Workers owed $3M rally with Comptroller Lander, Council Member Hanif

Elected officials and workers rallied on a cold and rainy day in Park Slope on Dec. 2 to demand that a restaurant owner pay immigrant workers still awaiting millions from a wage theft settlement. 

The New York State Department of Labor issued an order to comply in late September that ordered Indian Spice owner Mariam Khandakar to pay a combined penalty and restitution of $3 million for failing to properly pay employees over several years. The appeal period ended on Nov. 24 and the penalty order is now enforceable.

Workers said at the rally that, while working at the restaurant, they were unsure if or when they would receive pay for their work, meaning they couldn’t pay rent or buy food.

City Council Member Shahana Hanif, who represents parts of Park Slope as part of the 39th City Council District, applauded Raju Ahmed, one of the restaurant workers who contacted Hanif’s office in September 2024 seeking assistance with unpaid wages; the tip that started the investigation that led to the settlement.

Her office connected the workers to the Worker’s Justice Project, a Brooklyn nonprofit that helped the workers file a formal complaint with the Department of Labor.

Hanif called the settlement a huge accomplishment and said it wouldn’t have happened without the workers coming forward.

“This Department of Labor fine says a lot about the workers’ persistence and also when government works for the people, not against the people,” Hanif said. “The ($3 million) is not just a restitution, it’s a clear sign to all employers that wage theft and exploitation (are) not going to be tolerated anywhere in our city.”

The rally came only one day after the city’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection announced that the city reached a close to $39 million settlement that will go to more than 15,000 Starbucks workers over claims the coffee chain arbitrarily cut their hours and denied them stable schedules.

The former Indian Spice workers have not received their settlement money. Hanif and Comptroller Brad Lander, who formerly represented parts of Park Slope on the City Council, urged the Department of Labor to pursue all ways to recover the $3 million, including placing a lien on the property.

Lander said he has been a frequent customer of Indian Spice, as he lives near the restaurant, and that consumers have a responsibility to stand up against worker exploitation.

He likened wage theft to a thief stealing from a bank account or a mugger holding a gun and demanding someone’s cash.

“I love living in this neighborhood, where you can get food from any corner of the world and people from any corner in the world who come here seeking some opportunity are getting a chance to work hard,” Lander said. “But not when they are having the money that we customers are paying to them stolen from their pockets to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

Only the restaurant’s five former workers who came forward with their complaints will receive the settlement. The only way the other workers could receive compensation is if the district attorney’s office indicts the restaurant owner Khandakar. The case would be separate from the Department of Labor’s case.

Ahmed, one of the workers who came forward, said there were around five to 10 more workers excluded from the settlement.

Hanif said the cruelty and criminal angle also needs to be investigated and that she’s cooperating with the district attorney's office, although that process will take much longer due to the large number of cases on the docket.

“We demand Mariam Khandakar to pay up,” Hanif said. “Our office, the comptroller’s office, the public advocate, we will all be working to ensure that each and every single worker is paid what they are owed and that Mariam Khandakar is held accountable, including criminally, if that comes to fruition.”