A class action lawsuit filed 19 months ago against the owner of several secondhand stores in Naperville was settled this week in Cook County.
The action alleged that Elaine Krieger, who owns 17 secondhand stores in DuPage, Will and Cook counties, improperly withheld various sums from employees’ paychecks when cash register receipts came up short, credit card charge backs were made, or the workers neglected to purchase “an authentic brand item from a customer to be used for re-sale at one of Krieger’s stores,” the complaint says.
Most of the sums deducted were small, some less than $1, but one withholding made from each of two of the three employees who filed the suit are shown in the complaint at $127.54 for each employee, both deducted on Oct. 3, 2013.
Krieger voluntarily discontinued the deductions 10 days after the complaint was filed, according to court documents, which also indicate that all three of the plaintiffs – Amber Sharples, Megan Wilkinson and Hannah Etheridge – have left the company’s employment
“The aforementioned deductions would also cause, in certain instances, Krieger to pay Plaintiffs below Illinois’ minimum wage of $8.25 per hour. This is because all or most Krieger employees are first hired at minimum wage ($8.25/hour) and thereafter only receive a minuscule pay increase if promoted to ‘buyer’ ($8.35/hour) or ‘keyholder'” ($8.45/hour). Consequently, many ‘shortage’ deductions, even the small ones, often effectively place employees below the minimum wage,” the complaint states.
The filing says the retail sites owned by Krieger, whose husband is Naperville City Manager Doug Krieger, include the Plato’s Closet, Clothes Mentor and New Uses stores in Naperville. Because more of the stores Krieger owns through her company, Krieger Kiddie Corp., are located in Cook County, the suit was filed there.
Dated Oct. 16, 2014, and approved Thursday by Cook County Circuit Court Judge Rita M. Novak, the settlement calls for reimbursement of the pay that was withheld from the plaintiffs’ and other employees’ checks, with interest. It also requires Krieger and her corporation to pay $40,000 to cover the attorneys’ fees incurred by the former employees.
“We are extremely pleased with the result and are glad it was amicably resolved,” said David Fish, the Naperville attorney who filed the complaint on the employees’ behalf.
Krieger’s attorney, J. Steven Butkus, declined to discuss the case earlier in the week and could not be reached Thursday after the settlement was approved.
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