Pickets Broaden Goodfellas Charges

Armed with a megaphone and accompanied by 30 chanting protesters, former waitress Emily Gallagher voiced a message: Cafe Goodfellas doesn’t just stiff Latinos and immigrants. The restaurant also gave her rubber checks.

Gallagher (pictured above) spoke outside the State Street restaurant that’s accused of failing to pay its workers minimum wage or overtime pay. Four former workers have filed complaints with the state Department of Labor, complaining that they are owed $23,000 in unpaid wages.

The mobster-themed restaurant has been the subject of a series of protests by city activists. The latest came on Wednesday afternoon. Gallagher, a former Goodfellas bartender and server, was the keynote protester. She said she worked for the restaurant between 2005 and 2007 and was not paid legally-mandated minimum wages. She said she filed two complaints with the state Department of Labor and still didn’t receive all the money she was owed.

Gennarro Iannoccone, the owner at Cafe Goodfellas, acknowledged that he has had more than the average number of such complaints, but said he has settled them all. He said he offered to pay the four workers seeking $23,000 the amount of money he owes them after taxes, but they refused it.

Wednesday’s protest came one day after the New Haven Workers Association (NHWA) disclosed state Department of Labor records showing that Goodfellas has a record of wage violations.

The demonstration kicked off at 5 p.m. outside the restaurant at 758 State St. Members of the Frontline Souljaz—Stixx, Ace, and JP — held up a graffiti-style banner calling for a boycott of Goodfellas. Maurice ​“Blest” Peters heads up the group, which promotes leadership among New Haven’s young black men.

Some 30 protestors marched up and down outside the restaurant, which had its curtains drawn. They chanted, ​“What do we want? Paychecks! When do we want them? Now!” and ​“Goodfellas! Pay your workers!”

Gallagher, who’s 26, took a break from the picket line to share the details of her time at Goodfellas. During the two years she worked at Goodfellas, she was paid $5 an hour, less than the minimum wage at the time, she said. She worked in excess of 60 hours a week, but her paychecks were always for only 40 hours. She said she made tips on top of her wages, which the owners used to justify the low wages, but that the practice was nevertheless illegal.

During her time at Goodfellas, she complained twice to the Department of Labor and won back pay both times, Gallagher said.

Moments later, Gallagher read a prepared statement through a megaphone to the protesters.

“Many people think that wage theft is an immigrant issue, but at Goodfellas it’s a universal issue,” she said. ​“They’ve done it to people of all ethnicities — bartenders, waitstaff, busers, cooks, dishwashers, everyone!”

“Enough is enough,” she said. ​“Wage theft is robbing our city of good jobs. Wage theft is forcing good business owners to compete with bad business owners, and that’s not fair.”

“We’re not going to allow a precedent to be set,” Peters (pictured) said later. He took up the theme of wage theft as a problem that affects more than just immigrants. It affects a lot of people from ​“the inner city” who take low-wage entry-level jobs, Peters said. He said Frontline Souljaz has joined the protest against Goodfellas to teach the young people in the group to fight for their rights and not accept illegal wages.

John Lugo, one of the protest’s organizers, said the picketers will be back every Friday (except this week), ​“until we get justice for workers.”

Inside the curtained restaurant, Iannaccone acknowledged the restaurant’s failure to pay some wages in the past. It was a mistake by the payroll company and it was all taken care of, he said.

As for Gallagher, ​“I don’t know what happened with her,” Iannaccone said. ​“I can’t remember.”

Iannaccone said he’s not worried about the protests hurting his business. ​“Look in my dining room. Does it look like we’re in trouble?” The restaurant was indeed busy, despite the picketers.

Iannaccone said the four workers claiming $23,000 did fill out W‑2 forms, contrary to claims by the protesters. ​“Why wouldn’t they pick up the checks?”

Iannaccone made several accusations of his own. He said the NHWA is a shadowy organization with no clear leader and that it is profiting off the money it wins for workers, to the tune of 10 percent. He declined to say how he allegedly knew that. He also asked why the four workers don’t show up to the protests, and why they are trying to remain anonymous.

The workers are legitimately afraid of being blacklisted by other restaurants, said Megan Fountain, a member of NHWA. She said the organization formed about two years ago and comprises volunteers only; no one is making any money.

Fountain said NHWA has given up negotiating with Iannaccone. ​“He’s had a lot of opportunities to simply pay the workers. He’s really shooting himself in the foot. I feel bad for the guy.”

History Of Stiffing Workers

As the state probes complaints against Cafe Goodfellas for $23,000 in unpaid wages, records show the restaurant has been guilty of five similar violations in the last three years, costing the business over $10,000 in back payments and fines.

“Something’s obviously going on down there,” said Gary Pechie, director of wage and workplace standards for the Connecticut Department of Labor, on Tuesday.

Pechie’s department is currently investigating complaints from four former Goodfellas workers who claim they are owed $23,000 in wages they accrued while washing dishes and prepping meals in the kitchen.

Iannaccone declined to comment on the record of complaints. He said he tried to settle the most recent charges, but that the four workers refused to take his money.

Fountain said they refused because Iannaccone offered far less than what he owed.

While the U.S. Department of Labor has decided that Iannaccone’s offer was satisfactory, the state continues to probe the matter.

Through the Freedom of Information Act, Fountain secured documents showing that the state found Goodfellas guilty of withholding wages five times over the past three years. Pechie said Goodfellas has seen more than the average share of such violations.

An Offer They Could Refuse

The four workers who are part of the most recent complaints have chosen to remain anonymous. They were being paid $6.25 an hour while working 70 hours a week washing dishes and doing kitchen prep work for between three and eight months at Goodfellas, Fountain said. When they left their jobs in early 2010, Iannaccone refused to give them their final paychecks, according to Fountain. She offered a spreadsheet with a break down of the wages owed to them.

After enlisting the help of the New Haven Workers Association, the four workers are now seeking not just their final paychecks but thousands of dollars in back pay for allegedly being paid less than the minimum wage of $8.25 and for not being paid extra for overtime.

The four workers’ complaints are being investigated by the state Department of Labor, Pechie said.

In an interview Tuesday, Iannaccone said he did his best to rectify the mistake.

Iannaccone said he was paying the workers a salary, not an hourly wage. As it turned out, they worked a lot of hours, which reduced their effective hourly wage to below the minimum. He said he has paid what the U.S. Department of Labor told him he owed, but the workers rejected the checks.

“In accordance with the U.S. government, I presented checks in the amount owed to each worker minus taxes,” he wrote in a statement. ​“I complied with all U.S. obligations and laws regarding this issue.”

Fountain said she and the four workers met with Iannaccone three times in March to negotiate a deal. The workers agreed to accept $19,600, less than they are owed, Fountain said.

“We shook hands on a deal and then he ruined that deal,” Fountain said. ​“He brought checks that were for a ridiculous amount.”

When it came time to hand over the checks, Iannaccone brought payments that totaled less than $5,000, Fountain said. She acknowledged that Iannaccone has a right to withhold taxes, but not such a high percentage.

Iannacconne confirmed that he had agreed to pay $19,600. When his payroll staff processed the payment and took out the all the taxes owed, he ended up offering checks that totaled around $5,000, he said. That was the result of an equation that calculated their pay based on a salary, not an hourly wage, Iannaccone said.

“We didn’t know better. We’re sorry. We made a mistake,” Iannaccone said.

Iannaccone then worked with the U.S. Department of Labor to compute a payment. He said he was told he should pay the workers an amount between $10,000 and $12,000. He forked over the payment to the U.S. Department of Labor, he said.

“I did my part. I paid it,” Iannaccone said.

Fountain, however, said the workers rejected the money, saying it was less than they are owed. Iannaccone’s checks to the department totaled $10,709, she said.

A U.S. Department of Labor spokesperson John Chavez said the department did do an investigation and did secure payment from Goodfellas, but he would not confirm a specific figure. He said the department is still attempting to disburse the wages to the workers.

“Back-And-Forth Stuff”

While the U.S. Department of Labor has concluded its investigation, the state Department of Labor is still probing the matter. Pechie said he doesn’t know when the investigation might conclude.

In the meantime, Fountain and others plan to continue protesting against Goodfellas and Iannoccone.

“He has no fear of continuing to violate the law,” Fountain said. ​“That’s really why we’re mobilizing a boycott against the restaurant.”

Fountain’s records request to the state Department of Labor sought information on wage violations from years past.

The department only keeps records going back five years. Records show that in that time, the department forced Goodfellas to pay $9,527.51 in unpaid wages. See the records here.

Goodfellas has had more than the typical number of complaints, Pechie said. ​“We don’t see this many repeat complaints.”

On Feb. 1, 2008, Goodfellas paid $5,353.99 to six bartenders who were paid less than the minimum wage.

The state Department of Labor also slapped the restaurant with $9,300 in fines from an audit associated with the findings. The total fines were later negotiated down to $1,200, said Pechie.

On Aug. 8, 2008, Goodfellas paid $786.22 to a bartender who was not paid the minimum wage and not given a final paycheck.

On May 28 and Sept. 14, 2009 and May 37, 2010, Goodfellas paid $402.72, $1,769.18, and $1,215.40 to three workers who hadn’t received final paychecks.

All told, Goodfellas paid $9,527.51 in previously unpaid wages since 2008.

Asked about the complaints, Iannaccone said, ​“I can’t comment on those specifically. There was just back-and-forth stuff. People didn’t pick up their checks.”

“New Haven is a big city. People come in and out,” Iannaccone said. He attributed the complaints to ​“miscommunication, stuff like that.”