Rat Bastard Chain Owner Is One, N.Y. Sez

By Adam Nichols
Daily News Staff
Writer

The millionaire owner of chain store Yellow Rat Bastard is living up to his company name, stiffing workers out of the minimum wage and hushing it up by paying them off the books, authorities said yesterday.

Henry Ishay was arrested this week after a five-month probe found he
kept no official record of what he pays his staff, said state Attorney
General Eliot Spitzer's office.

"We worked so hard, yet almost everybody there was being paid under
minimum wage," said Danielle Ly, 30, who was an assistant manager until
January of this year.

"We were all paid under the table."

"The guy's a millionaire. He should give more money than he did. I
don't want other people to be treated the way we were."

Ly said most staffers were paid $5.25 an hour, less than the legal
minimum of $6.75.

Ishay was charged with failing to keep legally required records of
what he paid his staff after turning himself in to cops Wednesday. He
was released and told to return to court Dec.15.

Investigators are still looking at other violations, including claims
that employees were forced to work up to 75 hours a week.

The Retail Action Project, a workers' advocacy group, alerted the
attorney general's office to the alleged violations.

"[He] operates a highly profitable business and can afford to pay
decent wages and benefits," said group spokeswoman Damaris Reyes.

Yesterday, Ishay claimed the accusations were lies circulated by
left-wing troublemakers.

"There is a group of people trying to unionize our workers and they
are using all kinds of tricks and lies to press the [attorney general's
office] to harass us," he said.

"We are not going to succumb. We are totally above board and will
come out of this 100% clean."