Food service workers suing concessions operator for Seneca Park Zoo

Service Systems Associates (SSA) Group LLC, the company that operates the concessions at the Seneca Park Zoo and three other locations in New York state, is being sued by former employees claiming they are owed back wages.

The named plaintiffs Alyssa Yannello and Katie Mort filed the complaint in U.S. District Court in Rochester “on behalf of themselves and all others similarly situated” and are seeking class-action status for the lawsuit.

The plaintiffs are represented by attorneys at the Pechman Law Group PLLC.

“Throughout plaintiffs’ employment, SSA did not pay plaintiffs and other hourly-paid workers for all of their hours worked,” according to the complaint.

According to the complaint, SSA automatically deducted 30 minutes from the working time of hourly-paid employees who worked shifts longer than five hours, even if the employees did not actually take a break.

The suit accuses SSA of failing to provide its employees with accurate wage statements, as required by the Wage Theft Prevention Act.

The plaintiffs and other workers were manual workers, who spent more than 25% of their work time performing duties that were physical in nature, but SSA unlawfully paid them on a biweekly basis, the suit claims.

Yannello worked as an administrative operations manager and food service worker at Seneca Park Zoo from January 2021 through May 2023. She was responsible for supervising food service workers, reporting nightly sales, and contacting vendors. She also spent a minimum of two to three hours per day at various food and retail stands performing regular food service duties when the locations were busy or short staffed.

Mort worked as a food service worker at Seneca Park Zoo from May 2020 to January 2023.

SSA is a Denver-based company founded in 1971 that operates in 32 states and has more than 8,000 employees at 79 locations, including zoos, aquariums, botanical gardens, museums, and other attractions throughout the country, according to the complaint.

SSA operates at three other locations in New York state and implements the same employment and pay practices at all four worksites, according to the complaint.

According to the suit, the claims apply to about 200 workers at all the SSA worksites in New York state. The complaint asks for “a court-supervised notice of the present lawsuit and the opportunity to join the present lawsuit.”

“The similarly situated Food Service Workers should be notified of and allowed to opt-in to this action,” according to the suit.

In addition to seeking all the pay owed to the plaintiffs and other workers, the lawsuit claims the company is liable for statutory damages for inaccurate wage statements of $250 per workday, up to a maximum of $5,000.

SSA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

[email protected] / (585) 232-2035