Domino’s owners agree to pay workers $480K in back pay, AG says

The owners of 10 Domino’s Pizza restaurants in New York, including one in Nassau, have agreed to pay their employees $480,000 in back pay to settle a lawsuit claiming hundreds of workers were bilked.

State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced Thursday that his office has reached a settlement with three owners of Domino’s franchises that he accused of violating minimum wage, overtime and other basic labor law protections.

The owners are Shueb Ahmed and Anthony Maestri, with a total of eight locations in New York, Nassau and Westchester counties, Schneiderman said. The other two stores in upstate Montgomery County are owned by Matthew Denman.

Ahmed, who owns a Domino’s on West Merrick Road in Valley Stream, will pay $150,000 in restitution to workers, Matthew Denman will pay $90,000 and Anthony Maestri will pay $240,000, Schneiderman said.

“In the past three years, my office’s investigations have revealed a consistent and outrageous record of disregard for workers’ rights by franchisees and, as we allege, with the full knowledge of Domino’s Pizza,” Schneiderman said in a release.

Martin Silver of Hauppauge, Ahmed’s attorney, said his client decided to settle rather than go to trial.

“Any mistakes in payroll that my client made were totally inadvertent and unintended,” Silver said, adding that both Ahmed and his accountant were confused by regulations governing overtime pay for tipped employees.

Maestri’s attorney, Robin Kallor of Hartford, Connecticut, could not be reached for comment. Denham, who represented himself, and officials at Domino’s corporate offices also could not be reached.

Schneiderman, who filed the lawsuit last May, said the settlement brings to nearly $2 million the amount of money that franchise owners have agreed to pay underpaid workers.