City settles fi rst case under new ‘Just
Cause’ law, penalizes Mill Basin restaurant
BY KIRSTYN BRENDLEN
The city’s newest labor protection
law has resulted in a historic legal victory
for two former employees of a Mill
Basin sandwich shop.
Cameron Driver and Jamarr Goss
were both fi red, without warning, from
their jobs at the Subway sandwich
shop at Kings Plaza Shopping Center
after calling out for a shift — but the
duo successfully sued using the city’s
“Just Cause” laws, which are designed
to protect fast-food employees from termination
without a justifi able reason.
Now, the sandwich shop must pay
COURIER LIFE, D 28 ECEMBER 17-23, 2021
out $2,200 in lost wages to both Driver
and Goss, along with an additional
$1,600 in civil penalties to the city, after
the Department of Consumer and
Worker Protection took up their case.
Mayor Bill de Blasio signed the relevant
bills into law in January, which
were introduced by councilmembers
Brad Lander and Adrienne Adams,
and stipulate that a restaurant cannot
fi re or reduce an employee’s average
hours by more than 15 percent without
“just cause,” and that an employer
must use a system of discipline before
fi ring an employee.
Two former employees of the Subway restaurant at Kings Plaza Shopping Center were the
fi rst to settle a case under the city’s new Just Cause law. Screenshot/Google
The brand-new bills also amended
the city’s Fair Workweek Law, which
was signed in 2017 and includes a host
of protections for fast-food workers, including
mandating regular schedules
issued two weeks in advance of a shift,
increased pay for schedule changes,
and prohibiting restaurants from penalizing
employees who choose not to
work extra shifts.
Driver and Goss had been working
with the new franchisee since the
spring, Driver told Brooklyn Paper,
commuting for more than an hour and
a half across two subways and a bus to
reach the location from their Manhattan
home. They had hopes of securing
leadership positions, Driver said, so
they dedicated themselves to the job.
“I was hit by the pandemic, so at this
point, I’m just trying to get in where I
fi t in,” he said. “And if that means being
a manager at a Subway and whatnot,
that’s what I’ve got to do right now
to survive.”
The brand-new store was bustling,
with a line often out the door, but the
work was good. “It’s a great place to
work,” Driver said.
In August, the two suddenly needed
to take a day off. Since it took so long
to get to Mill Basin, Driver said, they
each found coworkers to cover their
shifts in advance, then texted their
manager about the change.
“We actually get a text message that
says ‘No, sorry, you got to go to work, if
you don’t show, you quit,'” he said.
They tried to work it out with the
manager, but to no avail — Driver said
they never received further communication
from her after that text exchange.
Suddenly without both streams
of income, they were scrambling. Their
roommate was able to help out with
rent, but, Driver said, “we were hungry
for two weeks because of the lack of
concern for dedicated employees.”
He remembered seeing social media
posts about the just cause law — though
it crossed the mayor’s desk at the beginning
of the year, it went into effect on
July 4, weeks before Driver and Goss
were fi red. He tweeted at the DCWP
about their situation. They heard back
from the department and wrote up a longer
explanation of what had happened.
Within a few weeks, the department
was at work gathering details on
the case and reporting back whenever
there was a new development. Then,
this month, they issued their fi ndings:
Driver and Goss had been fi red without
just cause or “bona fi de” economic
reason, and had failed to give them a
written explanation of their termination,
according to the settlement. The
department also found that the Subway
franchisee did not have the required
system of discipline in place.
“We had the compensation not only
for wages lost, but the fact that we were
just trying to survive, and those damages
necessary,” Driver said. “I was
just really incredibly grateful for a
protection like this, and I think New
York is doing the right thing by it.”
Goss said he had been treated more
fairly by his fast-food job in South Carolina,
but that he wasn’t aware of any
In addition to paying out the lost
wages and penalties, the restaurant
will be required to develop and implement
that disciplinary plan, and receive
written notes of understanding
from each of their employees by mid-
January, and have to train managers
and supervisors on Fair Work Week
compliance by the end of next month.
“I just really want to push the fact
that this is something people should
take advantage of,” he said. “A lot of
the time, we get intimidated by our employers,
and this is a resource that is
there specifi cally for the worker. And
the service industry really should be
no exception to reasonable protocols
that other businesses adhere to.”
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