Copiague eatery settles pay suit for $800G

A Copiague pizzeria has agreed to pay $800,000 to settle a U.S. Labor Department lawsuit claiming that the restaurant willfully failed to pay 40 current and former employees minimum wage and overtime, the department said Thursday.

The settlement with Martino's Pizzeria Inc., also known as Mama's Pizzeria and Restaurant, is one of the department's largest on Long Island, it said. It also names owners Gaetano and Grace Pinello.

In a settlement, a company neither denies nor admits guilt. Gaetano Pinello declined to comment when reached by telephone Thursday.

The restaurant has agreed to pay $390,000 in back wages to the employees as well as $390,000 in damages to the workers. It will also pay $20,000 in civil penalties. The agreement covers violations that took place between May 2006 and May 2009, according to court documents.

An investigation by the Labor Department's Westbury office found that the restaurant's workers often worked 70 to 80 hours a week without earning overtime. That, in effect, pushed their hourly wages below federal minimum-wage rates, which during the period of the alleged violations spanned from $5.15 an hour to $6.55 an hour. The federal and New York State minimum wage is $7.25 an hour.

The department filed suit in U.S. District Court, Eastern District, in August 2009. As a result of that case and other local ones, the Westbury office began taking a closer look at pizza/pasta restaurants in October.

"The proliferation of violations in these types of restaurants prompted the pursuit of an initiative," said Irv Miljoner, who heads the Westbury office.

Federal labor law requires employers to pay most employees at least the federal minimum wage and at least 11/2 times their regular hourly pay rate for every hour over 40 they work in a week.

The Labor Department is asking other former workers who believe they might be covered by the settlement to call 516-338-1890.