NEW YORK - Attorney General Andrew Cuomo Wednesday announced a million-dollar settlement with the owners and former owners of two Brooklyn-based supermarkets for underpayment of their workers and other violations of New York State labor laws.

The supermarkets are Associated Supermarket at 229 Knickerbocker Avenue, and Pioneer Supermarket at 1115 Pennsylvania Avenue (formerly a C-Town supermarket) both in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn.  The supermarket owners will pay restitution to over 50 of their employees totaling $1.125 million.

In a separate criminal action brought by the attorney general, two owners of Associated Supermarket, Bienvenido Nunez and Martin Duran, have pled guilty to Failure to Pay Wages and Failure to Maintain Payroll Records, both misdemeanors under state law.  

The AG’s office filed a lawsuit against the Associated supermarket last October, after their investigation found that employees at the store were not paid proper wages. A further investigation into the Pioneer/C-Town supermarket revealed the same kind of illegal activity. At both Associated and Pioneer, baggers had been paid no wages at all and had to rely solely on tips for income.  In addition, delivery workers at the supermarkets often worked 70-hour weeks but were not paid minimum wage nor were they compensated for overtime.  Many other supermarket employees also had worked in excess of 40 hours per week, but were not paid overtime wages. 

Under the terms of the settlement, the owners and former owners of the supermarkets will pay restitution to over 50 employees for unpaid wages and owed overtime, as well as penalties to the State of New York.

The current owners of Associated and Pioneer have also agreed to comprehensive monitoring by the Attorney General’s Office, including submitting payroll and time records to the Attorney General’s Office on the first of each month for five years to ensure compliance.