Montauk, Long Island 7-Eleven Settles Wage Theft Lawsuit for $199,500

A manager at the highest grossing 7-Eleven store in the United States won $199,500 in a wage theft lawsuit against 7-Eleven. Muhammad Anwar, the manager at the 7-Eleven in Montauk, New York, alleged 7-Eleven cheated him out of minimum wages, overtime pay, and spread-of-hours pay.   Anwar alleged that 7-Eleven steadily increased his hours and required him to work seven days a week for 18 months straight. Although the start and end time for Anwar’s shifts varied on a week-by-week basis, he claimed that throughout those 18 months, he always worked at least 80 hours per week without an uninterrupted break each day. 7-Eleven adjusted Anwar’s hours worked at the end of each week, paying him for far fewer hours than he actually worked. In one example of time shaving, Anwar claimed that 7-Eleven paid him for six hours’ worth of work, despite working 80 hours during that week.   In late June of 2013, the  FBI raided fourteen 7-Elevens across Long Island and Virginia for requiring their employees to work more than 100 hours per week and only paying them for a fraction of that time.  Anwar claims that after these raids, the Montauk 7-Eleven reduced his hourly wages from $25.00 to $16.00, started paying him overtime, and substantially reduced his weekly hours.   7-Eleven has been hit with several wage theft lawsuits recently, alleging that their stores fail to pay workers overtime pay.