99-cent store worker says he was underpaid, disrespected

Workers at a local 99-cent store are demanding justice after they say they were underpaid and disrespected by their employer. Court documents allege numerous workers at 10 different store locations

News 12 Staff

Mar 11, 2015, 3:13 AM

Updated 3,522 days ago

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Workers at a local 99-cent store are demanding justice after they say they were underpaid and disrespected by their employer.
Court documents allege numerous workers at 10 different store locations were paid flat salaries, below minimum wage and had to work six or seven days a week.
Bronx-native Carlos Laguya is the lead plaintiff in what his attorney, Adam Slater, calls "the most egregious case he's ever seen." Slater says that Laguya was paid less than $5 an hour.
Laguya says he worked at the 99-cent store on Willis Avenue having to unload heavy palettes of merchandise for hours on end, with only a 20-minute lunch break. He says that if workers questioned store management, they would be sent home without pay or turned over to the authorities, since many of them are undocumented immigrants.
Slater says that the suit now stands at $2 million, but it could grow if more workers lend their names to the complaint.
News 12 contacted the manager of the store, but an employee who answered said they couldn't comment on the allegations.