C&S faces class action suit

Keene-based C&S Wholesale Grocers has been sued by a group of warehouse employees who charge that they have been cheated out of millions of dollars a week in wages.

Four C&S employees have filed a nationwide class action suit in U.S. District Court in New York, seeking $750 million from C&S in unpaid wages and overtime under the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act and state labor laws in each of the 14 states where the company operates warehouses, including the Newburgh, N.Y., facility where the plaintiffs work. The case applies to workers who have been employed by C & S since 2000.

The suit alleges that C&S violates federal and state laws by illegally cutting workers’ wages as punishment for mistakes on the job, failing to pay overtime, failing to pay for time worked in excess of 10 hours, failing to pay employees their agreed hourly rates, and encouraging employees to work off-the-clock and through lunch without pay. – NHBR STAFF