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(Boston, Mass., May 8, 2008) - C-Mart Supermarket, a Chinese grocery store with two locations in Chinatown, reached a $67,000 financial agreement with the state's Attorney General, to settle for allegations that it failed to pay C-Mart employees the minimum wage of $8 per hour, overtime, Sunday and holiday pay.

The state Office of Attorney General Martha Coakley announced the agreement today in a press release.

Under the settlement, C-Mart Supermarket and its president, Miao Kun Fang, of Weston, Mass., must pay $60,692.34 in restitution to more than 80 former and current employees, in addition to $6,000 in fines, for violations of the state's wage and hour laws.

Moreover, C-Mart must educate its managers, supervisors and its employees about the wage and hour laws, and pay its employees on either a weekly or biweekly basis.

C-Mart is one of the most successful grocery stores in Chinatown, Boston. Annual sales revenues for either of the two stores in Chinatown were not available today.

However, according to a Boston Globe article on Nov. 14, 2004 [2], the year that the two stores opened, Fang told Globe reporter Kimberly Moy that the stores pull in close to $10 million in sales per month.

C-Mart's 692 Washington St. store, in a prime location for foot traffic, is frequently crowded every day of the week.

The second store, at 109 Lincoln Street and which has less-congested access to parking, is also popular among Asian grocery shoppers.

The Office of the Attorney General began its investigation of C-Mart in October 2007, after receiving a complaint from a former employee who claimed she did not receive her final paycheck or any overtime pay.

Investigators requested that C-Mart show payroll records for all its employees at the two stores, for the period between December 2005 and November 2007.

An audit of the payroll records revealed that C-Mart had failed to pay many employees the minimum wage as well as wages for overtime, Sunday and holiday pay.

The case was settled by Assistant Attorney General Joanne Goldstein, chief of the Attorney General's Fair Labor Division, with assistance from Assistant Attorney General Lillian Hirales and Inspector James Kelley, both in the same division.

"Our office is committed to ensuring that all workers in the Commonwealth receive the full amount of wages they are owed," Attorney General Martha Coakley said in a press statement. "This includes not only the minimum wage, but any premium pay workers are owed for the long hours they often work, day in and day out."

All employers in Massachusetts must pay employees the minimum wage of $8 per hour.

In addition, employers must pay employees time-and-a-half for hours worked that exceed 40 per week.

Retail stores in Massachusetts that employ more than seven workers must also pay employees time-and-a-half for work on Sundays and on certain holidays.

The Fair Labor Division of the Office of the Attorney General in Massachusetts is responsible for enforcing the state's wage laws, including the payment of wages.

Workers who feel that their employers are violating wage laws are urged to call the Office's Fair Labor hotline at 617-727-3465.

To see Massachusetts Wage and Hour Laws, including for child labor, go to mass.gov/Cago/docs/Workplace/Employment_MinWage2007.pdf [3].

Leyes respecto a los salarios y horarios de Massachusetts [4](Massachusetts Wage and Hour Laws, Spanish)

source: EthnicNewz.org

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