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Mostly Cloudy Caterer defends his business
Legal claims fied against business that operates out of Temple Israel
Scott Morrell, owner of Morrell Caterers, which operates at Temple Israel in Lawrence and two other locations, in Woodbury and Melville, faces legal claims from former employees, two partners and a former customer.
In one action, Morrell was sued last month by hundreds of former employees who claim they are owed more than $10 million in gratuities. And in a separate case, two of Morrell’s business partners — Chef Michael Savitsky and General Manager Tom Cataldo — allege that Morrell prepared non-kosher food, such as pork, in the same areas where kosher food was prepared, rendering it non-kosher.
Morrell’s lawyer, Steven Shlesinger, denied all the accusations.
Referring to the partners’ charges, Shlesinger said, “They photographed themselves with shrimp and claimed Morrell isn’t serving kosher food.”
The lawsuit involving alleged withheld gratuities was filed in Nassau County Supreme Court in Mineola on Feb. 16 by William Cataldo, a former maitre d’ and Tom Cataldo’s brother, and Dharmapal “Paul” Vishnudat, a former waiter and captain, on behalf of as many as 500 servers, busboys, bartenders, maitre d’s, captains and others who have worked at Morrell since 2006.
William Cataldo, a Queens resident, worked at the Temple Israel location several times during his two and a half years with Morrell. “Since day one, gratuities we got at the end of a party, in addition to the 18 percent gratuity charge, were given to Morrell at the end of the night,” he said. “I felt like I was deceiving the public” — who thought their tips and gratuities went to the employees — “and I wasn’t happy about it. I was told to deal with it or find other work.”
“There are people out there that work very hard and are being taken advantage of, and it’s not right,” Cataldo added. “I want this to be an example for all those rotten employers out there who do this to their employees because it shouldn’t be.”
In reference to the gratuities case, Shlesinger said that employees got the tips to which they were entitled. “[Morrell] is in full compliance with the law,” he said. “This case will be dismissed.”
Attorney Jeffrey Brown, who is representing Morrell’s former employees in the gratuities case, said he is offended when corporations exploit their workers.
