Korean workers suing banquet hall for $400,000

As the debate to raise the national minimum wage continues in Congress, some Flushing workers are fighting to get the back pay owed them by their former employer.
Holding signs reading &#8220Pay the unpaid wages!” and &#8220Shame on you, Chong Min Mun,” seven former employees of the now closed Young Vin Kwan banquet hall on Northern Boulevard in Flushing and its parent company, Seoul Plaza Ltd., protested outside the office of former owner Chong Min Mun on August 2.
According to their lawsuit, soon headed for trial, Mun owes fifteen cooks, waitresses, waiters, busboys, and other workers more than $400,000 in unpaid wages, overtime, and severance pay.
The restaurant workers - nearly all from South Korea - sought legal advice from the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) after Mun abruptly shuttered his restaurant in February 2005. At the time, he owed the workers at least five weeks' wages. Many of them had been working at least 70 hours a week without receiving proper overtime and most were paid well below the minimum wage.
&#8220My salary was only $30 for a 12-hour day,” said Ken, a former Young Vin Kwan waiter. &#8220Imagine thinking of your own wage as a bonus - you don't really expect it because it is so extremely small to begin with.”
The workers, represented by Steven Choi, AALDEF attorney and director of the AALDEF Korean Workers Project, filed the lawsuit against Mun in December.
&#8220Mr. Mun held a press conference just to announce he would immediately pay the wages that he admitted he failed to pay them [the workers],” said Choi.
&#8220But eight months have gone by, and these workers haven't seen a single dollar. Empty promises do not pay his workers' rent, or feed their families - we demand nothing less than fair payment of the wages he owes these workers. We are ready to come to a reasonable settlement, but Mr. Mun has refused to compensate these workers for the wages they rightfully earned,” Choi said.
Despite repeated assurances he would pay the workers, Mun has yet to do so.
In June 2005, Mun allegedly attempted to buy back the Seoul Plaza property with $1.5 million in certified checks.
When The Queens Courier attempted to speak with Mun, he was not in his office, and there was no other way to get in contact with him.
&#8220Immigrant workers render critical services in our communities,” said Councilmember John Liu. &#8220They cook and deliver our food, do our laundry, drive our taxis, and clean our offices. Unfortunately, these workers are often invisible and have limited resources to fight unscrupulous employers who break the labor laws. Organizations like AALDEF are vital resources in the ongoing fight to protect workers rights,” Liu said.
The Young Vin Kwan banquet hall was located at the &#8220old Seoul Plaza,” a shopping and entertainment complex on Northern Boulevard and 150th Place. The current owners of the Seoul Plaza complex are not affiliated with Mun.