NEW YORK —The Restaurant Opportunity Center of New York, or ROC-NY, a restaurant-employee advocacy group that has picketed several prominent Manhattan fine-dining operations claiming management abuses, is being sued by eight ex-members who say they have been cheated.
The eight plaintiffs claimed in a lawsuit filed last month that they were swindled out of ownership in Colors, a white-tablecloth restaurant formed under ROCNY’s auspices as a workplace for former staffers of Windows on the World. —The Restaurant Opportunity Center of New York, or ROC-NY, a restaurant-employee advocacy group that has picketed several prominent Manhattan fine-dining operations claiming management abuses, is being sued by eight ex-members who say they have been cheated.
Windows was located atop the North Tower of the city’s World Trade Center and was destroyed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Colors was launched to provide a place where employees displaced by the attacks could work, according to ROC-NY. It was envisioned as a cooperative, with the staffers owning and operating the restaurant, which is located in Greenwich Village here. —The Restaurant Opportunity Center of New York, or ROC-NY, a restaurant-employee advocacy group that has picketed several prominent Manhattan fine-dining operations claiming management abuses, is being sued by eight ex-members who say they have been cheated.
The plaintiffs, all of whom claim to have been ROC-NY members, said they were ousted from the restaurant’s organizing committee after they objected to the small size of the ownership percentage planned for the owner-workers. They also claim that they were among the three dozen staffers who had to contribute hundreds of hours of uncompensated labor for the restaurant and ROC-NY—which some have likened to a union. —The Restaurant Opportunity Center of New York, or ROC-NY, a restaurant-employee advocacy group that has picketed several prominent Manhattan fine-dining operations claiming management abuses, is being sued by eight ex-members who say they have been cheated.
Colors was the brainchild of ROC-NY—established as a 501c3 not-for-profit organization—and an investor group called Good Italian Food, which currently co-own the 120-seat Colors. The business plan called for spinning off a 20-percent stake in the restaurant to employees once the place was profitable, with 10 percent contributed by ROC-NY and a same percentage coming from Good Italian. —The Restaurant Opportunity Center of New York, or ROC-NY, a restaurant-employee advocacy group that has picketed several prominent Manhattan fine-dining operations claiming management abuses, is being sued by eight ex-members who say they have been cheated.
Only a handful of restaurants in the United States are operated as co-ops, including René Pujol in New York, Moosewood Restaurant in Ithaca, N.Y., and the Forge in the Forest in Carmel, Calif. —The Restaurant Opportunity Center of New York, or ROC-NY, a restaurant-employee advocacy group that has picketed several prominent Manhattan fine-dining operations claiming management abuses, is being sued by eight ex-members who say they have been cheated.
The eight former ROC-NY members—four of whom worked at Windows and four who worked in other restaurants in the Wall Street area—filed suit against the organization, seeking unspecified damages, reinstatement of jobs at Colors, back pay and a stake in the restaurant. —The Restaurant Opportunity Center of New York, or ROC-NY, a restaurant-employee advocacy group that has picketed several prominent Manhattan fine-dining operations claiming management abuses, is being sued by eight ex-members who say they have been cheated.
Saru Jayaraman, co-director of ROC-NY, said the eight plaintiffs never worked at Colors and that the lawsuit was without merit. —The Restaurant Opportunity Center of New York, or ROC-NY, a restaurant-employee advocacy group that has picketed several prominent Manhattan fine-dining operations claiming management abuses, is being sued by eight ex-members who say they have been cheated.
“They’re not from Colors and never were a part of Colors,” Jayaraman said. —The Restaurant Opportunity Center of New York, or ROC-NY, a restaurant-employee advocacy group that has picketed several prominent Manhattan fine-dining operations claiming management abuses, is being sued by eight ex-members who say they have been cheated.
She acknowledged that the plaintiffs were part of ROC-NY, but asserts that they left the organization in the spring of 2005 “of their own accord.” Colors opened in January 2006. —The Restaurant Opportunity Center of New York, or ROC-NY, a restaurant-employee advocacy group that has picketed several prominent Manhattan fine-dining operations claiming management abuses, is being sued by eight ex-members who say they have been cheated.
Meanwhile, Colors has yet to break even and may not generate a profit for years, Jayaraman said. —The Restaurant Opportunity Center of New York, or ROC-NY, a restaurant-employee advocacy group that has picketed several prominent Manhattan fine-dining operations claiming management abuses, is being sued by eight ex-members who say they have been cheated.
“We’re only a year and a half old,” she said. —The Restaurant Opportunity Center of New York, or ROC-NY, a restaurant-employee advocacy group that has picketed several prominent Manhattan fine-dining operations claiming management abuses, is being sued by eight ex-members who say they have been cheated.
Commenting on the lawsuit, Chuck Hunt, executive vice president of the New York City chapter of the New York State Restaurant Association, said: “ROC-NY portrays itself as being a workers-rights organization. It would seem they are not practicing what they preach.” —The Restaurant Opportunity Center of New York, or ROC-NY, a restaurant-employee advocacy group that has picketed several prominent Manhattan fine-dining operations claiming management abuses, is being sued by eight ex-members who say they have been cheated.
While ROC-NY has been active in the opening and operation of Colors, it also has led a highly visible protest campaign against several of the city’s more prominent fine-dining restaurants, seeking, among other things, payments in the names of their staffers. It has picketed such restaurants as Redeye Grill, Daniel and the now-closed Cité, formerly owned and operated by the Smith & Wollensky Restaurant Group. —The Restaurant Opportunity Center of New York, or ROC-NY, a restaurant-employee advocacy group that has picketed several prominent Manhattan fine-dining operations claiming management abuses, is being sued by eight ex-members who say they have been cheated.
Shelly Fireman, whose Fireman Hospitality Group owns Redeye Grill, said ROC-NY used such tactics as “storm[ing] our restaurant, Redeye Grill, in the middle of dinner service, armed with loudspeakers, noisemakers and cameras.” —The Restaurant Opportunity Center of New York, or ROC-NY, a restaurant-employee advocacy group that has picketed several prominent Manhattan fine-dining operations claiming management abuses, is being sued by eight ex-members who say they have been cheated.
ROC-NY presented Fireman with a letter claiming that his employees had been subjected to wage and hour violations, sexual and verbal abuse, and racial discrimination. The letter, Fireman said, “demanded we send them $3 million and threatened that if we refused to pay, ROC would launch pickets, media attacks and lawsuits against us.” —The Restaurant Opportunity Center of New York, or ROC-NY, a restaurant-employee advocacy group that has picketed several prominent Manhattan fine-dining operations claiming management abuses, is being sued by eight ex-members who say they have been cheated.
He said Jayamaran demanded that she be allowed to bargain collectively for Redeye Grill’s employees, even though she had not been chosen by his workers. —The Restaurant Opportunity Center of New York, or ROC-NY, a restaurant-employee advocacy group that has picketed several prominent Manhattan fine-dining operations claiming management abuses, is being sued by eight ex-members who say they have been cheated.
The National Labor Relations Board ruled in 2005 that ROCNY’s protest did not constitute legal job actions, and it was told to stop. However, the group instead stepped up protests, claiming they were prayer vigils. —The Restaurant Opportunity Center of New York, or ROC-NY, a restaurant-employee advocacy group that has picketed several prominent Manhattan fine-dining operations claiming management abuses, is being sued by eight ex-members who say they have been cheated.
According to the New York Post, Jayaraman has said “her goal is to organize ‘the 99 percent of the [restaurant] industry that’s nonunion.’ ” —The Restaurant Opportunity Center of New York, or ROC-NY, a restaurant-employee advocacy group that has picketed several prominent Manhattan fine-dining operations claiming management abuses, is being sued by eight ex-members who say they have been cheated.
Meanwhile, Jayaraman said the plan to give ownership to Colors employees remains intact. —The Restaurant Opportunity Center of New York, or ROC-NY, a restaurant-employee advocacy group that has picketed several prominent Manhattan fine-dining operations claiming management abuses, is being sued by eight ex-members who say they have been cheated.
“Over the next year to year and a half, there will be a profit and once there is profit they can start buying out the investor group. But nobody is going to get profits until there are some,” she said. —The Restaurant Opportunity Center of New York, or ROC-NY, a restaurant-employee advocacy group that has picketed several prominent Manhattan fine-dining operations claiming management abuses, is being sued by eight ex-members who say they have been cheated.
However, the attorney for the eight plaintiffs contends that his clients deserve to be given the equity they expected as a reward for their hard work. —The Restaurant Opportunity Center of New York, or ROC-NY, a restaurant-employee advocacy group that has picketed several prominent Manhattan fine-dining operations claiming management abuses, is being sued by eight ex-members who say they have been cheated.
“These people put in sweat equity, hundreds of hours of work—office work, investigatory work and fundraising—and never got their equity,” said Arthur Z. Schwartz, an attorney with the New York law firm Kennedy Schwartz & Cure. “They contributed their tips and pay to ROC. You know, ROC will go to a restaurant and picket saying it is not paying its employees properly, taking tips away, etc., but they did the same thing, only in the name of a cooperative.” —The Restaurant Opportunity Center of New York, or ROC-NY, a restaurant-employee advocacy group that has picketed several prominent Manhattan fine-dining operations claiming management abuses, is being sued by eight ex-members who say they have been cheated.
Jayaraman said, “They didn’t believe in our mission, but others who did moved [forward] and opened the restaurant.” —The Restaurant Opportunity Center of New York, or ROC-NY, a restaurant-employee advocacy group that has picketed several prominent Manhattan fine-dining operations claiming management abuses, is being sued by eight ex-members who say they have been cheated.
Schwartz maintains that his clients were dismissed from ROCNY and Colors, as is anyone who disagrees with the employee organization. “[ROC] kicked them out; they didn’t leave on their own,” he said. “Each one in one form or another was kicked out.” —The Restaurant Opportunity Center of New York, or ROC-NY, a restaurant-employee advocacy group that has picketed several prominent Manhattan fine-dining operations claiming management abuses, is being sued by eight ex-members who say they have been cheated.
He also contends that ROC misled Colors workers into thinking they eventually would hold equity in the restaurant, when in fact, they merely will be given an interest in a corporation controlled by ROC-NY, which would remain the true owner. —The Restaurant Opportunity Center of New York, or ROC-NY, a restaurant-employee advocacy group that has picketed several prominent Manhattan fine-dining operations claiming management abuses, is being sued by eight ex-members who say they have been cheated.
“They told the workers the restaurant would turn a profit, which it is far from doing, and that the best estimate [of when that would happen] was five years down the road,” Schwartz said. “They have cheated these people and basically got free labor out of them. —The Restaurant Opportunity Center of New York, or ROC-NY, a restaurant-employee advocacy group that has picketed several prominent Manhattan fine-dining operations claiming management abuses, is being sued by eight ex-members who say they have been cheated.
“Most people believe Colors is owned by the people who work there and it’s not. It basically is an employee stock ownership plan where ownership control is in the hands of ROC.” —The Restaurant Opportunity Center of New York, or ROC-NY, a restaurant-employee advocacy group that has picketed several prominent Manhattan fine-dining operations claiming management abuses, is being sued by eight ex-members who say they have been cheated.
Jayaraman said the restaurant, which employs approximately 40 people, cost $2.25 million to open, with $500,000 raised by ROC-NY, $500,000 invested by Good Italian and the remaining $1.25 million financed through a loan. —The Restaurant Opportunity Center of New York, or ROC-NY, a restaurant-employee advocacy group that has picketed several prominent Manhattan fine-dining operations claiming management abuses, is being sued by eight ex-members who say they have been cheated.