Former owner of Nick's Pizza agrees to $375G settlement in wage theft case

The former owner of a popular Rockville Centre Italian restaurant has agreed to pay $375,000 in back pay to eight former kitchen workers to settle a decades-old wage theft case, the State Labor Department announced Monday.

The settlement amounts to less than half the $730,000 in back pay, interest, damages and penalties owed by Nicholas Angelis and his former shop, Sunrise Pizza, also known as Nick's Pizza, records show.

The department said it's recovered $200,000 from Angelis, which will be distributed immediately to the eight former employees — most of whom are immigrants lacking permanent legal status from Mexico, El Salvador and Honduras — while an additional $175,000 will be paid over the next 18 months.

“In New York State, we believe that every worker deserves fair pay for a fair day’s work,” said Roberta Reardon, commissioner of the State Labor Department, which has issued several orders, judgments and collection letters to Angelis in recent years, all of which were ignored.

Department officials said it was only after notices were sent to banks working with Angelis in March that the restaurateur began engaging in settlement discussions. A final agreement was reached April 10.

Angelis did not respond to requests for comment, while records show he no longer owns the restaurant, which is located on Sunrise Highway.

Julio Contreras of Freeport, who worked in the kitchen at the restaurant from 2001 through 2017, said he's looking forward to receiving his portion of the settlement.

"After 20 years I had considered that money lost," Contreras, who now works in construction, said through a translator. "This is our reality now and I believe this is real."

The Labor Department first ordered Angelis in 2011 to pay the employees, who claim they worked up to 75 hours a week at wages below minimum wage, a combined $657,456 for work performed between 2003-2009, according to court records obtained by Newsday. That amount includes $283,551 in back pay, $90,354 in interest and $283,551 in penalties.

In April 2015, Angelis was ordered to pay an additional $73,068, according to a State Supreme Court decision. That figure includes $25,590 in wages, all to a former dishwasher for work between December 2010 and July 2011; $15,491 in interest; $6,397 in liquidated damages and $25,590 in penalties, records show.

In July 2021, a Nassau Supreme Court justice ruled that Angelis had defaulted on his required payments and allowed the Labor Department to retrieve the money from the restaurateur. 

The $375,000 settlement appears to forgive the penalties, damages and at least some of the interest payments.

Many of the former workers held a rally outside the restaurant on Monday, which is International Workers’ Day, to announce the settlement. 

Miguel Alas Sevillano of the Hempstead-based Workplace Project, an immigrant workers’ rights group that has advocated for the employees, said justice was finally served.

"We are satisfied that after almost 20 years in some cases, they can get the money that was taken from them," said Alas Sevillano.

By Robert Brodsky

robert.brodsky@newsday.com@BrodskyRobert

Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.