A statewide class action has been filed in New York against Courtesy Mobil Gas Stations, Inc. and its corporate owners, Sammy and Musa Eljamal. The action is brought on behalf of all current and former employees who, since January, 1998, were allegedly not paid proper overtime compensation, not paid proper minimum wage, were defrauded of tax funds and who were forced to accept improper wages in the form of cash payments. The action is brought under various provisions of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, as well as New York labor law, and seeks statutory, liquidated and compensatory damages as well as back wages and injunctive and declaratory relief. The action is brought both as class action under state law, and as collective action under federal law. As a collective action, all potential claimants must "opt-in" to the case in order to be considered a claimant. The employees have requested that the court issue notice to all potential claimants to inform them of their rights.

This case arises from what employees allege are massive, intentional and flagrant violations of both federal and state labor laws. According to the employees, Courtesy Mobil has engaged in a systematic and abusive policy to deprive employees of overtime wages, proper minimum wage, properly paid employer contributed taxes as well as other labor law violations. The employees claim that they were frequently called upon to work as much as 90 hours per week by Courtesy Mobil in 12 hour shifts, seven days a week. The employees allege that for many of these hours they were not compensated at all, and were certainly not compensated for any overtime hours. The employees further allege that they were forced to accept wages "under the table" in the form of cash, and that Courtesy Mobil provided the state government with fraudulently altered employee time records. Additionally the employees assert that when they were paid by properly, by means of check, contributions were withheld, but not actually paid
to state and federal tax agencies, social security and worker’s compensation. As a final allegation, the employees claim that if they complained to Courtesy Mobil management about these allegedly unlawful activities, they were disciplined and often terminated.

Under both federal and state law, employers are required to pay, at a minimum, time and a half to all employees who work in excess of 40 hours in one work week. Employers are also require to make correct and accurate withholdings from employees' paychecks and are required to forward those withholdings to the proper state and federal agencies in payment of taxes, social security, worker's compensation and disability. Employers are further required to keep accurate accounting records and time records for all employees. In this case, the employees allege that Courtesy Mobil failed to adhere to the law regarding any of these requirements and engaged in this unlawful conduct intentionally, willfully and with the intention of defrauding both employees and state and federal governments. In December 2002, the State of New York initiated criminal proceedings against the corporate owners of Courtesy Mobil, the Eljamal brothers. The owners agreed, as part of a plea arrangement, to take corrective action and to pay all employees back overtime wages and proper overtime wages in the future. However, the employees allege that this never occurred, and that they were terminated when they sought back overtime pay.