Free Paper Accused Of Shorting Employees

You know those guys who hand you your free amNew York as you rush down into the subway during your frenzied morning commute? (Those of you wanting to pick up the Press unfortunately have to do all the heavy lifting work yourselves.) Well, it seems the peddlers are less than pleased with their per-day flat-rate paychecks.

Yesterday, seven employees filed a class action lawsuit in state Supreme Court against the paper, accusing it of paying them less than minimum wage. A lawyer for the plaintiffs, Daniel Kirschenbaum, said that promoters are paid $20 a day regardless of how many hours they work, even though they often put in as many as four hours a day. That puts them under the $7.15 per hour that New York State requires. A spokesperson for the Tribune Company, which owns the paper, refused to comment, except to say that the company has no knowledge of the suit. No knowledge of the suit? Hmm… Maybe its time they started reading a newspaper other than the one they own.

Photo courtesy of The Consumerist on Flickr