settlement in eight years, the U.S. Labor Department announced Tuesday.

The agreement settled a lawsuit the department filed last month against Empire Gas and its owners, Ali Yuzbasioglu and Sukru Ilgin, charging that they had breached the terms of a 2004 settlement prohibiting them from violating labor laws.

In the earlier case, the chain, which has 14 locations, paid more than $943,000 in back wages to 70 former and current employees to settle charges of minimum-wage and overtime violations, and agreed to comply with federal labor laws. But a second investigation found new, alleged violations between January 2008 and January 2011; the department again filed suit, charging contempt.

The department said the company failed to pay workers overtime even though they often worked between 84 and 114 hours a week, dropping their wages below the $7.25-an-hour federal minimum. Federal labor law requires most workers to be paid at least one and one-half times their regular hourly wage when they work more than 40 hours a week. The department said the company also paid some employees off the books and failed to keep accurate records of employees' wages and hours worked.

"We are seeking to change employers' behaviors to reduce noncompliance and to ensure fairness for workers and those employers who obey the law," said Irv Miljoner, who heads the department's Long Island office which is located in Westbury and conducted the investigation.

Garden City attorney Kevin J. Keating, who represented the defendants, said, "The terms of this agreement resulted from protracted negotiations with the Department of Labor, and ultimately we concluded that entering into the agreement was the prudent course."

The company has agreed to pay $544,900 in back wages and interest to employees and $39,077 in civil penalties. Former employees who believe they are covered by the settlement should call the Labor Department at 516-338-1890.