Asian grocer C-Mart to pay $800K to settle overtime pay investigation

C-Mart, an Asian supermarket chain with three stores in Massachusetts, must pay $800,000 in restitution and penalties after failing to pay its workers overtime, the state’s attorney general announced this week.

Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell said C-Mart’s owners have been under investigation for several years and were issued 15 citations in 2021. The investigation found that the grocer could not produce true and accurate payroll records, did not post required workplace notices and did not properly pay workers for overtime hours or hours worked on Sundays.

C-Mart appealed the 2021 citations, the AG’s office said, and the settlement is a result of that process.

“I am proud of the office’s work to ensure that the workers harmed by C-Mart will get back wages they are rightfully owed,” Campbell said in a statement. “My office, and particularly our Fair Labor Division, will continue to hold employers accountable for wage theft and violation of our wage and hour laws.”

C-Mart did not respond to an email request from WGB to comment on the settlement.

But a C-Mart lawyer told The Associated Press that the grocer fully cooperated with the investigation. Following the investigation, the retailer has changed its policies to abide by state regulations, the attorney said.

“This matter arose due to bookkeeping system issues and the unavailability of timecards, not to bad faith of anyone at C-Mart,” attorney Matthew Morris said.

People who worked for C-Mart stores in Boston’s South End and Chinatown, as well as the Quincy, Massachusetts, location, between November 2016 and November 2019 can apply to receive a share of the wages collected through the settlement. Application forms are available in both English and Chinese and must be submitted by July 6, the AG said.

“The Chinese Progressive Association applauds Attorney General Campbell and her team for winning this significant settlement and her commitment to end wage theft,” Fiona Yu, the association’s Worker Center coordinator, said in a statement.