'Miscommunication': LI Business Owner Responds To Federal Labor Probe

MASSAPEQUA, NY — The owner of two Massapequa restaurants is speaking out about a "miscommunication" between himself and the U.S. Department of Labor.

The U.S. Marshal Service stated that Louis "Luigi" Prudente, owner of Il Vizio Restorante Italiano Corp., operating as Il Vizio, was charged with civil contempt on Wednesday, for not turning in employment records to the department's Wage and Hour Division, to ensure fair labor practices.

The announcement was published Thursday on the department's website.

However, Prudente told Patch he sent several documents to the department and maintains he wasn't arrested, nor criminally charged.

"The marshal did come to my house. They did tell me that they had to take the front of the judge," he said. "They did tell me that it's not a criminal charge, and it's not going on my record."

Prudente said he sent as many documents as possible, and that he changed lawyers last month. With the toll of the COVID-19 pandemic on his business, obtaining documents was a stressful process, he said.

"The other documents that they're looking for are just more time-consuming to get. They want phone numbers and emails of employees that worked maybe three, four years ago, and maybe worked for like a week," he said. "I'm the kitchen, I'm on the pizza table, I'm the waiter, I'm the dishwasher, I'm on the bookkeeper."

The department stated that in July 2021, it issued an administrative subpoena to determine if Prudente's pay practices complied with the Fair Labor Standards Act, but authorities said he refused to supply the subpoenaed documents.

In response, the department’s solicitor's office obtained a Jan. 10, 2022, court order directing the employer to comply with the subpoena. They later filed motions in September 2022 asking the court to find Prudente in contempt and fine the employer for not complying with the subpoena, the department said.

On Oct. 27, 2022, a court order was granted to the department’s contempt motion and imposed an escalating series of fines of up to $500 a day.

Prudente continued the non-compliance, federal officials said.

"The matter is civil contempt, with the idea that the incarceration (brief, in this case) is used to coerce compliance on their part," said a department spokesperson. "There isn’t a criminal indictment and he hasn’t been sentenced to a set term of confinement."

On Jan. 5, the department requested the court direct Prudente be taken into the U.S. Marshals’ custody until he produces the subpoenaed documents.

Marshals state he was arrested Prudente for repeatedly failing to provide information to the Labor Department as part of a compliance investigation that began in May 2021.

“The Wage and Hour Division must be able to access an employer’s records during an investigation to determine whether or not their businesses’ pay practices and other operations comply with the Fair Labor Standards Act,” said Wage and Hour Division Regional Administrator Mark Watson Jr. in Philadelphia. “We cannot and will not allow employers to refuse to cooperate with investigators and withhold requested records in an attempt to evade their legal responsibilities without consequences.”

A department spokesperson told Patch that

Incorporated in 2010, Il Vizio Restorante Italiano Corp. operates two Italian cuisine restaurants, Il Vizio at 555 Broadway in Massapequa and Il Vizio Park at 4857 Merrick Rd. in Massapequa Park.

“The arrest of Il Vizio owner, Louis Prudente, shows that the U.S. Department of Labor will use every available instrument to gather the facts, enforce the law and ensure employers do not hold the law in contempt,” said Regional Solicitor Jeffrey S. Rogoff in New York. “An employer’s refusal to comply with federal investigators is illegal and unacceptable and, as this employer now knows, has significant consequences, including arrest.”

But Prudente said he was never placed in handcuffs. He thought the court ended "amicably" and was surprised to see the department's press release the next day.

Now, he hopes his business will be unscathed by the incident.

"We've just been getting beat up," he said. "We just want to sell pasta and chicken."