New York’s biggest beer distributor is illegally guzzling its delivery drivers’ wages by not paying them overtime and docking their pay as a form of punishment, a new $50 million class-action lawsuit alleges.
The drivers for Manhattan Beer Distributors say they don’t get paid overtime despite working more than 10-hour days and face wage deductions for things like parking tickets and missing wood pallets, the suit filed in Brooklyn federal court says.
And for miscounted cases of beer, the drivers are charged retail prices — not wholesale.
The company’s employee practices are illegal under New York state and federal labor laws, says the drivers’ lead attorney, Steven Wittels.
“Manhattan Beer claims that the key to its success are the company’s ‘good, dedicated, hard-working people,’” says Wittels.
“But woe to those hard workers if they so much as make a small mistake on the job … because then they’ll find themselves docked for hundreds of dollars in pay.”
Wittels says Manhattan Beer Distributors does 80 percent of its beer sales in New York and distributes brands like Coors, Corona, Heineken, Miller and Brooklyn Brewery.
The suit seeks $50 million in restitution, unpaid wages, overtime and statutory penalties.
Manhattan Beer Distributors didn’t return a message seeking comment.