New York AG reaches $20,000 settlement with airport contractor

NEW YORK (Legal Newsline) - New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced a settlement on Thursday with a commercial airline contractor that allegedly underpaid close to 300 minimum-wage wheelchair attendants.

The Georgia-based Air Serv Corporation, which operates out of John F. Kennedy International Airport and LaGuardia Airport in New York City, allegedly failed to increase the wages for its attendants when the state's minimum wage rose from $7.25 an hour to $8 an hour on December 31. Air Serv allegedly reclassified the workers as tipped employees and failed to comply with state requirements that allow for the lower tipped wage.

"Minimum-wage employees must be paid a legal wage and not a lower tipped wage unless their employer has complied with all the legal requirements for taking a tip credit," Schneiderman said. "My office will be vigilant and take action to protect minimum-wage and other low-wage workers. These New Yorkers, who struggle to survive, must not be shortchanged by their own employers."

Air Serv allegedly underpaid employees a total of $15,954.36 between December 31 and the end of March. Under the terms of the settlement, Air Serv will pay that amount as restitution, as well as $4,000 in penalties to the state. The company must also designate a compliance officer responsible for ensuring the proper use of the tip credit who will provide Schneiderman's office with quarterly compliance reports.