Catherwood LibraryILR School

Former cook of 13 years Isaac Perez filed a federal lawsuit against the Brooklyn-based Italian restaurant L&B, alleging that the restaurant’s owners have been skirting overtime compensation laws. According to labor law attorney Lou Pechman, who has about a dozen cases pending against Brooklyn restaurants, this is a common occurrence in New York City restaurants. Pechman says that a big part of the problem is that restaurant employees are often unaware of their rights. To help combat this issue, he created a website called waiterpay.com that outlines the legal rights of restaurant workers. Isaac Perez says that despite working up to 75 hours a week, he was consistently paid a flat wage between 2011 and 2016, and the complaint he filed in Brooklyn’s federal court claims that there are around 16 other L&B employees in basically the same situation as Perez. Pechman Law Group specializes in workers rights violations, and although much of their attention has been aimed at Manhattan restaurants, Lou says his firm is taking on an increasing number of cases against Brooklyn employers, where he says the number of violations is growing. Many of the victims are undocumented immigrants, but if the employer doesn’t keep records of hours worked, then the employee is assumed to be trustworthy in the court’s eyes, according to Pechman.