Workers sue Astoria eatery for $200K

For 15 years, Carmen Galindo, 51, worked at Uncle George’s Greek Tavern for $2.85 an hour, putting in 10-13 hour days seven days a week. In the decade and a half that she served as a kitchen helper, she said she never was paid time-and-a-half for her long days, nor was she allowed sick days.
At the busy Astoria restaurant, employees, who arrived 20 or more minutes late, were allegedly forced to work for no pay, or return home and risk being fired. They worked the entire shift on their feet, without a lunch break. And as soon as workers complained of the conditions, they said they were fired.
“She is very sad. She lost her work,” Galindo’s son Carlos translated for her. “She was working too many years … she can’t find another work.”
So Galindo along with five other employees - two of which are her daughters - have filed a federal lawsuit against Uncle George’s for well over $200,000 in back wages, according to their lawyer, Deborah Axt of Make the Road by Walking, a workers’ rights group.
Galindo’s two daughters, 30 and 23, who worked at the restaurant for 10 and seven years respectively, were paid even less than their mother was, Galindo said, explaining that they did not receive tips in their jobs as many busboys and servers do to supplement their income. Since their termination, the women have been unable to find any other employment.
The restaurant was supposed to file their response in court by the end of last week, but Axt does not expect a resolution to the suit any time in the near future.
Repeated calls to the restaurant, located at 33-19 Broadway, have not been returned.