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| Meal Mart item |
An ultra-Orthodox Jewish producer of raw and prepared foods was hit with a class action lawsuit alleging numerous labor law violations, according to court proceedings in New York.
Now, a judge has approved the class action status of the lawsuit, according to a recent ruling in New York.
The lawsuit claims that Alle Processing, the parent company of Meal Mart, violated numerous labor laws including failure to pay minimum wages for all hours worked, and failure to pay overtime compensation at time-and-a-half the regular hourly wage for all hours worked beyond forty each week, according to the lawsuit filed in court.
Several employees also claim that they were told to punch in after they put on their uniform and to punch out before taking off their uniform in order not to dress and undress on company time, according to the lawsuit.
At least four employees, Effrain Irizarry, David Benito, Kenneth Patterson, and Robert Carl Lanza, have submitted declarations claiming that they were not paid their proper wages.
These employees all claimed that they were each told by their supervisors to punch in after they put on their uniform and to punch out before taking off their uniform and that, as a result, they were not paid for the time spent putting on or taking off their uniform, according to the lawsuit. Each plaintiff has submitted time cards which verify their claims, according to the lawsuit.
“It is shameful that the ultra-Orthodox Jewish meat and poultry processing plant treated their workers in such a way. They should immediately pay them at least the minimum wage as required by law,” Michael Warner, 30, of Brooklyn, New York told YourJewishNews.com after learning about the lawsuit.
Sholom Rubashkin, the former owner of a meat and poultry processing plant, in Des Moines, Iowa, is currently in jail after a large illegal immigration raid by the FBI and numerous bank fraud charges was brought against him.