Moira Herbst, in “Wages in restaurants: the real bread-and-butter issue”, mentions the lawsuit that three (disgruntled, mind you) former employees have filed against the owner of Veloce, Frederick Twomey, citing it as a possible (she was just careful enough with her wording) example of anger at the exploitation of restaurant workers. But this situation is quite different than the other cited wage disputes, for which there have been settlements: not only has there not been a ruling, settlement or confirmation of these allegations, but at least one of the three former employees making the claims is in some deep legal trouble himself, for libel, defamation and tortious business interference, among a host of other things — a detail that went conspicuously unaddressed in her piece.

There is a good reason that — for a New York City wine bar with a 12 year history and multiple locations — only three former employees have assembled to make such claims: it is a shakedown — extortion, pure and simple. Anyone and everyone on staff can confirm that in every regard, Veloce’s business practices are strictly above board. Then again, Ms. Herbst did not seek to solicit a statement from anyone on staff, did she? Even a few minutes of additional research would have revealed that there is more to this particular dispute than the others named in the piece. To equate these suits, and to neglect to address the lawsuits against the ex-employees — who do not represent anyone else on staff presently or formerly — was a tad irresponsible and lazy, we believe.

– The Staff of Bar Veloce East Village, Bar Veloce Chelsea, and Bar Carrera