Kitchen Worker Accuses Long Island Restaurant of Abuse, Fraud and Labor Violations

A kitchen worker at Masala Wok & Grill in Seldon, New York alleges that the restaurant forced him to live in an isolated basement room with poor ventilation and with four other restaurant workers as a condition of his employment and failed to pay him minimum wage and overtime pay and other wages required by law. The complaint filed by attorneys for the worker, Rabin Kumar Biswokarma, claims that he was hired in July 2011 and promised a salary of at least $500 a week. The restaurant owners, however, gradually lowered his pay week by week, paying him as little as $100 a week.  When the restaurant did pay Biswokarma, it was for less than the actual amount of hours worked, and eventually the restaurant paid him nothing at all.  At Masala Wok & Grill, Biswokarma chopped meat and vegetables, cooked and cleaned for a minimum of 10 to 12 hours a day often without breaks, and once worked for 21 days straight without any days off.  After going weeks with no pay, Biswokarma finally decided to leave his job at the restaurant in October 2011. The lawsuit alleges violations of both New York State and federal laws including unpaid wages, minimum wage, overtime and spread of hours.