Just because Attorney General Eliot Spitzer is set to become Governor in a few days doesn't mean he's slacking on the old job. The AG's office says that SoHo store Yellow Rat Bastard has cheated employees out of $1 million. According to the NY Times, Spitzer says that the store and its affiliates have paid less than minimum wage, failed to pay overtime, and fired or demoted employees for complaining to the AG's office. And not only were there abusive managers, there actually were rats running around the store!
Kino Crosby, security guard who told Spitzer's office that he worked 12-13 hours a day but never got time and a half, described the work environment, "When you arrive early in the morning, sometimes the rats attack you. I was almost bitten." And another cashier said that when lines would get long, managers would say, "What are you, stupid? You didn’t go to school? Can’t you go faster?"
The stores include Rubber Sole, Antique Orange, Sloppy Joe's, F.A.T. Jeans, Shoes, Boys and Chicks, and other YRB stores. The assets of Alla Levy, one of the owners and wife of the store's founder, were frozen.
