Uptown Bar That Avoided Closure Now Accused Of Wage Theft

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS, NY — A Washington Heights bar and restaurant that has been serving the community for decades is getting ready to settle with workers claiming unpaid wages and benefits, according to reports.

Lawyers for Coogan's, located in the same Broadway and West 169th Street spot since the 80s, will meet with a judge in February to come to an agreement with former employees on a back pay settlement, the Daily News first reported.

Bosses at Coogan's took meal credits out of workers' pay, didn't provide proper wages, sent workers home mid-shift without pay and denied workers overtime pay, former employees told the Daily News.

Coogan's denied the claims but told the newspaper that the move to settle was a "business decision."

Coogan's announced that it would be staying in business — an announcement celbrated by longtime customers and neighborhood residents — almost exactly one year ago. With the support of local elected officials and neighborhood Broadway star Lin-Manuel Miranda, the business successfully negotiated a new lease with landlords New-York Presbyterian Hospital amid a rent hike that threatened to put the bar out of business.

Coogan's first announced it would be forced to shut its doors in Janary 2017. New-York Presbyterian had attempted to raise the rent up to $62,000 per month, Coogan's owners Peter Walsh, Dave Hunt and Tess McDade first told the Manhattan Times.

The restaurant opened in 1985 and quickly became a gathering place for the diverse Washington Heights neighborhood. During the neighborhood's dark days of the 80s and 90s — which were plagued by drug-related violence — the restaurant remained open.

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