New York has been number 49 or 50 as the most business unfriendly state in the nation for some time. The Dairy Queen in Medford sure knows how bad New York can be for business in an up close and personal way.
Sisters Patty DeMint and Michelle Robe were so wronged under NY’s business laws that they are fundraising through GoFundMe just to stay afloat.
The page says: “DQ Sisters: Always giving, now needing our help. They’ve Always Been There for Us…Now Let’s Be There for Them!”
With a goal of $8,000, 25 people have so far donated $1,264.
Why are they raising funds? What happened?
Back in 2020, the DQ Sisters were blindsided with a class action lawsuit over a technicality in how often “manual workers” are paid under New York law. They always followed the state’s guidance, worked through ADP payroll, and made sure every cent of their paychecks was right. It never occurred to hem, or anyone really, that scooping ice cream was considered ‘manual labor’ and there is no allegation that the employees were not paid for the hours worked.
But the lawyers wouldn’t back down. They took the sisters to court saying they broke the law by not paying the staff every week instead of every two weeks as they had done for years.
Under immense pressure, Michelle and Pat were forced to settle for $450,000 — more than $300,000 of which went straight to attorney’s fees. The rest will be divided among over 200 employees in the class action (most of whom had no idea this lawsuit even existed). The supposedly ‘harmed’ staff will get approximately $600 each while the lawyers pocketed over $300,000 for a lawsuit with no victims.
The GoFundMe sponsors said, “The DQ Sisters have also built this Dairy Queen into a true second chance company. They hire people others might overlook — those with disabilities, people rebuilding after addiction, and even folks with felony records who just needed someone to believe in them. For many of us, this place was the only door that opened when every other one was shut.”
Now, they’re facing something that could take it all away.
The most heartbreaking part? The sisters fought to change the law so other small businesses wouldn’t suffer the same fate — and they actually succeeded. But, their victory came too late to save themselves.