WALDBAUM'S ORDERED TO PAY BACK WAGES

CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. -- Waldbaum's here was ordered by U.S. District Court to pay employees more than $1.8 million in back pay and damages for failing to properly compensate the workers for their overtime.

-year U.S. Department of Labor investigation of Waldbaum's, which is a subsidiary of A&P, Montvale, N.J.

Waldbaum's employees involved in the case worked in a number of the company's New York stores. A separate case related to workers in the chain's metropolitan New York and Long Island stores is expected to be heard in the spring, according to local reports.

Tenney, in his ruling against Waldbaum's, wrote: "There was an abundance of testimony," and "the employees made the Waldbaum store managers, district managers, and executives aware of the fact that they were working extra hours for which they were not being compensated."

Waldbaum's officials have contended employees did not adhere to the chain's time-keeping procedures.