Saigon Grill owners arrested

The owners of the popular Saigon Grill restaurant chain were arrested and charged yesterday with more than 200 counts of business record falsification and tampering with evidence, according to a police spokesman.

The charges were brought on amid an ongoing labor abuse scandal surrounding restaurant owners Simon and Michelle Nget.

Yesterday's arrests were the latest scandal to plague the Vietnamese chain, whose University Place outlet is popular among NYU students.

The indictment follows the conclusion of a lawsuit in October that awarded $4.6 million in backpay to 36 delivery workers whose labor rights were abused by the New York eatery.

According to the verdict announced in October, the Ngets violated multiple labor laws by forcing their workers to accept less than $2 per hour and oftentimes forced them to work upwards of 80 hours per week.

The workers involved in the lawsuit were employed at two locations on the Upper West Side and in Greenwich Village. Since the firing incident, most of the workers have been rehired as a result of a mandate from the National Labor Relations Board.

However, delivery workers at the restaurant's Upper West Side location told WSN in October that the owners only allowed them to work part-time for a wage of $5.15 an hour.

Li Q. Lin, a plaintiff in the case, has worked at Saigon Grill on the Upper West Side since he moved to the United States seven years ago.

The charges brought against the Ngets could result in up to four years in prison.

Chris James is city/state editor. Evan Glickman is a staff writer. E-mail them at citystate@nyunews.com.