Princess Diner Owner And Manager Indicted And Charged With Withholding Wages From Employees

The owner and the manager of the Princess Diner in Southampton were arrested on Tuesday on felony criminal charges after being accused of repeatedly failing to pay 13 restaurant workers more than $82,000 in wages over the course of more than four months last year, in addition to continually lying to them about when they would be paid.

Owner Richard Bivona and manager John Kalogeras—the former owner of the restaurant—face a total of 35 counts, including felony counts of grand larceny. Both also were charged with separate counts of harassment after they were accused of intimidating and threatening workers and their families when the workers asked to be paid.

Both were released on their own recognizance pending further action, according to the attorney general’s office.

Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman, in a press release, announced the indictment and arrest of Mr. Bivona, 57, of Water Mill and Mr. Kalogeras, 56, of Commack, on Tuesday. Included in the indictment was the business, RJT Food & Restaurant LLC, which owns the Southampton Princess Diner.

“A worker’s most basic right is the right to be paid for his or her work,” Mr. Schneiderman said. “These defendants allegedly engaged in a long-running scheme to not only steal their employees’ hard-earned money but to intimidate and harass their victims when they attempted to speak up. We will not allow New York workers to be exploited and demeaned.”

According to Southampton Town Police, the investigation stemmed from two Princess Diner employees who reported to police that they were not receiving proper compensation from their employer. A meeting in January between Town Police and several additional employees, as well as the New York State Department of Labor, revealed that 13 employees were reportedly not receiving proper compensation for their work and were reportedly threatened and intimidated by Mr. Bivona and Mr. Kalogeras. Initially, police charged Mr. Bivona with menacing, related to threatening one of the victim’s family members.

The indictment and statements made at the arraignment allege that between August 15, 2016, and December 31, 2016, Mr. Bivona took over as owner of the Princess Diner from Mr. Kalogeras, who had been the owner for many years. Mr. Kalogeras stayed on as the manager to run the day-to-day operations of the diner.

Restaurant employees, including cooks, dishwashers, bussers and servers, many of whom had worked for the diner for more than a decade, continued to work under Mr. Bivona’s stewardship. The attorney general’s office said they were paid far less than minimum wage and were often not paid any of their hourly wages on a weekly basis, or at all.

Prosecutors also allege that none of the workers received overtime pay, equal to 1.5 times their pay rate, despite regularly working more than 40 hours per week.

The attorney general said an investigation revealed that Mr. Bivona and Mr. Kalogeras made repeated promises to the workers that payment was imminent and asked the workers to be patient. However, after the workers waited for weeks to be paid, payment was sporadic or never came at all.

Mr. Bivona and Mr. Kalogeras also would allegedly intimidate and threaten workers and their families if they spoke up and asked for their wages, according to Mr. Schneiderman’s office.

Mr. Bivona and RJT Food & Restaurant LLC separately were charged with failing to secure workers’ compensation coverage, failing to make unemployment insurance contributions to the New York State Department of Labor Unemployment Insurance Fund, and failing to provide proper employment records to the State Department of Labor.

The 35-count indictment filed in Suffolk County court charges all three defendants, Mr. Bivona, Mr. Kalogeras, and RJT Food & Restaurant LLC, with nine counts of grand larceny in the third degree, one count of grand larceny in the fourth degree, and one count of scheme to defraud in the first degree, all felonies, as well as misdemeanor counts of petit larceny and failure to pay wages in accordance with labor laws.

Mr. Bivona and RJT Food & Restaurant, LLC, were charged with one count of failure to secure workers’ compensation coverage, a felony, among other violations.

On the most serious grand larceny charge, the state’s sentencing guidelines range from probation to seven years in prison on each charge.