NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - A New Jersey jury has awarded more than a half-million dollars to a former passenger ferry worker who claimed he was retaliated against for complaining about wage violations.
Howard Flecker III worked as a deckhand for Statue Cruises, which operates ferry service from New York and New Jersey to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.
Flecker claimed that after he complained to superiors that the company’s overtime rules violated state wage laws, he was subject to harassment and humiliation.
A trial court dismissed his complaint in 2011, but an appeals court reversed that ruling in 2012.
This month, a jury in Hudson County awarded Flecker $300,000 for emotional distress, $200,000 in punitive damages and $60,000 for lost wages
An attorney for Statue Cruises says the company plans to appeal.
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