Upper Crust

16
fghijkl December 5, 2010 By Jenn Abelson GLOBE STAFF MARILAC, Brazil — In this remote valley of sugarcane fields and cattle farms, where horses and bicycles out- number cars and poverty binds the community like mortar, people search- ing for a better life have one choice: They can leave town. The most coveted destination has long been Boston — more precisely, one high-end local pizza chain. The promise of a job at an Upper Crust shop, passed by word of mouth from one villager to the next, offered the pos- sibility of wages unheard of in Marilac, a community of 4,140 people in the mountains of southeastern Brazil. Over the past decade, dozens of men from Marilac have made the 7,500-mile trek, risking arrest, depor- tation, and, in rare cases, death. And Upper Crust, founded by Sharon native Jordan Tobins in 2001, welcomed them. Tobins needed lots of kitchen help; the Brazilians worked hard and didn’t complain about workweeks that rou- tinely stretched to 80 hours. Marilac prospered as Upper Crust’s immigrant employees sent thousands of dollars home, and the company swiftly ex- panded from its original store in Bea- con Hill to one upscale suburb after an- other. PHOTOS BY DINA RUDICK/GLOBE STAFF Marcos Rodrigues da Silva was drawn to Upper Crust for the wages, but grew to feel overworked and exploited. The Upper Crust pizza chain was, from the start, favored by foodies — and by scores of illegal workers from one Brazilian village. It was a bond that benefited all, until it suddenly didn’t. UPPER CRUST, Page A16 THE FAULT LINES UNDER THE CRUST 1

Transcript of Upper Crust

Page 1: Upper Crust

fghijklD e c e m b e r 5 , 2 0 1 0

L o t t e r y , P a g e B 2

Suggested retail price

$3.50$4.00 outside ofGreater Boston

*

V O L U M E 2 7 8N U M B E R 1 5 8

For breaking news, updated Globestories, and more, visit:

0 9 4 7 7 2 6 1

4 8 7 4 4

THE WIND IS NIGH

Today: Breezy and mostly cloudy.High 37-42. Low 28-33.

Tomorrow: Cloudy, windy, and cool.High 38-43. Low 28-33.

High Tide: 10:16 a.m. 10:57 p.m.Sunrise: 6:57 a.m. Sunset: 4:12 p.m.

Full Report: Page B12

The Improv Asylum has raisedabout $65,000 for Globe San-ta in the last six years, andorganizers hope this year’scomedymarathonwill bring in$30,000more.Metro, B4.

It remained unclear why thedriver of a bus lost con-sciousness as he drove UMassstudents to Canada to ski.Metro, B1.

V. Gene Robinson doesn’t planto lead a quiet life after heretires as bishop of the Episco-pal Diocese of NewHampshirein a couple of years, but insteadbe a busy advocate for the poorand vulnerable.Metro, B1.

The finances of some stateand local governments are sodistressed that analysts arereminded of the debt crisishitting nations in Europe.TheNation, A11.

‘‘You are wondering, ofcourse, what a politicallyconservative,mountain-bike-ridingex-president who stoppeddrinking after he foundChrist could possibly havein commonwith alicentious British rock starwho favors skull rings tocomplement his hardcoredruggie past? Myconclusion: More than youmight think.’’ Opinion, K10.

POINT OF VIEW:JOAN VENNOCHI

In the news

Have a news tip? [email protected] or call617-929-TIPS (8477). Othercontact information, B2. By Jenn Abelson

GLOBE STAFF

MARILAC, Brazil — In this remotevalley of sugarcane fields and cattlefarms, where horses and bicycles out-number cars and poverty binds thecommunity like mortar, people search-ing for a better life have one choice:They can leave town.

The most coveted destination haslong been Boston — more precisely,one high-end local pizza chain. Thepromise of a job at an Upper Crustshop, passed by word of mouth fromone villager to the next, offered the pos-sibility of wages unheard of in Marilac,

a community of 4,140 people in themountains of southeastern Brazil.

Over the past decade, dozens ofmen from Marilac have made the

7,500-mile trek, risking arrest, depor-tation, and, in rare cases, death. AndUpper Crust, founded by Sharon nativeJordan Tobins in 2001, welcomedthem.

Tobins needed lots of kitchen help;the Brazilians worked hard and didn’tcomplain about workweeks that rou-tinely stretched to 80 hours. Marilacprospered as Upper Crust’s immigrantemployees sent thousands of dollarshome, and the company swiftly ex-panded from its original store in Bea-con Hill to one upscale suburb after an-other.

THE FAULT LINESUNDER THE CRUST

PHOTOS BY DINA RUDICK/GLOBE STAFF

Marcos Rodrigues da Silva was drawn to Upper Crust for the wages, but grew to feel overworked and exploited.

The Upper Crust pizza chain was, from the start, favoredby foodies — and by scores of illegal workers from one Brazilianvillage. It was a bond that benefited all, until it suddenly didn’t.

UPPER CRUST, Page A16

Last Tuesday, JaniceMilley was alone in herhouse in Sudbury, typingout a Facebook message toher 23-year-old son, Lieu-tenant Scott Milley, anArmy Ranger in Afghani-stan.

‘‘Miss you,’’ she wrote.And then there was a knock at the door

and she looked through the glass and saw aflash of medals and a green uniform, andwouldn’t that be just like Scott, the prank-ster, the wise guy, to sneak home for a sur-prise visit.

Janice Milley flung open the door andfound two soldiers standing there, and nei-ther one of them was her son.

‘‘Fifteen minutes later, and I would havebeen home and we would have got the newstogether,’’ said her husband, Steve Milley.

Steve Milley sat on the couch in the fam-

ily room of the yellow house on BasswoodAvenue, his eyes red from lack of sleep,remembering a son who knew he was goingto be a soldier from the time he slid on a pairof camouflage pajamas as a 3-year-old.

Most kids outgrow the Army man thing.Scott Milley pursued it with seriousness andpurpose. He was born to be a soldier, born tobe a leader.

Sudbury is a picturesque, affluent townthat produces some of the best athletes and

A life lesson in duty, love, and hellish war

Army Lieutenant Scott Milley withhis parents, Janice and Steve.

Kevin Cullen

CULLEN, Page A12

By Marcella BombardieriGLOBE STAFF

Robert A. Mulligan, the state’s chief ad-ministrative judge, did nothing to veil thecontempt he felt for Probation Commis-sioner John J. O’Brien’s patronage ma-

chine.In letters to O’Brien

over the years, the judgeused words like ‘‘as-

tounded’’ and ‘‘incomprehensible’’ to de-scribe some the commissioner’s actions. Heraised questions about the candidate hiredafter being ranked 18th — out of 18 appli-cants — by the interviewer who would behis boss. About the person tacked on to alist of finalists after ‘‘an error in calcula-tions.’’ And about the hire whose lack of anassociate’s degree was excused because hehad been a supervisor at Sparkle Spot CarWash.

And yet Mulligan, like his predecessor,failed to stanch the flow of politically con-nected candidates who won jobs thatshould have gone to more deserving appli-cants.

The state’s top judges are now facingtough questions about whether they ful-filled their responsibilities to monitor thedepartment and rein in O’Brien, after inde-pendent counsel Paul F. Ware Jr.’s devastat-ing finding of corrupt hiring practices with-in the Probation Department and GovernorDeval Patrick’s bid to wrest control of theagency from the judiciary.

Indeed, O’Brien’s public defense has

Judgesstruggledto limitO’BrienRecord examined asPatrick seeks swayover probation

PROBATION, Page A10

SPOTLIGHTFOLLOW-UP

By Billy BakerGLOBE STAFF

MEDFORD — The attack came out ofnowhere.

In an instant, little Marisol was gone,and Toby, her buddy, was badly hurt.

They had been out with their dog walk-er, six dogs having a playdate in the Middle-sex Fells Reservation, when a pit bullcharged out of the woods and lunged forMarisol.

Toby, a normally timid golden retriever

mix, stepped in for his little friend and tooka beating, holding the pit bull off until itsowner finally appeared and punched hisdog off.

During the melee, Marisol fled into thewoods.

That was Nov. 2. Toby is slowly recover-ing. Marisol — a 3-year-old, 20-poundcopper-colored mutt — is still out there,and the search for her has become one ofthe most elaborate and high-tech evermounted for a missing dog.

On a fundamental level, it is a story ofinstinct and ability.

Andrew Sempere was at work when hegot the call telling him his dog was missing.He’s a researcher at the IBM Center forSocial Software, and he immediately calledhis wife, Anindita, whom he’d met whenthey were grad students at MIT.

Instinct said to go to their dog, so theSemperes went to the Fells, searched forhours, called Marisol’s name, and sang to

Desperately seeking Marisol, by all means, old and new

Marisol, 3, got lost in the MiddlesexFells Reservation on Nov. 2. MARISOL, Page A14

Senate Republicans de-railed legislation to ex-tend tax cuts at all butthe highest income levelsin a political showdownthatmay clear a path fora compromisewith theWhite House on steps toboost the economy.The Nation, A11.

Senate rejectsObama planon tax cuts

AVOIDING CONTRACTOR

RIP-OFFSYOUR HOME GLOBE MAGAZINE

ALSO:

SPORTS C1

DIVERSITY BOSTON: A SPECIAL MAGAZINE SECTION

Celebration as Gonzalez deal gets closerCOMPLETE COVERAGE OF THE HIGH SCHOOL SUPER BOWLS AT GILLETTE

fghijklD e c e m b e r 5 , 2 0 1 0

L o t t e r y , P a g e B 2

Suggested retail price

$3.50$4.00 outside ofGreater Boston

*

V O L U M E 2 7 8N U M B E R 1 5 8

For breaking news, updated Globestories, and more, visit:

0 9 4 7 7 2 6 1

4 8 7 4 4

THE WIND IS NIGH

Today: Breezy and mostly cloudy.High 37-42. Low 28-33.

Tomorrow: Cloudy, windy, and cool.High 38-43. Low 28-33.

High Tide: 10:16 a.m. 10:57 p.m.Sunrise: 6:57 a.m. Sunset: 4:12 p.m.

Full Report: Page B12

The Improv Asylum has raisedabout $65,000 for Globe San-ta in the last six years, andorganizers hope this year’scomedymarathonwill bring in$30,000more.Metro, B4.

It remained unclear why thedriver of a bus lost con-sciousness as he drove UMassstudents to Canada to ski.Metro, B1.

V. Gene Robinson doesn’t planto lead a quiet life after heretires as bishop of the Episco-pal Diocese of NewHampshirein a couple of years, but insteadbe a busy advocate for the poorand vulnerable.Metro, B1.

The finances of some stateand local governments are sodistressed that analysts arereminded of the debt crisishitting nations in Europe.TheNation, A11.

‘‘You are wondering, ofcourse, what a politicallyconservative,mountain-bike-ridingex-president who stoppeddrinking after he foundChrist could possibly havein commonwith alicentious British rock starwho favors skull rings tocomplement his hardcoredruggie past? Myconclusion: More than youmight think.’’ Opinion, K10.

POINT OF VIEW:JOAN VENNOCHI

In the news

Have a news tip? [email protected] or call617-929-TIPS (8477). Othercontact information, B2. By Jenn Abelson

GLOBE STAFF

MARILAC, Brazil — In this remotevalley of sugarcane fields and cattlefarms, where horses and bicycles out-number cars and poverty binds thecommunity like mortar, people search-ing for a better life have one choice:They can leave town.

The most coveted destination haslong been Boston — more precisely,one high-end local pizza chain. Thepromise of a job at an Upper Crustshop, passed by word of mouth fromone villager to the next, offered the pos-sibility of wages unheard of in Marilac,

a community of 4,140 people in themountains of southeastern Brazil.

Over the past decade, dozens ofmen from Marilac have made the

7,500-mile trek, risking arrest, depor-tation, and, in rare cases, death. AndUpper Crust, founded by Sharon nativeJordan Tobins in 2001, welcomedthem.

Tobins needed lots of kitchen help;the Brazilians worked hard and didn’tcomplain about workweeks that rou-tinely stretched to 80 hours. Marilacprospered as Upper Crust’s immigrantemployees sent thousands of dollarshome, and the company swiftly ex-panded from its original store in Bea-con Hill to one upscale suburb after an-other.

THE FAULT LINESUNDER THE CRUST

PHOTOS BY DINA RUDICK/GLOBE STAFF

Marcos Rodrigues da Silva was drawn to Upper Crust for the wages, but grew to feel overworked and exploited.

The Upper Crust pizza chain was, from the start, favoredby foodies — and by scores of illegal workers from one Brazilianvillage. It was a bond that benefited all, until it suddenly didn’t.

UPPER CRUST, Page A16

Last Tuesday, JaniceMilley was alone in herhouse in Sudbury, typingout a Facebook message toher 23-year-old son, Lieu-tenant Scott Milley, anArmy Ranger in Afghani-stan.

‘‘Miss you,’’ she wrote.And then there was a knock at the door

and she looked through the glass and saw aflash of medals and a green uniform, andwouldn’t that be just like Scott, the prank-ster, the wise guy, to sneak home for a sur-prise visit.

Janice Milley flung open the door andfound two soldiers standing there, and nei-ther one of them was her son.

‘‘Fifteen minutes later, and I would havebeen home and we would have got the newstogether,’’ said her husband, Steve Milley.

Steve Milley sat on the couch in the fam-

ily room of the yellow house on BasswoodAvenue, his eyes red from lack of sleep,remembering a son who knew he was goingto be a soldier from the time he slid on a pairof camouflage pajamas as a 3-year-old.

Most kids outgrow the Army man thing.Scott Milley pursued it with seriousness andpurpose. He was born to be a soldier, born tobe a leader.

Sudbury is a picturesque, affluent townthat produces some of the best athletes and

A life lesson in duty, love, and hellish war

Army Lieutenant Scott Milley withhis parents, Janice and Steve.

Kevin Cullen

CULLEN, Page A12

By Marcella BombardieriGLOBE STAFF

Robert A. Mulligan, the state’s chief ad-ministrative judge, did nothing to veil thecontempt he felt for Probation Commis-sioner John J. O’Brien’s patronage ma-

chine.In letters to O’Brien

over the years, the judgeused words like ‘‘as-

tounded’’ and ‘‘incomprehensible’’ to de-scribe some the commissioner’s actions. Heraised questions about the candidate hiredafter being ranked 18th — out of 18 appli-cants — by the interviewer who would behis boss. About the person tacked on to alist of finalists after ‘‘an error in calcula-tions.’’ And about the hire whose lack of anassociate’s degree was excused because hehad been a supervisor at Sparkle Spot CarWash.

And yet Mulligan, like his predecessor,failed to stanch the flow of politically con-nected candidates who won jobs thatshould have gone to more deserving appli-cants.

The state’s top judges are now facingtough questions about whether they ful-filled their responsibilities to monitor thedepartment and rein in O’Brien, after inde-pendent counsel Paul F. Ware Jr.’s devastat-ing finding of corrupt hiring practices with-in the Probation Department and GovernorDeval Patrick’s bid to wrest control of theagency from the judiciary.

Indeed, O’Brien’s public defense has

Judgesstruggledto limitO’BrienRecord examined asPatrick seeks swayover probation

PROBATION, Page A10

SPOTLIGHTFOLLOW-UP

By Billy BakerGLOBE STAFF

MEDFORD — The attack came out ofnowhere.

In an instant, little Marisol was gone,and Toby, her buddy, was badly hurt.

They had been out with their dog walk-er, six dogs having a playdate in the Middle-sex Fells Reservation, when a pit bullcharged out of the woods and lunged forMarisol.

Toby, a normally timid golden retriever

mix, stepped in for his little friend and tooka beating, holding the pit bull off until itsowner finally appeared and punched hisdog off.

During the melee, Marisol fled into thewoods.

That was Nov. 2. Toby is slowly recover-ing. Marisol — a 3-year-old, 20-poundcopper-colored mutt — is still out there,and the search for her has become one ofthe most elaborate and high-tech evermounted for a missing dog.

On a fundamental level, it is a story ofinstinct and ability.

Andrew Sempere was at work when hegot the call telling him his dog was missing.He’s a researcher at the IBM Center forSocial Software, and he immediately calledhis wife, Anindita, whom he’d met whenthey were grad students at MIT.

Instinct said to go to their dog, so theSemperes went to the Fells, searched forhours, called Marisol’s name, and sang to

Desperately seeking Marisol, by all means, old and new

Marisol, 3, got lost in the MiddlesexFells Reservation on Nov. 2. MARISOL, Page A14

Senate Republicans de-railed legislation to ex-tend tax cuts at all butthe highest income levelsin a political showdownthatmay clear a path fora compromisewith theWhite House on steps toboost the economy.The Nation, A11.

Senate rejectsObama planon tax cuts

AVOIDING CONTRACTOR

RIP-OFFSYOUR HOME GLOBE MAGAZINE

ALSO:

SPORTS C1

DIVERSITY BOSTON: A SPECIAL MAGAZINE SECTION

Celebration as Gonzalez deal gets closerCOMPLETE COVERAGE OF THE HIGH SCHOOL SUPER BOWLS AT GILLETTE

fghijklD e c e m b e r 5 , 2 0 1 0

L o t t e r y , P a g e B 2

Suggested retail price

$3.50$4.00 outside ofGreater Boston

*

V O L U M E 2 7 8N U M B E R 1 5 8

For breaking news, updated Globestories, and more, visit:

0 9 4 7 7 2 6 1

4 8 7 4 4

THE WIND IS NIGH

Today: Breezy and mostly cloudy.High 37-42. Low 28-33.

Tomorrow: Cloudy, windy, and cool.High 38-43. Low 28-33.

High Tide: 10:16 a.m. 10:57 p.m.Sunrise: 6:57 a.m. Sunset: 4:12 p.m.

Full Report: Page B12

The Improv Asylum has raisedabout $65,000 for Globe San-ta in the last six years, andorganizers hope this year’scomedymarathonwill bring in$30,000more.Metro, B4.

It remained unclear why thedriver of a bus lost con-sciousness as he drove UMassstudents to Canada to ski.Metro, B1.

V. Gene Robinson doesn’t planto lead a quiet life after heretires as bishop of the Episco-pal Diocese of NewHampshirein a couple of years, but insteadbe a busy advocate for the poorand vulnerable.Metro, B1.

The finances of some stateand local governments are sodistressed that analysts arereminded of the debt crisishitting nations in Europe.TheNation, A11.

‘‘You are wondering, ofcourse, what a politicallyconservative,mountain-bike-ridingex-president who stoppeddrinking after he foundChrist could possibly havein commonwith alicentious British rock starwho favors skull rings tocomplement his hardcoredruggie past? Myconclusion: More than youmight think.’’ Opinion, K10.

POINT OF VIEW:JOAN VENNOCHI

In the news

Have a news tip? [email protected] or call617-929-TIPS (8477). Othercontact information, B2. By Jenn Abelson

GLOBE STAFF

MARILAC, Brazil — In this remotevalley of sugarcane fields and cattlefarms, where horses and bicycles out-number cars and poverty binds thecommunity like mortar, people search-ing for a better life have one choice:They can leave town.

The most coveted destination haslong been Boston — more precisely,one high-end local pizza chain. Thepromise of a job at an Upper Crustshop, passed by word of mouth fromone villager to the next, offered the pos-sibility of wages unheard of in Marilac,

a community of 4,140 people in themountains of southeastern Brazil.

Over the past decade, dozens ofmen from Marilac have made the

7,500-mile trek, risking arrest, depor-tation, and, in rare cases, death. AndUpper Crust, founded by Sharon nativeJordan Tobins in 2001, welcomedthem.

Tobins needed lots of kitchen help;the Brazilians worked hard and didn’tcomplain about workweeks that rou-tinely stretched to 80 hours. Marilacprospered as Upper Crust’s immigrantemployees sent thousands of dollarshome, and the company swiftly ex-panded from its original store in Bea-con Hill to one upscale suburb after an-other.

THE FAULT LINESUNDER THE CRUST

PHOTOS BY DINA RUDICK/GLOBE STAFF

Marcos Rodrigues da Silva was drawn to Upper Crust for the wages, but grew to feel overworked and exploited.

The Upper Crust pizza chain was, from the start, favoredby foodies — and by scores of illegal workers from one Brazilianvillage. It was a bond that benefited all, until it suddenly didn’t.

UPPER CRUST, Page A16

Last Tuesday, JaniceMilley was alone in herhouse in Sudbury, typingout a Facebook message toher 23-year-old son, Lieu-tenant Scott Milley, anArmy Ranger in Afghani-stan.

‘‘Miss you,’’ she wrote.And then there was a knock at the door

and she looked through the glass and saw aflash of medals and a green uniform, andwouldn’t that be just like Scott, the prank-ster, the wise guy, to sneak home for a sur-prise visit.

Janice Milley flung open the door andfound two soldiers standing there, and nei-ther one of them was her son.

‘‘Fifteen minutes later, and I would havebeen home and we would have got the newstogether,’’ said her husband, Steve Milley.

Steve Milley sat on the couch in the fam-

ily room of the yellow house on BasswoodAvenue, his eyes red from lack of sleep,remembering a son who knew he was goingto be a soldier from the time he slid on a pairof camouflage pajamas as a 3-year-old.

Most kids outgrow the Army man thing.Scott Milley pursued it with seriousness andpurpose. He was born to be a soldier, born tobe a leader.

Sudbury is a picturesque, affluent townthat produces some of the best athletes and

A life lesson in duty, love, and hellish war

Army Lieutenant Scott Milley withhis parents, Janice and Steve.

Kevin Cullen

CULLEN, Page A12

By Marcella BombardieriGLOBE STAFF

Robert A. Mulligan, the state’s chief ad-ministrative judge, did nothing to veil thecontempt he felt for Probation Commis-sioner John J. O’Brien’s patronage ma-

chine.In letters to O’Brien

over the years, the judgeused words like ‘‘as-

tounded’’ and ‘‘incomprehensible’’ to de-scribe some the commissioner’s actions. Heraised questions about the candidate hiredafter being ranked 18th — out of 18 appli-cants — by the interviewer who would behis boss. About the person tacked on to alist of finalists after ‘‘an error in calcula-tions.’’ And about the hire whose lack of anassociate’s degree was excused because hehad been a supervisor at Sparkle Spot CarWash.

And yet Mulligan, like his predecessor,failed to stanch the flow of politically con-nected candidates who won jobs thatshould have gone to more deserving appli-cants.

The state’s top judges are now facingtough questions about whether they ful-filled their responsibilities to monitor thedepartment and rein in O’Brien, after inde-pendent counsel Paul F. Ware Jr.’s devastat-ing finding of corrupt hiring practices with-in the Probation Department and GovernorDeval Patrick’s bid to wrest control of theagency from the judiciary.

Indeed, O’Brien’s public defense has

Judgesstruggledto limitO’BrienRecord examined asPatrick seeks swayover probation

PROBATION, Page A10

SPOTLIGHTFOLLOW-UP

By Billy BakerGLOBE STAFF

MEDFORD — The attack came out ofnowhere.

In an instant, little Marisol was gone,and Toby, her buddy, was badly hurt.

They had been out with their dog walk-er, six dogs having a playdate in the Middle-sex Fells Reservation, when a pit bullcharged out of the woods and lunged forMarisol.

Toby, a normally timid golden retriever

mix, stepped in for his little friend and tooka beating, holding the pit bull off until itsowner finally appeared and punched hisdog off.

During the melee, Marisol fled into thewoods.

That was Nov. 2. Toby is slowly recover-ing. Marisol — a 3-year-old, 20-poundcopper-colored mutt — is still out there,and the search for her has become one ofthe most elaborate and high-tech evermounted for a missing dog.

On a fundamental level, it is a story ofinstinct and ability.

Andrew Sempere was at work when hegot the call telling him his dog was missing.He’s a researcher at the IBM Center forSocial Software, and he immediately calledhis wife, Anindita, whom he’d met whenthey were grad students at MIT.

Instinct said to go to their dog, so theSemperes went to the Fells, searched forhours, called Marisol’s name, and sang to

Desperately seeking Marisol, by all means, old and new

Marisol, 3, got lost in the MiddlesexFells Reservation on Nov. 2. MARISOL, Page A14

Senate Republicans de-railed legislation to ex-tend tax cuts at all butthe highest income levelsin a political showdownthatmay clear a path fora compromisewith theWhite House on steps toboost the economy.The Nation, A11.

Senate rejectsObama planon tax cuts

AVOIDING CONTRACTOR

RIP-OFFSYOUR HOME GLOBE MAGAZINE

ALSO:

SPORTS C1

DIVERSITY BOSTON: A SPECIAL MAGAZINE SECTION

Celebration as Gonzalez deal gets closerCOMPLETE COVERAGE OF THE HIGH SCHOOL SUPER BOWLS AT GILLETTE

1

Page 2: Upper Crust

DECEMBER 5 , 2010

A16 The Region D E C E M B E R 5 , 2 0 1 0B O S T O N S U N D A Y G L O B E

Over time, however, this ami-cable but unlawful relationshipwould unravel. Documents froma recent class action lawsuitshow that as Tobins expanded hispizza empire, he began to exploithis immigrant workers. The em-ployees took their complaints tothe US Department of Labor,which ordered the chain to doleout hundreds of thousands ofdollars in back pay. The depart-ment is now investigating wageviolations at Upper Crust for asecond time.

Meanwhile, in dusty Marilac,some fear a reliable source of in-come used to build farms andbusinesses and houses will van-ish. Others say the village will bebetter off without the pizza mon-ey and the sacrifices it requires.

‘‘We were the ones who madeUpper Crust as big and as rich asthey are, but I suffered verymuch,’’ said Washington ‘‘Chico’’Rodrigues da Silva, who followedhis brother Marcos from Marilacto Boston in 2003. With the mon-ey they earned at the second Up-per Crust store, in Brookline, thesiblings paid $35,000 to buy theirfamily in Marilac a small avo-cado-colored house. But plans tostart their own business wereabandoned after Marcos was de-ported. Since returning to Mari-lac last fall, Chico has spent hisdays milking cows and herdingcattle, and lacks a steady income.

‘‘They took advantage of me,but not only me — everyone,’’Chico said through a translator.‘‘I felt humiliated that I work andwork and I was not valued.’’

George Regan, a spokesmanfor Upper Crust, said allegationsof exploitation are unfounded.

‘‘This comes as a shock,’’ Re-gan said. ‘‘All of our workers aretreated with respect.’’

. . .

IN THE BEGINNING, the ar-rangement between Marilacand Upper Crust seemed just

right, at least to those willing torisk the illegal passage and fur-tive toil.

Pedro Chaves de Souza wasamong the first to come. Heslipped over the Mexican borderin March 2001 and came to Bos-ton looking for work. A cousin in-troduced him to Tobins, who hadjust opened a pizza shop onCharles Street, in Boston’s Bea-con Hill neighborhood. De Souzalanded a job preparing vegeta-bles in the kitchen. He earnedabout $8 an hour — well over theminimum wage at the time —and far more than he madeworking at a butcher shop in Ma-rilac.

Word of employment oppor-tunities at Upper Crust spread.Others from Marilac began arriv-ing. It felt like a family for theBrazilians in the shop. Tobinsand other managers worked sideby side with them, spinningdough and delivering pizzas onbicycles.

It typically took a year of gru-eling six- and seven-day work-weeks for the illegal immigrantsto pay off the $10,000 to thesmugglers who arranged theirjourney. After the obligation wassettled, the men would send hun-dreds of dollars each month tofamily back in Marilac. Jose daSilva built a bakery and a housein just a few years, Jose Bentosaved his troubled butcher shopon Rua Rio De Janeiro, and Pe-dro Chaves de Souza bought landand some cows on the outskirtsof town.

Marilac provided a pipeline ofcheap, dedicated workers for Up-per Crust. In 2002, Luciano Bo-telho arrived with a decent com-mand of English and an easysmile. Tobins tapped the Marilacnative to oversee the hiring of thecooks and delivery workers whowould become the backbone ofthe operation. Botelho, who isstill employed by Upper Crust,declined to comment for thisstory.

‘‘[Botelho] has always beencompetent and dedicated,’’ Re-gan said. ‘‘He was never asked tolocate employees from a particu-lar area, but it is hardly surpris-ing that he would know morepeople from the area where hecame from. Any person recom-mended for employment by himwould have to be considered seri-ously.’’

As the business grew, moremen in Marilac left behind girl-friends, fiancées, wives, and chil-dren to come to Boston, accord-ing to interviews with about 30

former workers and relatives ofcurrent and former workers.They easily found smugglers —called coyotes — to arrange theirtrip from Brazil: the bus to SaoPaulo, a short stay in Mexico City,and, finally, the border crossing— sometimes in an inner tubeacross the Rio Grande. Overtime, at least 80 men from Mari-lac set up a colony of sorts in EastBoston. Many lived together incrowded apartments near Mav-erick Square. Botelho, the inspi-ration for the ‘‘Lucky Luciano’’Brazilian pizza on Upper Crust’smenu, frequently put up new ar-rivals at his home and gave themfood and clothing.

‘‘I wanted to have a better fu-ture than I had if I stayed in Bra-zil,’’ said Dimas da Silva, whosaid he crossed through Mexicounder the floorboards of a pickuptruck, hiding among cans of gas-oline to mask his scent from thetrained dogs used by US borderguards. ‘‘In USA, you can workhard and stay there for a fewyears saving money, and you cancome back to Brazil and have anice life.’’

Da Silva said that he beganworking at Upper Crust just afew days after arriving in Bostonin 2003, and that within fouryears he had made enough mon-ey to buy apartments to rent outin Sao Paulo and to build an ex-pansive house in Marilac withporcelain tile floors, crown mold-ing, and the only green lawn intown. To this point, the UpperCrust story was not an unusualone at a time when many smallbusinesses in America, especiallyin the restaurant industry, relyon illegal labor. The risks of expo-sure are small: There are roughly11 million illegal immigrants inthe country, including about160,000 in Massachusetts, and itis impossible for authorities tocheck every workplace.

But then things soured, andthe chain’s Brazilian laborerstook a rare step: They foughtback.

. . .

UPPER CRUST began to cutcorners on labor costs asit grappled with expan-

sion, said Patrick Joyce, a formeroperations manager who workedat Upper Crust for seven years.The immigrants say they took onmore hours. The bonuses andemployee parties that had sweet-ened the job ended, and requestsfor raises were regularly rejected.The Brazilian currency — calledthe real — was also gettingstronger, so the workers’ dollarsdidn’t go as far back home.

At the same time, some of theAmericans who staffed thechain’s counters and worked asmanagers received raises, theysay. Tobins prospered more visi-bly, using his newfound wealth topay for expensive cars, a fancyboat, and even a private plane.

‘‘The stakes got higher, and itgot more cutthroat,’’ said Joyce,who said he left in June after be-coming frustrated by the work-ing conditions. ‘‘It was unbear-able.’’

For its Hingham restaurant,the fifth to open, Upper Crust setup an apartment for the immi-grants near the shop, accordingto Joyce, who collected rent incash from workers, then paid thebuilding’s landlord with a checkfrom the store’s account.

Valdeir Pereira Pinto, 27, wasa member of the group that livedin Hingham. In 2006, he left hisMarilac home — a pink concretestructure with gaping holes likemissing teeth where there shouldhave been windows — and cameto the South Shore town, one ofthe wealthiest suburbs in Massa-chusetts. He quickly found hisnew living arrangements werenot much of an improvement ov-

er what he left behind.Pinto was one of six workers

crammed into a two-bedroomapartment. They paid about$1,200 total in monthly rent toUpper Crust, but spent mostwaking hours at the small pizzashop — a five-minute walk away.They rarely saw their Marilacfriends in Boston.

‘‘I just worked all the time, 80hours and sometimes more,’’ Pin-to said. ‘‘They said they were toobusy, and, ‘I can’t give you [time]off; you must work.’ I was verytired.’’

Sergio Soares Lima Filho Jr.and Marcos Rodrigues da Silvawere more than tired. They wereupset after finding out illegalworkers at some other area res-taurants were receiving time anda half after 40 hours. UpperCrust’s practice was to write onecheck for a worker’s first 40hours, and an additional check,at the same rate, to cover extrahours. Some workers said theywere paid entirely in cash.

Filho and da Silva decided to

meet with a lawyer to figure outtheir options. Then da Silvaasked Botelho — the go-to guy toget Tobins’s attention — to ar-range a meeting in the winter of2006 at the Brookline restaurantin Coolidge Corner.

Da Silva, who entered thecountry with a fake passport hebought in Portugal, told Tobinsthat employees were planning tostrike unless they received raisesor overtime pay. Tobins becameincensed. They didn’t have anyrights, he shouted, according tothree former workers and a man-ager present at the meeting. Ifthey wanted more money, Tobinssaid, they should find anotherjob. Then he fired da Silva andFilho on the spot.

‘‘Marcos and I cried because[Tobins] said we were selfish,’’ re-called Filho, speaking in his na-tive Portuguese. His father, a Ma-rilac native, followed him toUpper Crust.

A few hours later, Botelhocalled da Silva. He and Filho stillhad jobs if they wanted them, Bo-telho said. The men said they re-turned to work because they hadbills to pay in Boston and fam-ilies in Marilac who needed mon-ey. Besides, they believed their il-legal status made them beholdento an employer who they saidhad repeatedly threatened to callimmigration officials.

So they devised a plan. Da Sil-va and his relatives, including hisuncle Edmar da Silva, beganputting away of thousands of dol-lars that they hoped one daywould finance their own pizzashop in Massachusetts.

‘‘I just dream about leavingUpper Crust and getting a betterplace to work,’’ Marcos Rodriguesda Silva said.

They thought they had founda way out a few months later,when a Brazilian man stopped bythe Brookline restaurant andhanded da Silva the phone num-ber of someone who he saidcould sell them an authenticgreen card, permanent residentidentification that authorizes a

foreigner to live and work in theUnited States. But it was part ofan immigration sting. Da Silvawas arrested in August 2007,along with Botelho and other ille-gal Upper Crust workers whohad tried to buy immigrationdocuments. Da Silva spent eightmonths in prison before beingdeported in 2008.

Da Silva and Filho ‘‘were nev-er threatened or fired, and theycontinued to work for the com-pany until they were arrested,’’Regan said.

After the arrests, Joyce, theoperations manager, said Tobinstold him to meet with a lawyerwho could help get Botelho out ofjail. While the other workers ac-cused of being in the UnitedStates illegally fled or have sincebeen deported, Botelho receiveda voluntary order of departure,according to the Department ofHomeland Security, whichmeans he has a designatedamount of time to leave the Unit-ed States. He is currently appeal-ing to stay in the country longer.

Regan said the deportationshad nothing to do with the res-taurants.

‘‘This case did not involve thecompany,’’ he said. ‘‘A couple ofthe company’s employees werecharged as part of this sting anddeported. [Botelho] was notcharged and thus was not de-ported.’’

. . .

BY 2009, despite a deepen-ing recession, Upper Crustwas on a tear. It had 14

stores, a plan to open three more,and projected annual sales of upto $16 million, Tobins said in aninterview with the Globe at thetime. But the chain’s team ofworkers did not expand as quick-ly. To make up for the shortage ofhelp, cooks were often rotatedbetween stores and worked up to100 hours a week to fill the gaps,according to Greg Goncharov, aformer business manager at twoof the chain’s restaurants.

The stores were adequatelystaffed, Regan said.

‘‘I was so exhausted; I thoughtI wouldn’t make it there andcome back,’’ Luis Lucas da Silvasaid through a translator. TheMarilac native returned to Brazillast fall after working doubleshifts for several years. ‘‘My bodycouldn’t take it anymore. Icouldn’t even take my feet off theground.’’

Eventually, some of the em-ployees summoned the courageto report Upper Crust to labor of-ficials. That set off a firestorm atthe chain.

Federal labor laws requireemployers to pay workers over-time, even if the workers are inthe country illegally. The law isintended to dissuade companiesfrom hiring such workers as away to scrimp on payroll.

The Labor Department began

Harmony gives way to exploitation chargeº UPPER CRUSTContinued from Page A1

Continued on next page

PHOTOS BY DINA RUDICK/GLOBE STAFF

Many families in the small town of Marilac in southeastern Brazil have relied heavily on money sent by illegal immigrants working in Upper Crust stores.

Jose Bento worked behind the counter of the butcher shop he helped save using money heearned while employed at one of the pizza chain’s Massachusetts locations.

‘They tookadvantage ofme, but notonly me—everyone. I felthumiliatedthat I workand work andI was notvalued.’

WASHINGTON‘CHICO’ RODRIGUESDA SILVA

UPPER CRUST THE UNDERSIDEA16 The Region D E C E M B E R 5 , 2 0 1 0B O S T O N S U N D A Y G L O B E

Over time, however, this ami-cable but unlawful relationshipwould unravel. Documents froma recent class action lawsuitshow that as Tobins expanded hispizza empire, he began to exploithis immigrant workers. The em-ployees took their complaints tothe US Department of Labor,which ordered the chain to doleout hundreds of thousands ofdollars in back pay. The depart-ment is now investigating wageviolations at Upper Crust for asecond time.

Meanwhile, in dusty Marilac,some fear a reliable source of in-come used to build farms andbusinesses and houses will van-ish. Others say the village will bebetter off without the pizza mon-ey and the sacrifices it requires.

‘‘We were the ones who madeUpper Crust as big and as rich asthey are, but I suffered verymuch,’’ said Washington ‘‘Chico’’Rodrigues da Silva, who followedhis brother Marcos from Marilacto Boston in 2003. With the mon-ey they earned at the second Up-per Crust store, in Brookline, thesiblings paid $35,000 to buy theirfamily in Marilac a small avo-cado-colored house. But plans tostart their own business wereabandoned after Marcos was de-ported. Since returning to Mari-lac last fall, Chico has spent hisdays milking cows and herdingcattle, and lacks a steady income.

‘‘They took advantage of me,but not only me — everyone,’’Chico said through a translator.‘‘I felt humiliated that I work andwork and I was not valued.’’

George Regan, a spokesmanfor Upper Crust, said allegationsof exploitation are unfounded.

‘‘This comes as a shock,’’ Re-gan said. ‘‘All of our workers aretreated with respect.’’

. . .

IN THE BEGINNING, the ar-rangement between Marilacand Upper Crust seemed just

right, at least to those willing torisk the illegal passage and fur-tive toil.

Pedro Chaves de Souza wasamong the first to come. Heslipped over the Mexican borderin March 2001 and came to Bos-ton looking for work. A cousin in-troduced him to Tobins, who hadjust opened a pizza shop onCharles Street, in Boston’s Bea-con Hill neighborhood. De Souzalanded a job preparing vegeta-bles in the kitchen. He earnedabout $8 an hour — well over theminimum wage at the time —and far more than he madeworking at a butcher shop in Ma-rilac.

Word of employment oppor-tunities at Upper Crust spread.Others from Marilac began arriv-ing. It felt like a family for theBrazilians in the shop. Tobinsand other managers worked sideby side with them, spinningdough and delivering pizzas onbicycles.

It typically took a year of gru-eling six- and seven-day work-weeks for the illegal immigrantsto pay off the $10,000 to thesmugglers who arranged theirjourney. After the obligation wassettled, the men would send hun-dreds of dollars each month tofamily back in Marilac. Jose daSilva built a bakery and a housein just a few years, Jose Bentosaved his troubled butcher shopon Rua Rio De Janeiro, and Pe-dro Chaves de Souza bought landand some cows on the outskirtsof town.

Marilac provided a pipeline ofcheap, dedicated workers for Up-per Crust. In 2002, Luciano Bo-telho arrived with a decent com-mand of English and an easysmile. Tobins tapped the Marilacnative to oversee the hiring of thecooks and delivery workers whowould become the backbone ofthe operation. Botelho, who isstill employed by Upper Crust,declined to comment for thisstory.

‘‘[Botelho] has always beencompetent and dedicated,’’ Re-gan said. ‘‘He was never asked tolocate employees from a particu-lar area, but it is hardly surpris-ing that he would know morepeople from the area where hecame from. Any person recom-mended for employment by himwould have to be considered seri-ously.’’

As the business grew, moremen in Marilac left behind girl-friends, fiancées, wives, and chil-dren to come to Boston, accord-ing to interviews with about 30

former workers and relatives ofcurrent and former workers.They easily found smugglers —called coyotes — to arrange theirtrip from Brazil: the bus to SaoPaulo, a short stay in Mexico City,and, finally, the border crossing— sometimes in an inner tubeacross the Rio Grande. Overtime, at least 80 men from Mari-lac set up a colony of sorts in EastBoston. Many lived together incrowded apartments near Mav-erick Square. Botelho, the inspi-ration for the ‘‘Lucky Luciano’’Brazilian pizza on Upper Crust’smenu, frequently put up new ar-rivals at his home and gave themfood and clothing.

‘‘I wanted to have a better fu-ture than I had if I stayed in Bra-zil,’’ said Dimas da Silva, whosaid he crossed through Mexicounder the floorboards of a pickuptruck, hiding among cans of gas-oline to mask his scent from thetrained dogs used by US borderguards. ‘‘In USA, you can workhard and stay there for a fewyears saving money, and you cancome back to Brazil and have anice life.’’

Da Silva said that he beganworking at Upper Crust just afew days after arriving in Bostonin 2003, and that within fouryears he had made enough mon-ey to buy apartments to rent outin Sao Paulo and to build an ex-pansive house in Marilac withporcelain tile floors, crown mold-ing, and the only green lawn intown. To this point, the UpperCrust story was not an unusualone at a time when many smallbusinesses in America, especiallyin the restaurant industry, relyon illegal labor. The risks of expo-sure are small: There are roughly11 million illegal immigrants inthe country, including about160,000 in Massachusetts, and itis impossible for authorities tocheck every workplace.

But then things soured, andthe chain’s Brazilian laborerstook a rare step: They foughtback.

. . .

UPPER CRUST began to cutcorners on labor costs asit grappled with expan-

sion, said Patrick Joyce, a formeroperations manager who workedat Upper Crust for seven years.The immigrants say they took onmore hours. The bonuses andemployee parties that had sweet-ened the job ended, and requestsfor raises were regularly rejected.The Brazilian currency — calledthe real — was also gettingstronger, so the workers’ dollarsdidn’t go as far back home.

At the same time, some of theAmericans who staffed thechain’s counters and worked asmanagers received raises, theysay. Tobins prospered more visi-bly, using his newfound wealth topay for expensive cars, a fancyboat, and even a private plane.

‘‘The stakes got higher, and itgot more cutthroat,’’ said Joyce,who said he left in June after be-coming frustrated by the work-ing conditions. ‘‘It was unbear-able.’’

For its Hingham restaurant,the fifth to open, Upper Crust setup an apartment for the immi-grants near the shop, accordingto Joyce, who collected rent incash from workers, then paid thebuilding’s landlord with a checkfrom the store’s account.

Valdeir Pereira Pinto, 27, wasa member of the group that livedin Hingham. In 2006, he left hisMarilac home — a pink concretestructure with gaping holes likemissing teeth where there shouldhave been windows — and cameto the South Shore town, one ofthe wealthiest suburbs in Massa-chusetts. He quickly found hisnew living arrangements werenot much of an improvement ov-

er what he left behind.Pinto was one of six workers

crammed into a two-bedroomapartment. They paid about$1,200 total in monthly rent toUpper Crust, but spent mostwaking hours at the small pizzashop — a five-minute walk away.They rarely saw their Marilacfriends in Boston.

‘‘I just worked all the time, 80hours and sometimes more,’’ Pin-to said. ‘‘They said they were toobusy, and, ‘I can’t give you [time]off; you must work.’ I was verytired.’’

Sergio Soares Lima Filho Jr.and Marcos Rodrigues da Silvawere more than tired. They wereupset after finding out illegalworkers at some other area res-taurants were receiving time anda half after 40 hours. UpperCrust’s practice was to write onecheck for a worker’s first 40hours, and an additional check,at the same rate, to cover extrahours. Some workers said theywere paid entirely in cash.

Filho and da Silva decided to

meet with a lawyer to figure outtheir options. Then da Silvaasked Botelho — the go-to guy toget Tobins’s attention — to ar-range a meeting in the winter of2006 at the Brookline restaurantin Coolidge Corner.

Da Silva, who entered thecountry with a fake passport hebought in Portugal, told Tobinsthat employees were planning tostrike unless they received raisesor overtime pay. Tobins becameincensed. They didn’t have anyrights, he shouted, according tothree former workers and a man-ager present at the meeting. Ifthey wanted more money, Tobinssaid, they should find anotherjob. Then he fired da Silva andFilho on the spot.

‘‘Marcos and I cried because[Tobins] said we were selfish,’’ re-called Filho, speaking in his na-tive Portuguese. His father, a Ma-rilac native, followed him toUpper Crust.

A few hours later, Botelhocalled da Silva. He and Filho stillhad jobs if they wanted them, Bo-telho said. The men said they re-turned to work because they hadbills to pay in Boston and fam-ilies in Marilac who needed mon-ey. Besides, they believed their il-legal status made them beholdento an employer who they saidhad repeatedly threatened to callimmigration officials.

So they devised a plan. Da Sil-va and his relatives, including hisuncle Edmar da Silva, beganputting away of thousands of dol-lars that they hoped one daywould finance their own pizzashop in Massachusetts.

‘‘I just dream about leavingUpper Crust and getting a betterplace to work,’’ Marcos Rodriguesda Silva said.

They thought they had founda way out a few months later,when a Brazilian man stopped bythe Brookline restaurant andhanded da Silva the phone num-ber of someone who he saidcould sell them an authenticgreen card, permanent residentidentification that authorizes a

foreigner to live and work in theUnited States. But it was part ofan immigration sting. Da Silvawas arrested in August 2007,along with Botelho and other ille-gal Upper Crust workers whohad tried to buy immigrationdocuments. Da Silva spent eightmonths in prison before beingdeported in 2008.

Da Silva and Filho ‘‘were nev-er threatened or fired, and theycontinued to work for the com-pany until they were arrested,’’Regan said.

After the arrests, Joyce, theoperations manager, said Tobinstold him to meet with a lawyerwho could help get Botelho out ofjail. While the other workers ac-cused of being in the UnitedStates illegally fled or have sincebeen deported, Botelho receiveda voluntary order of departure,according to the Department ofHomeland Security, whichmeans he has a designatedamount of time to leave the Unit-ed States. He is currently appeal-ing to stay in the country longer.

Regan said the deportationshad nothing to do with the res-taurants.

‘‘This case did not involve thecompany,’’ he said. ‘‘A couple ofthe company’s employees werecharged as part of this sting anddeported. [Botelho] was notcharged and thus was not de-ported.’’

. . .

BY 2009, despite a deepen-ing recession, Upper Crustwas on a tear. It had 14

stores, a plan to open three more,and projected annual sales of upto $16 million, Tobins said in aninterview with the Globe at thetime. But the chain’s team ofworkers did not expand as quick-ly. To make up for the shortage ofhelp, cooks were often rotatedbetween stores and worked up to100 hours a week to fill the gaps,according to Greg Goncharov, aformer business manager at twoof the chain’s restaurants.

The stores were adequatelystaffed, Regan said.

‘‘I was so exhausted; I thoughtI wouldn’t make it there andcome back,’’ Luis Lucas da Silvasaid through a translator. TheMarilac native returned to Brazillast fall after working doubleshifts for several years. ‘‘My bodycouldn’t take it anymore. Icouldn’t even take my feet off theground.’’

Eventually, some of the em-ployees summoned the courageto report Upper Crust to labor of-ficials. That set off a firestorm atthe chain.

Federal labor laws requireemployers to pay workers over-time, even if the workers are inthe country illegally. The law isintended to dissuade companiesfrom hiring such workers as away to scrimp on payroll.

The Labor Department began

Harmony gives way to exploitation chargeº UPPER CRUSTContinued from Page A1

Continued on next page

PHOTOS BY DINA RUDICK/GLOBE STAFF

Many families in the small town of Marilac in southeastern Brazil have relied heavily on money sent by illegal immigrants working in Upper Crust stores.

Jose Bento worked behind the counter of the butcher shop he helped save using money heearned while employed at one of the pizza chain’s Massachusetts locations.

‘They tookadvantage ofme, but notonly me—everyone. I felthumiliatedthat I workand work andI was notvalued.’

WASHINGTON‘CHICO’ RODRIGUESDA SILVA

UPPER CRUST THE UNDERSIDE

A16 The Region D E C E M B E R 5 , 2 0 1 0B O S T O N S U N D A Y G L O B E

Over time, however, this ami-cable but unlawful relationshipwould unravel. Documents froma recent class action lawsuitshow that as Tobins expanded hispizza empire, he began to exploithis immigrant workers. The em-ployees took their complaints tothe US Department of Labor,which ordered the chain to doleout hundreds of thousands ofdollars in back pay. The depart-ment is now investigating wageviolations at Upper Crust for asecond time.

Meanwhile, in dusty Marilac,some fear a reliable source of in-come used to build farms andbusinesses and houses will van-ish. Others say the village will bebetter off without the pizza mon-ey and the sacrifices it requires.

‘‘We were the ones who madeUpper Crust as big and as rich asthey are, but I suffered verymuch,’’ said Washington ‘‘Chico’’Rodrigues da Silva, who followedhis brother Marcos from Marilacto Boston in 2003. With the mon-ey they earned at the second Up-per Crust store, in Brookline, thesiblings paid $35,000 to buy theirfamily in Marilac a small avo-cado-colored house. But plans tostart their own business wereabandoned after Marcos was de-ported. Since returning to Mari-lac last fall, Chico has spent hisdays milking cows and herdingcattle, and lacks a steady income.

‘‘They took advantage of me,but not only me — everyone,’’Chico said through a translator.‘‘I felt humiliated that I work andwork and I was not valued.’’

George Regan, a spokesmanfor Upper Crust, said allegationsof exploitation are unfounded.

‘‘This comes as a shock,’’ Re-gan said. ‘‘All of our workers aretreated with respect.’’

. . .

IN THE BEGINNING, the ar-rangement between Marilacand Upper Crust seemed just

right, at least to those willing torisk the illegal passage and fur-tive toil.

Pedro Chaves de Souza wasamong the first to come. Heslipped over the Mexican borderin March 2001 and came to Bos-ton looking for work. A cousin in-troduced him to Tobins, who hadjust opened a pizza shop onCharles Street, in Boston’s Bea-con Hill neighborhood. De Souzalanded a job preparing vegeta-bles in the kitchen. He earnedabout $8 an hour — well over theminimum wage at the time —and far more than he madeworking at a butcher shop in Ma-rilac.

Word of employment oppor-tunities at Upper Crust spread.Others from Marilac began arriv-ing. It felt like a family for theBrazilians in the shop. Tobinsand other managers worked sideby side with them, spinningdough and delivering pizzas onbicycles.

It typically took a year of gru-eling six- and seven-day work-weeks for the illegal immigrantsto pay off the $10,000 to thesmugglers who arranged theirjourney. After the obligation wassettled, the men would send hun-dreds of dollars each month tofamily back in Marilac. Jose daSilva built a bakery and a housein just a few years, Jose Bentosaved his troubled butcher shopon Rua Rio De Janeiro, and Pe-dro Chaves de Souza bought landand some cows on the outskirtsof town.

Marilac provided a pipeline ofcheap, dedicated workers for Up-per Crust. In 2002, Luciano Bo-telho arrived with a decent com-mand of English and an easysmile. Tobins tapped the Marilacnative to oversee the hiring of thecooks and delivery workers whowould become the backbone ofthe operation. Botelho, who isstill employed by Upper Crust,declined to comment for thisstory.

‘‘[Botelho] has always beencompetent and dedicated,’’ Re-gan said. ‘‘He was never asked tolocate employees from a particu-lar area, but it is hardly surpris-ing that he would know morepeople from the area where hecame from. Any person recom-mended for employment by himwould have to be considered seri-ously.’’

As the business grew, moremen in Marilac left behind girl-friends, fiancées, wives, and chil-dren to come to Boston, accord-ing to interviews with about 30

former workers and relatives ofcurrent and former workers.They easily found smugglers —called coyotes — to arrange theirtrip from Brazil: the bus to SaoPaulo, a short stay in Mexico City,and, finally, the border crossing— sometimes in an inner tubeacross the Rio Grande. Overtime, at least 80 men from Mari-lac set up a colony of sorts in EastBoston. Many lived together incrowded apartments near Mav-erick Square. Botelho, the inspi-ration for the ‘‘Lucky Luciano’’Brazilian pizza on Upper Crust’smenu, frequently put up new ar-rivals at his home and gave themfood and clothing.

‘‘I wanted to have a better fu-ture than I had if I stayed in Bra-zil,’’ said Dimas da Silva, whosaid he crossed through Mexicounder the floorboards of a pickuptruck, hiding among cans of gas-oline to mask his scent from thetrained dogs used by US borderguards. ‘‘In USA, you can workhard and stay there for a fewyears saving money, and you cancome back to Brazil and have anice life.’’

Da Silva said that he beganworking at Upper Crust just afew days after arriving in Bostonin 2003, and that within fouryears he had made enough mon-ey to buy apartments to rent outin Sao Paulo and to build an ex-pansive house in Marilac withporcelain tile floors, crown mold-ing, and the only green lawn intown. To this point, the UpperCrust story was not an unusualone at a time when many smallbusinesses in America, especiallyin the restaurant industry, relyon illegal labor. The risks of expo-sure are small: There are roughly11 million illegal immigrants inthe country, including about160,000 in Massachusetts, and itis impossible for authorities tocheck every workplace.

But then things soured, andthe chain’s Brazilian laborerstook a rare step: They foughtback.

. . .

UPPER CRUST began to cutcorners on labor costs asit grappled with expan-

sion, said Patrick Joyce, a formeroperations manager who workedat Upper Crust for seven years.The immigrants say they took onmore hours. The bonuses andemployee parties that had sweet-ened the job ended, and requestsfor raises were regularly rejected.The Brazilian currency — calledthe real — was also gettingstronger, so the workers’ dollarsdidn’t go as far back home.

At the same time, some of theAmericans who staffed thechain’s counters and worked asmanagers received raises, theysay. Tobins prospered more visi-bly, using his newfound wealth topay for expensive cars, a fancyboat, and even a private plane.

‘‘The stakes got higher, and itgot more cutthroat,’’ said Joyce,who said he left in June after be-coming frustrated by the work-ing conditions. ‘‘It was unbear-able.’’

For its Hingham restaurant,the fifth to open, Upper Crust setup an apartment for the immi-grants near the shop, accordingto Joyce, who collected rent incash from workers, then paid thebuilding’s landlord with a checkfrom the store’s account.

Valdeir Pereira Pinto, 27, wasa member of the group that livedin Hingham. In 2006, he left hisMarilac home — a pink concretestructure with gaping holes likemissing teeth where there shouldhave been windows — and cameto the South Shore town, one ofthe wealthiest suburbs in Massa-chusetts. He quickly found hisnew living arrangements werenot much of an improvement ov-

er what he left behind.Pinto was one of six workers

crammed into a two-bedroomapartment. They paid about$1,200 total in monthly rent toUpper Crust, but spent mostwaking hours at the small pizzashop — a five-minute walk away.They rarely saw their Marilacfriends in Boston.

‘‘I just worked all the time, 80hours and sometimes more,’’ Pin-to said. ‘‘They said they were toobusy, and, ‘I can’t give you [time]off; you must work.’ I was verytired.’’

Sergio Soares Lima Filho Jr.and Marcos Rodrigues da Silvawere more than tired. They wereupset after finding out illegalworkers at some other area res-taurants were receiving time anda half after 40 hours. UpperCrust’s practice was to write onecheck for a worker’s first 40hours, and an additional check,at the same rate, to cover extrahours. Some workers said theywere paid entirely in cash.

Filho and da Silva decided to

meet with a lawyer to figure outtheir options. Then da Silvaasked Botelho — the go-to guy toget Tobins’s attention — to ar-range a meeting in the winter of2006 at the Brookline restaurantin Coolidge Corner.

Da Silva, who entered thecountry with a fake passport hebought in Portugal, told Tobinsthat employees were planning tostrike unless they received raisesor overtime pay. Tobins becameincensed. They didn’t have anyrights, he shouted, according tothree former workers and a man-ager present at the meeting. Ifthey wanted more money, Tobinssaid, they should find anotherjob. Then he fired da Silva andFilho on the spot.

‘‘Marcos and I cried because[Tobins] said we were selfish,’’ re-called Filho, speaking in his na-tive Portuguese. His father, a Ma-rilac native, followed him toUpper Crust.

A few hours later, Botelhocalled da Silva. He and Filho stillhad jobs if they wanted them, Bo-telho said. The men said they re-turned to work because they hadbills to pay in Boston and fam-ilies in Marilac who needed mon-ey. Besides, they believed their il-legal status made them beholdento an employer who they saidhad repeatedly threatened to callimmigration officials.

So they devised a plan. Da Sil-va and his relatives, including hisuncle Edmar da Silva, beganputting away of thousands of dol-lars that they hoped one daywould finance their own pizzashop in Massachusetts.

‘‘I just dream about leavingUpper Crust and getting a betterplace to work,’’ Marcos Rodriguesda Silva said.

They thought they had founda way out a few months later,when a Brazilian man stopped bythe Brookline restaurant andhanded da Silva the phone num-ber of someone who he saidcould sell them an authenticgreen card, permanent residentidentification that authorizes a

foreigner to live and work in theUnited States. But it was part ofan immigration sting. Da Silvawas arrested in August 2007,along with Botelho and other ille-gal Upper Crust workers whohad tried to buy immigrationdocuments. Da Silva spent eightmonths in prison before beingdeported in 2008.

Da Silva and Filho ‘‘were nev-er threatened or fired, and theycontinued to work for the com-pany until they were arrested,’’Regan said.

After the arrests, Joyce, theoperations manager, said Tobinstold him to meet with a lawyerwho could help get Botelho out ofjail. While the other workers ac-cused of being in the UnitedStates illegally fled or have sincebeen deported, Botelho receiveda voluntary order of departure,according to the Department ofHomeland Security, whichmeans he has a designatedamount of time to leave the Unit-ed States. He is currently appeal-ing to stay in the country longer.

Regan said the deportationshad nothing to do with the res-taurants.

‘‘This case did not involve thecompany,’’ he said. ‘‘A couple ofthe company’s employees werecharged as part of this sting anddeported. [Botelho] was notcharged and thus was not de-ported.’’

. . .

BY 2009, despite a deepen-ing recession, Upper Crustwas on a tear. It had 14

stores, a plan to open three more,and projected annual sales of upto $16 million, Tobins said in aninterview with the Globe at thetime. But the chain’s team ofworkers did not expand as quick-ly. To make up for the shortage ofhelp, cooks were often rotatedbetween stores and worked up to100 hours a week to fill the gaps,according to Greg Goncharov, aformer business manager at twoof the chain’s restaurants.

The stores were adequatelystaffed, Regan said.

‘‘I was so exhausted; I thoughtI wouldn’t make it there andcome back,’’ Luis Lucas da Silvasaid through a translator. TheMarilac native returned to Brazillast fall after working doubleshifts for several years. ‘‘My bodycouldn’t take it anymore. Icouldn’t even take my feet off theground.’’

Eventually, some of the em-ployees summoned the courageto report Upper Crust to labor of-ficials. That set off a firestorm atthe chain.

Federal labor laws requireemployers to pay workers over-time, even if the workers are inthe country illegally. The law isintended to dissuade companiesfrom hiring such workers as away to scrimp on payroll.

The Labor Department began

Harmony gives way to exploitation chargeº UPPER CRUSTContinued from Page A1

Continued on next page

PHOTOS BY DINA RUDICK/GLOBE STAFF

Many families in the small town of Marilac in southeastern Brazil have relied heavily on money sent by illegal immigrants working in Upper Crust stores.

Jose Bento worked behind the counter of the butcher shop he helped save using money heearned while employed at one of the pizza chain’s Massachusetts locations.

‘They tookadvantage ofme, but notonly me—everyone. I felthumiliatedthat I workand work andI was notvalued.’

WASHINGTON‘CHICO’ RODRIGUESDA SILVA

UPPER CRUST THE UNDERSIDE

A16 The Region D E C E M B E R 5 , 2 0 1 0B O S T O N S U N D A Y G L O B E

Over time, however, this ami-cable but unlawful relationshipwould unravel. Documents froma recent class action lawsuitshow that as Tobins expanded hispizza empire, he began to exploithis immigrant workers. The em-ployees took their complaints tothe US Department of Labor,which ordered the chain to doleout hundreds of thousands ofdollars in back pay. The depart-ment is now investigating wageviolations at Upper Crust for asecond time.

Meanwhile, in dusty Marilac,some fear a reliable source of in-come used to build farms andbusinesses and houses will van-ish. Others say the village will bebetter off without the pizza mon-ey and the sacrifices it requires.

‘‘We were the ones who madeUpper Crust as big and as rich asthey are, but I suffered verymuch,’’ said Washington ‘‘Chico’’Rodrigues da Silva, who followedhis brother Marcos from Marilacto Boston in 2003. With the mon-ey they earned at the second Up-per Crust store, in Brookline, thesiblings paid $35,000 to buy theirfamily in Marilac a small avo-cado-colored house. But plans tostart their own business wereabandoned after Marcos was de-ported. Since returning to Mari-lac last fall, Chico has spent hisdays milking cows and herdingcattle, and lacks a steady income.

‘‘They took advantage of me,but not only me — everyone,’’Chico said through a translator.‘‘I felt humiliated that I work andwork and I was not valued.’’

George Regan, a spokesmanfor Upper Crust, said allegationsof exploitation are unfounded.

‘‘This comes as a shock,’’ Re-gan said. ‘‘All of our workers aretreated with respect.’’

. . .

IN THE BEGINNING, the ar-rangement between Marilacand Upper Crust seemed just

right, at least to those willing torisk the illegal passage and fur-tive toil.

Pedro Chaves de Souza wasamong the first to come. Heslipped over the Mexican borderin March 2001 and came to Bos-ton looking for work. A cousin in-troduced him to Tobins, who hadjust opened a pizza shop onCharles Street, in Boston’s Bea-con Hill neighborhood. De Souzalanded a job preparing vegeta-bles in the kitchen. He earnedabout $8 an hour — well over theminimum wage at the time —and far more than he madeworking at a butcher shop in Ma-rilac.

Word of employment oppor-tunities at Upper Crust spread.Others from Marilac began arriv-ing. It felt like a family for theBrazilians in the shop. Tobinsand other managers worked sideby side with them, spinningdough and delivering pizzas onbicycles.

It typically took a year of gru-eling six- and seven-day work-weeks for the illegal immigrantsto pay off the $10,000 to thesmugglers who arranged theirjourney. After the obligation wassettled, the men would send hun-dreds of dollars each month tofamily back in Marilac. Jose daSilva built a bakery and a housein just a few years, Jose Bentosaved his troubled butcher shopon Rua Rio De Janeiro, and Pe-dro Chaves de Souza bought landand some cows on the outskirtsof town.

Marilac provided a pipeline ofcheap, dedicated workers for Up-per Crust. In 2002, Luciano Bo-telho arrived with a decent com-mand of English and an easysmile. Tobins tapped the Marilacnative to oversee the hiring of thecooks and delivery workers whowould become the backbone ofthe operation. Botelho, who isstill employed by Upper Crust,declined to comment for thisstory.

‘‘[Botelho] has always beencompetent and dedicated,’’ Re-gan said. ‘‘He was never asked tolocate employees from a particu-lar area, but it is hardly surpris-ing that he would know morepeople from the area where hecame from. Any person recom-mended for employment by himwould have to be considered seri-ously.’’

As the business grew, moremen in Marilac left behind girl-friends, fiancées, wives, and chil-dren to come to Boston, accord-ing to interviews with about 30

former workers and relatives ofcurrent and former workers.They easily found smugglers —called coyotes — to arrange theirtrip from Brazil: the bus to SaoPaulo, a short stay in Mexico City,and, finally, the border crossing— sometimes in an inner tubeacross the Rio Grande. Overtime, at least 80 men from Mari-lac set up a colony of sorts in EastBoston. Many lived together incrowded apartments near Mav-erick Square. Botelho, the inspi-ration for the ‘‘Lucky Luciano’’Brazilian pizza on Upper Crust’smenu, frequently put up new ar-rivals at his home and gave themfood and clothing.

‘‘I wanted to have a better fu-ture than I had if I stayed in Bra-zil,’’ said Dimas da Silva, whosaid he crossed through Mexicounder the floorboards of a pickuptruck, hiding among cans of gas-oline to mask his scent from thetrained dogs used by US borderguards. ‘‘In USA, you can workhard and stay there for a fewyears saving money, and you cancome back to Brazil and have anice life.’’

Da Silva said that he beganworking at Upper Crust just afew days after arriving in Bostonin 2003, and that within fouryears he had made enough mon-ey to buy apartments to rent outin Sao Paulo and to build an ex-pansive house in Marilac withporcelain tile floors, crown mold-ing, and the only green lawn intown. To this point, the UpperCrust story was not an unusualone at a time when many smallbusinesses in America, especiallyin the restaurant industry, relyon illegal labor. The risks of expo-sure are small: There are roughly11 million illegal immigrants inthe country, including about160,000 in Massachusetts, and itis impossible for authorities tocheck every workplace.

But then things soured, andthe chain’s Brazilian laborerstook a rare step: They foughtback.

. . .

UPPER CRUST began to cutcorners on labor costs asit grappled with expan-

sion, said Patrick Joyce, a formeroperations manager who workedat Upper Crust for seven years.The immigrants say they took onmore hours. The bonuses andemployee parties that had sweet-ened the job ended, and requestsfor raises were regularly rejected.The Brazilian currency — calledthe real — was also gettingstronger, so the workers’ dollarsdidn’t go as far back home.

At the same time, some of theAmericans who staffed thechain’s counters and worked asmanagers received raises, theysay. Tobins prospered more visi-bly, using his newfound wealth topay for expensive cars, a fancyboat, and even a private plane.

‘‘The stakes got higher, and itgot more cutthroat,’’ said Joyce,who said he left in June after be-coming frustrated by the work-ing conditions. ‘‘It was unbear-able.’’

For its Hingham restaurant,the fifth to open, Upper Crust setup an apartment for the immi-grants near the shop, accordingto Joyce, who collected rent incash from workers, then paid thebuilding’s landlord with a checkfrom the store’s account.

Valdeir Pereira Pinto, 27, wasa member of the group that livedin Hingham. In 2006, he left hisMarilac home — a pink concretestructure with gaping holes likemissing teeth where there shouldhave been windows — and cameto the South Shore town, one ofthe wealthiest suburbs in Massa-chusetts. He quickly found hisnew living arrangements werenot much of an improvement ov-

er what he left behind.Pinto was one of six workers

crammed into a two-bedroomapartment. They paid about$1,200 total in monthly rent toUpper Crust, but spent mostwaking hours at the small pizzashop — a five-minute walk away.They rarely saw their Marilacfriends in Boston.

‘‘I just worked all the time, 80hours and sometimes more,’’ Pin-to said. ‘‘They said they were toobusy, and, ‘I can’t give you [time]off; you must work.’ I was verytired.’’

Sergio Soares Lima Filho Jr.and Marcos Rodrigues da Silvawere more than tired. They wereupset after finding out illegalworkers at some other area res-taurants were receiving time anda half after 40 hours. UpperCrust’s practice was to write onecheck for a worker’s first 40hours, and an additional check,at the same rate, to cover extrahours. Some workers said theywere paid entirely in cash.

Filho and da Silva decided to

meet with a lawyer to figure outtheir options. Then da Silvaasked Botelho — the go-to guy toget Tobins’s attention — to ar-range a meeting in the winter of2006 at the Brookline restaurantin Coolidge Corner.

Da Silva, who entered thecountry with a fake passport hebought in Portugal, told Tobinsthat employees were planning tostrike unless they received raisesor overtime pay. Tobins becameincensed. They didn’t have anyrights, he shouted, according tothree former workers and a man-ager present at the meeting. Ifthey wanted more money, Tobinssaid, they should find anotherjob. Then he fired da Silva andFilho on the spot.

‘‘Marcos and I cried because[Tobins] said we were selfish,’’ re-called Filho, speaking in his na-tive Portuguese. His father, a Ma-rilac native, followed him toUpper Crust.

A few hours later, Botelhocalled da Silva. He and Filho stillhad jobs if they wanted them, Bo-telho said. The men said they re-turned to work because they hadbills to pay in Boston and fam-ilies in Marilac who needed mon-ey. Besides, they believed their il-legal status made them beholdento an employer who they saidhad repeatedly threatened to callimmigration officials.

So they devised a plan. Da Sil-va and his relatives, including hisuncle Edmar da Silva, beganputting away of thousands of dol-lars that they hoped one daywould finance their own pizzashop in Massachusetts.

‘‘I just dream about leavingUpper Crust and getting a betterplace to work,’’ Marcos Rodriguesda Silva said.

They thought they had founda way out a few months later,when a Brazilian man stopped bythe Brookline restaurant andhanded da Silva the phone num-ber of someone who he saidcould sell them an authenticgreen card, permanent residentidentification that authorizes a

foreigner to live and work in theUnited States. But it was part ofan immigration sting. Da Silvawas arrested in August 2007,along with Botelho and other ille-gal Upper Crust workers whohad tried to buy immigrationdocuments. Da Silva spent eightmonths in prison before beingdeported in 2008.

Da Silva and Filho ‘‘were nev-er threatened or fired, and theycontinued to work for the com-pany until they were arrested,’’Regan said.

After the arrests, Joyce, theoperations manager, said Tobinstold him to meet with a lawyerwho could help get Botelho out ofjail. While the other workers ac-cused of being in the UnitedStates illegally fled or have sincebeen deported, Botelho receiveda voluntary order of departure,according to the Department ofHomeland Security, whichmeans he has a designatedamount of time to leave the Unit-ed States. He is currently appeal-ing to stay in the country longer.

Regan said the deportationshad nothing to do with the res-taurants.

‘‘This case did not involve thecompany,’’ he said. ‘‘A couple ofthe company’s employees werecharged as part of this sting anddeported. [Botelho] was notcharged and thus was not de-ported.’’

. . .

BY 2009, despite a deepen-ing recession, Upper Crustwas on a tear. It had 14

stores, a plan to open three more,and projected annual sales of upto $16 million, Tobins said in aninterview with the Globe at thetime. But the chain’s team ofworkers did not expand as quick-ly. To make up for the shortage ofhelp, cooks were often rotatedbetween stores and worked up to100 hours a week to fill the gaps,according to Greg Goncharov, aformer business manager at twoof the chain’s restaurants.

The stores were adequatelystaffed, Regan said.

‘‘I was so exhausted; I thoughtI wouldn’t make it there andcome back,’’ Luis Lucas da Silvasaid through a translator. TheMarilac native returned to Brazillast fall after working doubleshifts for several years. ‘‘My bodycouldn’t take it anymore. Icouldn’t even take my feet off theground.’’

Eventually, some of the em-ployees summoned the courageto report Upper Crust to labor of-ficials. That set off a firestorm atthe chain.

Federal labor laws requireemployers to pay workers over-time, even if the workers are inthe country illegally. The law isintended to dissuade companiesfrom hiring such workers as away to scrimp on payroll.

The Labor Department began

Harmony gives way to exploitation chargeº UPPER CRUSTContinued from Page A1

Continued on next page

PHOTOS BY DINA RUDICK/GLOBE STAFF

Many families in the small town of Marilac in southeastern Brazil have relied heavily on money sent by illegal immigrants working in Upper Crust stores.

Jose Bento worked behind the counter of the butcher shop he helped save using money heearned while employed at one of the pizza chain’s Massachusetts locations.

‘They tookadvantage ofme, but notonly me—everyone. I felthumiliatedthat I workand work andI was notvalued.’

WASHINGTON‘CHICO’ RODRIGUESDA SILVA

UPPER CRUST THE UNDERSIDE

A16 The Region D E C E M B E R 5 , 2 0 1 0B O S T O N S U N D A Y G L O B E

Over time, however, this ami-cable but unlawful relationshipwould unravel. Documents froma recent class action lawsuitshow that as Tobins expanded hispizza empire, he began to exploithis immigrant workers. The em-ployees took their complaints tothe US Department of Labor,which ordered the chain to doleout hundreds of thousands ofdollars in back pay. The depart-ment is now investigating wageviolations at Upper Crust for asecond time.

Meanwhile, in dusty Marilac,some fear a reliable source of in-come used to build farms andbusinesses and houses will van-ish. Others say the village will bebetter off without the pizza mon-ey and the sacrifices it requires.

‘‘We were the ones who madeUpper Crust as big and as rich asthey are, but I suffered verymuch,’’ said Washington ‘‘Chico’’Rodrigues da Silva, who followedhis brother Marcos from Marilacto Boston in 2003. With the mon-ey they earned at the second Up-per Crust store, in Brookline, thesiblings paid $35,000 to buy theirfamily in Marilac a small avo-cado-colored house. But plans tostart their own business wereabandoned after Marcos was de-ported. Since returning to Mari-lac last fall, Chico has spent hisdays milking cows and herdingcattle, and lacks a steady income.

‘‘They took advantage of me,but not only me — everyone,’’Chico said through a translator.‘‘I felt humiliated that I work andwork and I was not valued.’’

George Regan, a spokesmanfor Upper Crust, said allegationsof exploitation are unfounded.

‘‘This comes as a shock,’’ Re-gan said. ‘‘All of our workers aretreated with respect.’’

. . .

IN THE BEGINNING, the ar-rangement between Marilacand Upper Crust seemed just

right, at least to those willing torisk the illegal passage and fur-tive toil.

Pedro Chaves de Souza wasamong the first to come. Heslipped over the Mexican borderin March 2001 and came to Bos-ton looking for work. A cousin in-troduced him to Tobins, who hadjust opened a pizza shop onCharles Street, in Boston’s Bea-con Hill neighborhood. De Souzalanded a job preparing vegeta-bles in the kitchen. He earnedabout $8 an hour — well over theminimum wage at the time —and far more than he madeworking at a butcher shop in Ma-rilac.

Word of employment oppor-tunities at Upper Crust spread.Others from Marilac began arriv-ing. It felt like a family for theBrazilians in the shop. Tobinsand other managers worked sideby side with them, spinningdough and delivering pizzas onbicycles.

It typically took a year of gru-eling six- and seven-day work-weeks for the illegal immigrantsto pay off the $10,000 to thesmugglers who arranged theirjourney. After the obligation wassettled, the men would send hun-dreds of dollars each month tofamily back in Marilac. Jose daSilva built a bakery and a housein just a few years, Jose Bentosaved his troubled butcher shopon Rua Rio De Janeiro, and Pe-dro Chaves de Souza bought landand some cows on the outskirtsof town.

Marilac provided a pipeline ofcheap, dedicated workers for Up-per Crust. In 2002, Luciano Bo-telho arrived with a decent com-mand of English and an easysmile. Tobins tapped the Marilacnative to oversee the hiring of thecooks and delivery workers whowould become the backbone ofthe operation. Botelho, who isstill employed by Upper Crust,declined to comment for thisstory.

‘‘[Botelho] has always beencompetent and dedicated,’’ Re-gan said. ‘‘He was never asked tolocate employees from a particu-lar area, but it is hardly surpris-ing that he would know morepeople from the area where hecame from. Any person recom-mended for employment by himwould have to be considered seri-ously.’’

As the business grew, moremen in Marilac left behind girl-friends, fiancées, wives, and chil-dren to come to Boston, accord-ing to interviews with about 30

former workers and relatives ofcurrent and former workers.They easily found smugglers —called coyotes — to arrange theirtrip from Brazil: the bus to SaoPaulo, a short stay in Mexico City,and, finally, the border crossing— sometimes in an inner tubeacross the Rio Grande. Overtime, at least 80 men from Mari-lac set up a colony of sorts in EastBoston. Many lived together incrowded apartments near Mav-erick Square. Botelho, the inspi-ration for the ‘‘Lucky Luciano’’Brazilian pizza on Upper Crust’smenu, frequently put up new ar-rivals at his home and gave themfood and clothing.

‘‘I wanted to have a better fu-ture than I had if I stayed in Bra-zil,’’ said Dimas da Silva, whosaid he crossed through Mexicounder the floorboards of a pickuptruck, hiding among cans of gas-oline to mask his scent from thetrained dogs used by US borderguards. ‘‘In USA, you can workhard and stay there for a fewyears saving money, and you cancome back to Brazil and have anice life.’’

Da Silva said that he beganworking at Upper Crust just afew days after arriving in Bostonin 2003, and that within fouryears he had made enough mon-ey to buy apartments to rent outin Sao Paulo and to build an ex-pansive house in Marilac withporcelain tile floors, crown mold-ing, and the only green lawn intown. To this point, the UpperCrust story was not an unusualone at a time when many smallbusinesses in America, especiallyin the restaurant industry, relyon illegal labor. The risks of expo-sure are small: There are roughly11 million illegal immigrants inthe country, including about160,000 in Massachusetts, and itis impossible for authorities tocheck every workplace.

But then things soured, andthe chain’s Brazilian laborerstook a rare step: They foughtback.

. . .

UPPER CRUST began to cutcorners on labor costs asit grappled with expan-

sion, said Patrick Joyce, a formeroperations manager who workedat Upper Crust for seven years.The immigrants say they took onmore hours. The bonuses andemployee parties that had sweet-ened the job ended, and requestsfor raises were regularly rejected.The Brazilian currency — calledthe real — was also gettingstronger, so the workers’ dollarsdidn’t go as far back home.

At the same time, some of theAmericans who staffed thechain’s counters and worked asmanagers received raises, theysay. Tobins prospered more visi-bly, using his newfound wealth topay for expensive cars, a fancyboat, and even a private plane.

‘‘The stakes got higher, and itgot more cutthroat,’’ said Joyce,who said he left in June after be-coming frustrated by the work-ing conditions. ‘‘It was unbear-able.’’

For its Hingham restaurant,the fifth to open, Upper Crust setup an apartment for the immi-grants near the shop, accordingto Joyce, who collected rent incash from workers, then paid thebuilding’s landlord with a checkfrom the store’s account.

Valdeir Pereira Pinto, 27, wasa member of the group that livedin Hingham. In 2006, he left hisMarilac home — a pink concretestructure with gaping holes likemissing teeth where there shouldhave been windows — and cameto the South Shore town, one ofthe wealthiest suburbs in Massa-chusetts. He quickly found hisnew living arrangements werenot much of an improvement ov-

er what he left behind.Pinto was one of six workers

crammed into a two-bedroomapartment. They paid about$1,200 total in monthly rent toUpper Crust, but spent mostwaking hours at the small pizzashop — a five-minute walk away.They rarely saw their Marilacfriends in Boston.

‘‘I just worked all the time, 80hours and sometimes more,’’ Pin-to said. ‘‘They said they were toobusy, and, ‘I can’t give you [time]off; you must work.’ I was verytired.’’

Sergio Soares Lima Filho Jr.and Marcos Rodrigues da Silvawere more than tired. They wereupset after finding out illegalworkers at some other area res-taurants were receiving time anda half after 40 hours. UpperCrust’s practice was to write onecheck for a worker’s first 40hours, and an additional check,at the same rate, to cover extrahours. Some workers said theywere paid entirely in cash.

Filho and da Silva decided to

meet with a lawyer to figure outtheir options. Then da Silvaasked Botelho — the go-to guy toget Tobins’s attention — to ar-range a meeting in the winter of2006 at the Brookline restaurantin Coolidge Corner.

Da Silva, who entered thecountry with a fake passport hebought in Portugal, told Tobinsthat employees were planning tostrike unless they received raisesor overtime pay. Tobins becameincensed. They didn’t have anyrights, he shouted, according tothree former workers and a man-ager present at the meeting. Ifthey wanted more money, Tobinssaid, they should find anotherjob. Then he fired da Silva andFilho on the spot.

‘‘Marcos and I cried because[Tobins] said we were selfish,’’ re-called Filho, speaking in his na-tive Portuguese. His father, a Ma-rilac native, followed him toUpper Crust.

A few hours later, Botelhocalled da Silva. He and Filho stillhad jobs if they wanted them, Bo-telho said. The men said they re-turned to work because they hadbills to pay in Boston and fam-ilies in Marilac who needed mon-ey. Besides, they believed their il-legal status made them beholdento an employer who they saidhad repeatedly threatened to callimmigration officials.

So they devised a plan. Da Sil-va and his relatives, including hisuncle Edmar da Silva, beganputting away of thousands of dol-lars that they hoped one daywould finance their own pizzashop in Massachusetts.

‘‘I just dream about leavingUpper Crust and getting a betterplace to work,’’ Marcos Rodriguesda Silva said.

They thought they had founda way out a few months later,when a Brazilian man stopped bythe Brookline restaurant andhanded da Silva the phone num-ber of someone who he saidcould sell them an authenticgreen card, permanent residentidentification that authorizes a

foreigner to live and work in theUnited States. But it was part ofan immigration sting. Da Silvawas arrested in August 2007,along with Botelho and other ille-gal Upper Crust workers whohad tried to buy immigrationdocuments. Da Silva spent eightmonths in prison before beingdeported in 2008.

Da Silva and Filho ‘‘were nev-er threatened or fired, and theycontinued to work for the com-pany until they were arrested,’’Regan said.

After the arrests, Joyce, theoperations manager, said Tobinstold him to meet with a lawyerwho could help get Botelho out ofjail. While the other workers ac-cused of being in the UnitedStates illegally fled or have sincebeen deported, Botelho receiveda voluntary order of departure,according to the Department ofHomeland Security, whichmeans he has a designatedamount of time to leave the Unit-ed States. He is currently appeal-ing to stay in the country longer.

Regan said the deportationshad nothing to do with the res-taurants.

‘‘This case did not involve thecompany,’’ he said. ‘‘A couple ofthe company’s employees werecharged as part of this sting anddeported. [Botelho] was notcharged and thus was not de-ported.’’

. . .

BY 2009, despite a deepen-ing recession, Upper Crustwas on a tear. It had 14

stores, a plan to open three more,and projected annual sales of upto $16 million, Tobins said in aninterview with the Globe at thetime. But the chain’s team ofworkers did not expand as quick-ly. To make up for the shortage ofhelp, cooks were often rotatedbetween stores and worked up to100 hours a week to fill the gaps,according to Greg Goncharov, aformer business manager at twoof the chain’s restaurants.

The stores were adequatelystaffed, Regan said.

‘‘I was so exhausted; I thoughtI wouldn’t make it there andcome back,’’ Luis Lucas da Silvasaid through a translator. TheMarilac native returned to Brazillast fall after working doubleshifts for several years. ‘‘My bodycouldn’t take it anymore. Icouldn’t even take my feet off theground.’’

Eventually, some of the em-ployees summoned the courageto report Upper Crust to labor of-ficials. That set off a firestorm atthe chain.

Federal labor laws requireemployers to pay workers over-time, even if the workers are inthe country illegally. The law isintended to dissuade companiesfrom hiring such workers as away to scrimp on payroll.

The Labor Department began

Harmony gives way to exploitation chargeº UPPER CRUSTContinued from Page A1

Continued on next page

PHOTOS BY DINA RUDICK/GLOBE STAFF

Many families in the small town of Marilac in southeastern Brazil have relied heavily on money sent by illegal immigrants working in Upper Crust stores.

Jose Bento worked behind the counter of the butcher shop he helped save using money heearned while employed at one of the pizza chain’s Massachusetts locations.

‘They tookadvantage ofme, but notonly me—everyone. I felthumiliatedthat I workand work andI was notvalued.’

WASHINGTON‘CHICO’ RODRIGUESDA SILVA

UPPER CRUST THE UNDERSIDE

A16 The Region D E C E M B E R 5 , 2 0 1 0B O S T O N S U N D A Y G L O B E

Over time, however, this ami-cable but unlawful relationshipwould unravel. Documents froma recent class action lawsuitshow that as Tobins expanded hispizza empire, he began to exploithis immigrant workers. The em-ployees took their complaints tothe US Department of Labor,which ordered the chain to doleout hundreds of thousands ofdollars in back pay. The depart-ment is now investigating wageviolations at Upper Crust for asecond time.

Meanwhile, in dusty Marilac,some fear a reliable source of in-come used to build farms andbusinesses and houses will van-ish. Others say the village will bebetter off without the pizza mon-ey and the sacrifices it requires.

‘‘We were the ones who madeUpper Crust as big and as rich asthey are, but I suffered verymuch,’’ said Washington ‘‘Chico’’Rodrigues da Silva, who followedhis brother Marcos from Marilacto Boston in 2003. With the mon-ey they earned at the second Up-per Crust store, in Brookline, thesiblings paid $35,000 to buy theirfamily in Marilac a small avo-cado-colored house. But plans tostart their own business wereabandoned after Marcos was de-ported. Since returning to Mari-lac last fall, Chico has spent hisdays milking cows and herdingcattle, and lacks a steady income.

‘‘They took advantage of me,but not only me — everyone,’’Chico said through a translator.‘‘I felt humiliated that I work andwork and I was not valued.’’

George Regan, a spokesmanfor Upper Crust, said allegationsof exploitation are unfounded.

‘‘This comes as a shock,’’ Re-gan said. ‘‘All of our workers aretreated with respect.’’

. . .

IN THE BEGINNING, the ar-rangement between Marilacand Upper Crust seemed just

right, at least to those willing torisk the illegal passage and fur-tive toil.

Pedro Chaves de Souza wasamong the first to come. Heslipped over the Mexican borderin March 2001 and came to Bos-ton looking for work. A cousin in-troduced him to Tobins, who hadjust opened a pizza shop onCharles Street, in Boston’s Bea-con Hill neighborhood. De Souzalanded a job preparing vegeta-bles in the kitchen. He earnedabout $8 an hour — well over theminimum wage at the time —and far more than he madeworking at a butcher shop in Ma-rilac.

Word of employment oppor-tunities at Upper Crust spread.Others from Marilac began arriv-ing. It felt like a family for theBrazilians in the shop. Tobinsand other managers worked sideby side with them, spinningdough and delivering pizzas onbicycles.

It typically took a year of gru-eling six- and seven-day work-weeks for the illegal immigrantsto pay off the $10,000 to thesmugglers who arranged theirjourney. After the obligation wassettled, the men would send hun-dreds of dollars each month tofamily back in Marilac. Jose daSilva built a bakery and a housein just a few years, Jose Bentosaved his troubled butcher shopon Rua Rio De Janeiro, and Pe-dro Chaves de Souza bought landand some cows on the outskirtsof town.

Marilac provided a pipeline ofcheap, dedicated workers for Up-per Crust. In 2002, Luciano Bo-telho arrived with a decent com-mand of English and an easysmile. Tobins tapped the Marilacnative to oversee the hiring of thecooks and delivery workers whowould become the backbone ofthe operation. Botelho, who isstill employed by Upper Crust,declined to comment for thisstory.

‘‘[Botelho] has always beencompetent and dedicated,’’ Re-gan said. ‘‘He was never asked tolocate employees from a particu-lar area, but it is hardly surpris-ing that he would know morepeople from the area where hecame from. Any person recom-mended for employment by himwould have to be considered seri-ously.’’

As the business grew, moremen in Marilac left behind girl-friends, fiancées, wives, and chil-dren to come to Boston, accord-ing to interviews with about 30

former workers and relatives ofcurrent and former workers.They easily found smugglers —called coyotes — to arrange theirtrip from Brazil: the bus to SaoPaulo, a short stay in Mexico City,and, finally, the border crossing— sometimes in an inner tubeacross the Rio Grande. Overtime, at least 80 men from Mari-lac set up a colony of sorts in EastBoston. Many lived together incrowded apartments near Mav-erick Square. Botelho, the inspi-ration for the ‘‘Lucky Luciano’’Brazilian pizza on Upper Crust’smenu, frequently put up new ar-rivals at his home and gave themfood and clothing.

‘‘I wanted to have a better fu-ture than I had if I stayed in Bra-zil,’’ said Dimas da Silva, whosaid he crossed through Mexicounder the floorboards of a pickuptruck, hiding among cans of gas-oline to mask his scent from thetrained dogs used by US borderguards. ‘‘In USA, you can workhard and stay there for a fewyears saving money, and you cancome back to Brazil and have anice life.’’

Da Silva said that he beganworking at Upper Crust just afew days after arriving in Bostonin 2003, and that within fouryears he had made enough mon-ey to buy apartments to rent outin Sao Paulo and to build an ex-pansive house in Marilac withporcelain tile floors, crown mold-ing, and the only green lawn intown. To this point, the UpperCrust story was not an unusualone at a time when many smallbusinesses in America, especiallyin the restaurant industry, relyon illegal labor. The risks of expo-sure are small: There are roughly11 million illegal immigrants inthe country, including about160,000 in Massachusetts, and itis impossible for authorities tocheck every workplace.

But then things soured, andthe chain’s Brazilian laborerstook a rare step: They foughtback.

. . .

UPPER CRUST began to cutcorners on labor costs asit grappled with expan-

sion, said Patrick Joyce, a formeroperations manager who workedat Upper Crust for seven years.The immigrants say they took onmore hours. The bonuses andemployee parties that had sweet-ened the job ended, and requestsfor raises were regularly rejected.The Brazilian currency — calledthe real — was also gettingstronger, so the workers’ dollarsdidn’t go as far back home.

At the same time, some of theAmericans who staffed thechain’s counters and worked asmanagers received raises, theysay. Tobins prospered more visi-bly, using his newfound wealth topay for expensive cars, a fancyboat, and even a private plane.

‘‘The stakes got higher, and itgot more cutthroat,’’ said Joyce,who said he left in June after be-coming frustrated by the work-ing conditions. ‘‘It was unbear-able.’’

For its Hingham restaurant,the fifth to open, Upper Crust setup an apartment for the immi-grants near the shop, accordingto Joyce, who collected rent incash from workers, then paid thebuilding’s landlord with a checkfrom the store’s account.

Valdeir Pereira Pinto, 27, wasa member of the group that livedin Hingham. In 2006, he left hisMarilac home — a pink concretestructure with gaping holes likemissing teeth where there shouldhave been windows — and cameto the South Shore town, one ofthe wealthiest suburbs in Massa-chusetts. He quickly found hisnew living arrangements werenot much of an improvement ov-

er what he left behind.Pinto was one of six workers

crammed into a two-bedroomapartment. They paid about$1,200 total in monthly rent toUpper Crust, but spent mostwaking hours at the small pizzashop — a five-minute walk away.They rarely saw their Marilacfriends in Boston.

‘‘I just worked all the time, 80hours and sometimes more,’’ Pin-to said. ‘‘They said they were toobusy, and, ‘I can’t give you [time]off; you must work.’ I was verytired.’’

Sergio Soares Lima Filho Jr.and Marcos Rodrigues da Silvawere more than tired. They wereupset after finding out illegalworkers at some other area res-taurants were receiving time anda half after 40 hours. UpperCrust’s practice was to write onecheck for a worker’s first 40hours, and an additional check,at the same rate, to cover extrahours. Some workers said theywere paid entirely in cash.

Filho and da Silva decided to

meet with a lawyer to figure outtheir options. Then da Silvaasked Botelho — the go-to guy toget Tobins’s attention — to ar-range a meeting in the winter of2006 at the Brookline restaurantin Coolidge Corner.

Da Silva, who entered thecountry with a fake passport hebought in Portugal, told Tobinsthat employees were planning tostrike unless they received raisesor overtime pay. Tobins becameincensed. They didn’t have anyrights, he shouted, according tothree former workers and a man-ager present at the meeting. Ifthey wanted more money, Tobinssaid, they should find anotherjob. Then he fired da Silva andFilho on the spot.

‘‘Marcos and I cried because[Tobins] said we were selfish,’’ re-called Filho, speaking in his na-tive Portuguese. His father, a Ma-rilac native, followed him toUpper Crust.

A few hours later, Botelhocalled da Silva. He and Filho stillhad jobs if they wanted them, Bo-telho said. The men said they re-turned to work because they hadbills to pay in Boston and fam-ilies in Marilac who needed mon-ey. Besides, they believed their il-legal status made them beholdento an employer who they saidhad repeatedly threatened to callimmigration officials.

So they devised a plan. Da Sil-va and his relatives, including hisuncle Edmar da Silva, beganputting away of thousands of dol-lars that they hoped one daywould finance their own pizzashop in Massachusetts.

‘‘I just dream about leavingUpper Crust and getting a betterplace to work,’’ Marcos Rodriguesda Silva said.

They thought they had founda way out a few months later,when a Brazilian man stopped bythe Brookline restaurant andhanded da Silva the phone num-ber of someone who he saidcould sell them an authenticgreen card, permanent residentidentification that authorizes a

foreigner to live and work in theUnited States. But it was part ofan immigration sting. Da Silvawas arrested in August 2007,along with Botelho and other ille-gal Upper Crust workers whohad tried to buy immigrationdocuments. Da Silva spent eightmonths in prison before beingdeported in 2008.

Da Silva and Filho ‘‘were nev-er threatened or fired, and theycontinued to work for the com-pany until they were arrested,’’Regan said.

After the arrests, Joyce, theoperations manager, said Tobinstold him to meet with a lawyerwho could help get Botelho out ofjail. While the other workers ac-cused of being in the UnitedStates illegally fled or have sincebeen deported, Botelho receiveda voluntary order of departure,according to the Department ofHomeland Security, whichmeans he has a designatedamount of time to leave the Unit-ed States. He is currently appeal-ing to stay in the country longer.

Regan said the deportationshad nothing to do with the res-taurants.

‘‘This case did not involve thecompany,’’ he said. ‘‘A couple ofthe company’s employees werecharged as part of this sting anddeported. [Botelho] was notcharged and thus was not de-ported.’’

. . .

BY 2009, despite a deepen-ing recession, Upper Crustwas on a tear. It had 14

stores, a plan to open three more,and projected annual sales of upto $16 million, Tobins said in aninterview with the Globe at thetime. But the chain’s team ofworkers did not expand as quick-ly. To make up for the shortage ofhelp, cooks were often rotatedbetween stores and worked up to100 hours a week to fill the gaps,according to Greg Goncharov, aformer business manager at twoof the chain’s restaurants.

The stores were adequatelystaffed, Regan said.

‘‘I was so exhausted; I thoughtI wouldn’t make it there andcome back,’’ Luis Lucas da Silvasaid through a translator. TheMarilac native returned to Brazillast fall after working doubleshifts for several years. ‘‘My bodycouldn’t take it anymore. Icouldn’t even take my feet off theground.’’

Eventually, some of the em-ployees summoned the courageto report Upper Crust to labor of-ficials. That set off a firestorm atthe chain.

Federal labor laws requireemployers to pay workers over-time, even if the workers are inthe country illegally. The law isintended to dissuade companiesfrom hiring such workers as away to scrimp on payroll.

The Labor Department began

Harmony gives way to exploitation chargeº UPPER CRUSTContinued from Page A1

Continued on next page

PHOTOS BY DINA RUDICK/GLOBE STAFF

Many families in the small town of Marilac in southeastern Brazil have relied heavily on money sent by illegal immigrants working in Upper Crust stores.

Jose Bento worked behind the counter of the butcher shop he helped save using money heearned while employed at one of the pizza chain’s Massachusetts locations.

‘They tookadvantage ofme, but notonly me—everyone. I felthumiliatedthat I workand work andI was notvalued.’

WASHINGTON‘CHICO’ RODRIGUESDA SILVA

UPPER CRUST THE UNDERSIDE

A16 The Region D E C E M B E R 5 , 2 0 1 0B O S T O N S U N D A Y G L O B E

Over time, however, this ami-cable but unlawful relationshipwould unravel. Documents froma recent class action lawsuitshow that as Tobins expanded hispizza empire, he began to exploithis immigrant workers. The em-ployees took their complaints tothe US Department of Labor,which ordered the chain to doleout hundreds of thousands ofdollars in back pay. The depart-ment is now investigating wageviolations at Upper Crust for asecond time.

Meanwhile, in dusty Marilac,some fear a reliable source of in-come used to build farms andbusinesses and houses will van-ish. Others say the village will bebetter off without the pizza mon-ey and the sacrifices it requires.

‘‘We were the ones who madeUpper Crust as big and as rich asthey are, but I suffered verymuch,’’ said Washington ‘‘Chico’’Rodrigues da Silva, who followedhis brother Marcos from Marilacto Boston in 2003. With the mon-ey they earned at the second Up-per Crust store, in Brookline, thesiblings paid $35,000 to buy theirfamily in Marilac a small avo-cado-colored house. But plans tostart their own business wereabandoned after Marcos was de-ported. Since returning to Mari-lac last fall, Chico has spent hisdays milking cows and herdingcattle, and lacks a steady income.

‘‘They took advantage of me,but not only me — everyone,’’Chico said through a translator.‘‘I felt humiliated that I work andwork and I was not valued.’’

George Regan, a spokesmanfor Upper Crust, said allegationsof exploitation are unfounded.

‘‘This comes as a shock,’’ Re-gan said. ‘‘All of our workers aretreated with respect.’’

. . .

IN THE BEGINNING, the ar-rangement between Marilacand Upper Crust seemed just

right, at least to those willing torisk the illegal passage and fur-tive toil.

Pedro Chaves de Souza wasamong the first to come. Heslipped over the Mexican borderin March 2001 and came to Bos-ton looking for work. A cousin in-troduced him to Tobins, who hadjust opened a pizza shop onCharles Street, in Boston’s Bea-con Hill neighborhood. De Souzalanded a job preparing vegeta-bles in the kitchen. He earnedabout $8 an hour — well over theminimum wage at the time —and far more than he madeworking at a butcher shop in Ma-rilac.

Word of employment oppor-tunities at Upper Crust spread.Others from Marilac began arriv-ing. It felt like a family for theBrazilians in the shop. Tobinsand other managers worked sideby side with them, spinningdough and delivering pizzas onbicycles.

It typically took a year of gru-eling six- and seven-day work-weeks for the illegal immigrantsto pay off the $10,000 to thesmugglers who arranged theirjourney. After the obligation wassettled, the men would send hun-dreds of dollars each month tofamily back in Marilac. Jose daSilva built a bakery and a housein just a few years, Jose Bentosaved his troubled butcher shopon Rua Rio De Janeiro, and Pe-dro Chaves de Souza bought landand some cows on the outskirtsof town.

Marilac provided a pipeline ofcheap, dedicated workers for Up-per Crust. In 2002, Luciano Bo-telho arrived with a decent com-mand of English and an easysmile. Tobins tapped the Marilacnative to oversee the hiring of thecooks and delivery workers whowould become the backbone ofthe operation. Botelho, who isstill employed by Upper Crust,declined to comment for thisstory.

‘‘[Botelho] has always beencompetent and dedicated,’’ Re-gan said. ‘‘He was never asked tolocate employees from a particu-lar area, but it is hardly surpris-ing that he would know morepeople from the area where hecame from. Any person recom-mended for employment by himwould have to be considered seri-ously.’’

As the business grew, moremen in Marilac left behind girl-friends, fiancées, wives, and chil-dren to come to Boston, accord-ing to interviews with about 30

former workers and relatives ofcurrent and former workers.They easily found smugglers —called coyotes — to arrange theirtrip from Brazil: the bus to SaoPaulo, a short stay in Mexico City,and, finally, the border crossing— sometimes in an inner tubeacross the Rio Grande. Overtime, at least 80 men from Mari-lac set up a colony of sorts in EastBoston. Many lived together incrowded apartments near Mav-erick Square. Botelho, the inspi-ration for the ‘‘Lucky Luciano’’Brazilian pizza on Upper Crust’smenu, frequently put up new ar-rivals at his home and gave themfood and clothing.

‘‘I wanted to have a better fu-ture than I had if I stayed in Bra-zil,’’ said Dimas da Silva, whosaid he crossed through Mexicounder the floorboards of a pickuptruck, hiding among cans of gas-oline to mask his scent from thetrained dogs used by US borderguards. ‘‘In USA, you can workhard and stay there for a fewyears saving money, and you cancome back to Brazil and have anice life.’’

Da Silva said that he beganworking at Upper Crust just afew days after arriving in Bostonin 2003, and that within fouryears he had made enough mon-ey to buy apartments to rent outin Sao Paulo and to build an ex-pansive house in Marilac withporcelain tile floors, crown mold-ing, and the only green lawn intown. To this point, the UpperCrust story was not an unusualone at a time when many smallbusinesses in America, especiallyin the restaurant industry, relyon illegal labor. The risks of expo-sure are small: There are roughly11 million illegal immigrants inthe country, including about160,000 in Massachusetts, and itis impossible for authorities tocheck every workplace.

But then things soured, andthe chain’s Brazilian laborerstook a rare step: They foughtback.

. . .

UPPER CRUST began to cutcorners on labor costs asit grappled with expan-

sion, said Patrick Joyce, a formeroperations manager who workedat Upper Crust for seven years.The immigrants say they took onmore hours. The bonuses andemployee parties that had sweet-ened the job ended, and requestsfor raises were regularly rejected.The Brazilian currency — calledthe real — was also gettingstronger, so the workers’ dollarsdidn’t go as far back home.

At the same time, some of theAmericans who staffed thechain’s counters and worked asmanagers received raises, theysay. Tobins prospered more visi-bly, using his newfound wealth topay for expensive cars, a fancyboat, and even a private plane.

‘‘The stakes got higher, and itgot more cutthroat,’’ said Joyce,who said he left in June after be-coming frustrated by the work-ing conditions. ‘‘It was unbear-able.’’

For its Hingham restaurant,the fifth to open, Upper Crust setup an apartment for the immi-grants near the shop, accordingto Joyce, who collected rent incash from workers, then paid thebuilding’s landlord with a checkfrom the store’s account.

Valdeir Pereira Pinto, 27, wasa member of the group that livedin Hingham. In 2006, he left hisMarilac home — a pink concretestructure with gaping holes likemissing teeth where there shouldhave been windows — and cameto the South Shore town, one ofthe wealthiest suburbs in Massa-chusetts. He quickly found hisnew living arrangements werenot much of an improvement ov-

er what he left behind.Pinto was one of six workers

crammed into a two-bedroomapartment. They paid about$1,200 total in monthly rent toUpper Crust, but spent mostwaking hours at the small pizzashop — a five-minute walk away.They rarely saw their Marilacfriends in Boston.

‘‘I just worked all the time, 80hours and sometimes more,’’ Pin-to said. ‘‘They said they were toobusy, and, ‘I can’t give you [time]off; you must work.’ I was verytired.’’

Sergio Soares Lima Filho Jr.and Marcos Rodrigues da Silvawere more than tired. They wereupset after finding out illegalworkers at some other area res-taurants were receiving time anda half after 40 hours. UpperCrust’s practice was to write onecheck for a worker’s first 40hours, and an additional check,at the same rate, to cover extrahours. Some workers said theywere paid entirely in cash.

Filho and da Silva decided to

meet with a lawyer to figure outtheir options. Then da Silvaasked Botelho — the go-to guy toget Tobins’s attention — to ar-range a meeting in the winter of2006 at the Brookline restaurantin Coolidge Corner.

Da Silva, who entered thecountry with a fake passport hebought in Portugal, told Tobinsthat employees were planning tostrike unless they received raisesor overtime pay. Tobins becameincensed. They didn’t have anyrights, he shouted, according tothree former workers and a man-ager present at the meeting. Ifthey wanted more money, Tobinssaid, they should find anotherjob. Then he fired da Silva andFilho on the spot.

‘‘Marcos and I cried because[Tobins] said we were selfish,’’ re-called Filho, speaking in his na-tive Portuguese. His father, a Ma-rilac native, followed him toUpper Crust.

A few hours later, Botelhocalled da Silva. He and Filho stillhad jobs if they wanted them, Bo-telho said. The men said they re-turned to work because they hadbills to pay in Boston and fam-ilies in Marilac who needed mon-ey. Besides, they believed their il-legal status made them beholdento an employer who they saidhad repeatedly threatened to callimmigration officials.

So they devised a plan. Da Sil-va and his relatives, including hisuncle Edmar da Silva, beganputting away of thousands of dol-lars that they hoped one daywould finance their own pizzashop in Massachusetts.

‘‘I just dream about leavingUpper Crust and getting a betterplace to work,’’ Marcos Rodriguesda Silva said.

They thought they had founda way out a few months later,when a Brazilian man stopped bythe Brookline restaurant andhanded da Silva the phone num-ber of someone who he saidcould sell them an authenticgreen card, permanent residentidentification that authorizes a

foreigner to live and work in theUnited States. But it was part ofan immigration sting. Da Silvawas arrested in August 2007,along with Botelho and other ille-gal Upper Crust workers whohad tried to buy immigrationdocuments. Da Silva spent eightmonths in prison before beingdeported in 2008.

Da Silva and Filho ‘‘were nev-er threatened or fired, and theycontinued to work for the com-pany until they were arrested,’’Regan said.

After the arrests, Joyce, theoperations manager, said Tobinstold him to meet with a lawyerwho could help get Botelho out ofjail. While the other workers ac-cused of being in the UnitedStates illegally fled or have sincebeen deported, Botelho receiveda voluntary order of departure,according to the Department ofHomeland Security, whichmeans he has a designatedamount of time to leave the Unit-ed States. He is currently appeal-ing to stay in the country longer.

Regan said the deportationshad nothing to do with the res-taurants.

‘‘This case did not involve thecompany,’’ he said. ‘‘A couple ofthe company’s employees werecharged as part of this sting anddeported. [Botelho] was notcharged and thus was not de-ported.’’

. . .

BY 2009, despite a deepen-ing recession, Upper Crustwas on a tear. It had 14

stores, a plan to open three more,and projected annual sales of upto $16 million, Tobins said in aninterview with the Globe at thetime. But the chain’s team ofworkers did not expand as quick-ly. To make up for the shortage ofhelp, cooks were often rotatedbetween stores and worked up to100 hours a week to fill the gaps,according to Greg Goncharov, aformer business manager at twoof the chain’s restaurants.

The stores were adequatelystaffed, Regan said.

‘‘I was so exhausted; I thoughtI wouldn’t make it there andcome back,’’ Luis Lucas da Silvasaid through a translator. TheMarilac native returned to Brazillast fall after working doubleshifts for several years. ‘‘My bodycouldn’t take it anymore. Icouldn’t even take my feet off theground.’’

Eventually, some of the em-ployees summoned the courageto report Upper Crust to labor of-ficials. That set off a firestorm atthe chain.

Federal labor laws requireemployers to pay workers over-time, even if the workers are inthe country illegally. The law isintended to dissuade companiesfrom hiring such workers as away to scrimp on payroll.

The Labor Department began

Harmony gives way to exploitation chargeº UPPER CRUSTContinued from Page A1

Continued on next page

PHOTOS BY DINA RUDICK/GLOBE STAFF

Many families in the small town of Marilac in southeastern Brazil have relied heavily on money sent by illegal immigrants working in Upper Crust stores.

Jose Bento worked behind the counter of the butcher shop he helped save using money heearned while employed at one of the pizza chain’s Massachusetts locations.

‘They tookadvantage ofme, but notonly me—everyone. I felthumiliatedthat I workand work andI was notvalued.’

WASHINGTON‘CHICO’ RODRIGUESDA SILVA

UPPER CRUST THE UNDERSIDE

A16 The Region D E C E M B E R 5 , 2 0 1 0B O S T O N S U N D A Y G L O B E

Over time, however, this ami-cable but unlawful relationshipwould unravel. Documents froma recent class action lawsuitshow that as Tobins expanded hispizza empire, he began to exploithis immigrant workers. The em-ployees took their complaints tothe US Department of Labor,which ordered the chain to doleout hundreds of thousands ofdollars in back pay. The depart-ment is now investigating wageviolations at Upper Crust for asecond time.

Meanwhile, in dusty Marilac,some fear a reliable source of in-come used to build farms andbusinesses and houses will van-ish. Others say the village will bebetter off without the pizza mon-ey and the sacrifices it requires.

‘‘We were the ones who madeUpper Crust as big and as rich asthey are, but I suffered verymuch,’’ said Washington ‘‘Chico’’Rodrigues da Silva, who followedhis brother Marcos from Marilacto Boston in 2003. With the mon-ey they earned at the second Up-per Crust store, in Brookline, thesiblings paid $35,000 to buy theirfamily in Marilac a small avo-cado-colored house. But plans tostart their own business wereabandoned after Marcos was de-ported. Since returning to Mari-lac last fall, Chico has spent hisdays milking cows and herdingcattle, and lacks a steady income.

‘‘They took advantage of me,but not only me — everyone,’’Chico said through a translator.‘‘I felt humiliated that I work andwork and I was not valued.’’

George Regan, a spokesmanfor Upper Crust, said allegationsof exploitation are unfounded.

‘‘This comes as a shock,’’ Re-gan said. ‘‘All of our workers aretreated with respect.’’

. . .

IN THE BEGINNING, the ar-rangement between Marilacand Upper Crust seemed just

right, at least to those willing torisk the illegal passage and fur-tive toil.

Pedro Chaves de Souza wasamong the first to come. Heslipped over the Mexican borderin March 2001 and came to Bos-ton looking for work. A cousin in-troduced him to Tobins, who hadjust opened a pizza shop onCharles Street, in Boston’s Bea-con Hill neighborhood. De Souzalanded a job preparing vegeta-bles in the kitchen. He earnedabout $8 an hour — well over theminimum wage at the time —and far more than he madeworking at a butcher shop in Ma-rilac.

Word of employment oppor-tunities at Upper Crust spread.Others from Marilac began arriv-ing. It felt like a family for theBrazilians in the shop. Tobinsand other managers worked sideby side with them, spinningdough and delivering pizzas onbicycles.

It typically took a year of gru-eling six- and seven-day work-weeks for the illegal immigrantsto pay off the $10,000 to thesmugglers who arranged theirjourney. After the obligation wassettled, the men would send hun-dreds of dollars each month tofamily back in Marilac. Jose daSilva built a bakery and a housein just a few years, Jose Bentosaved his troubled butcher shopon Rua Rio De Janeiro, and Pe-dro Chaves de Souza bought landand some cows on the outskirtsof town.

Marilac provided a pipeline ofcheap, dedicated workers for Up-per Crust. In 2002, Luciano Bo-telho arrived with a decent com-mand of English and an easysmile. Tobins tapped the Marilacnative to oversee the hiring of thecooks and delivery workers whowould become the backbone ofthe operation. Botelho, who isstill employed by Upper Crust,declined to comment for thisstory.

‘‘[Botelho] has always beencompetent and dedicated,’’ Re-gan said. ‘‘He was never asked tolocate employees from a particu-lar area, but it is hardly surpris-ing that he would know morepeople from the area where hecame from. Any person recom-mended for employment by himwould have to be considered seri-ously.’’

As the business grew, moremen in Marilac left behind girl-friends, fiancées, wives, and chil-dren to come to Boston, accord-ing to interviews with about 30

former workers and relatives ofcurrent and former workers.They easily found smugglers —called coyotes — to arrange theirtrip from Brazil: the bus to SaoPaulo, a short stay in Mexico City,and, finally, the border crossing— sometimes in an inner tubeacross the Rio Grande. Overtime, at least 80 men from Mari-lac set up a colony of sorts in EastBoston. Many lived together incrowded apartments near Mav-erick Square. Botelho, the inspi-ration for the ‘‘Lucky Luciano’’Brazilian pizza on Upper Crust’smenu, frequently put up new ar-rivals at his home and gave themfood and clothing.

‘‘I wanted to have a better fu-ture than I had if I stayed in Bra-zil,’’ said Dimas da Silva, whosaid he crossed through Mexicounder the floorboards of a pickuptruck, hiding among cans of gas-oline to mask his scent from thetrained dogs used by US borderguards. ‘‘In USA, you can workhard and stay there for a fewyears saving money, and you cancome back to Brazil and have anice life.’’

Da Silva said that he beganworking at Upper Crust just afew days after arriving in Bostonin 2003, and that within fouryears he had made enough mon-ey to buy apartments to rent outin Sao Paulo and to build an ex-pansive house in Marilac withporcelain tile floors, crown mold-ing, and the only green lawn intown. To this point, the UpperCrust story was not an unusualone at a time when many smallbusinesses in America, especiallyin the restaurant industry, relyon illegal labor. The risks of expo-sure are small: There are roughly11 million illegal immigrants inthe country, including about160,000 in Massachusetts, and itis impossible for authorities tocheck every workplace.

But then things soured, andthe chain’s Brazilian laborerstook a rare step: They foughtback.

. . .

UPPER CRUST began to cutcorners on labor costs asit grappled with expan-

sion, said Patrick Joyce, a formeroperations manager who workedat Upper Crust for seven years.The immigrants say they took onmore hours. The bonuses andemployee parties that had sweet-ened the job ended, and requestsfor raises were regularly rejected.The Brazilian currency — calledthe real — was also gettingstronger, so the workers’ dollarsdidn’t go as far back home.

At the same time, some of theAmericans who staffed thechain’s counters and worked asmanagers received raises, theysay. Tobins prospered more visi-bly, using his newfound wealth topay for expensive cars, a fancyboat, and even a private plane.

‘‘The stakes got higher, and itgot more cutthroat,’’ said Joyce,who said he left in June after be-coming frustrated by the work-ing conditions. ‘‘It was unbear-able.’’

For its Hingham restaurant,the fifth to open, Upper Crust setup an apartment for the immi-grants near the shop, accordingto Joyce, who collected rent incash from workers, then paid thebuilding’s landlord with a checkfrom the store’s account.

Valdeir Pereira Pinto, 27, wasa member of the group that livedin Hingham. In 2006, he left hisMarilac home — a pink concretestructure with gaping holes likemissing teeth where there shouldhave been windows — and cameto the South Shore town, one ofthe wealthiest suburbs in Massa-chusetts. He quickly found hisnew living arrangements werenot much of an improvement ov-

er what he left behind.Pinto was one of six workers

crammed into a two-bedroomapartment. They paid about$1,200 total in monthly rent toUpper Crust, but spent mostwaking hours at the small pizzashop — a five-minute walk away.They rarely saw their Marilacfriends in Boston.

‘‘I just worked all the time, 80hours and sometimes more,’’ Pin-to said. ‘‘They said they were toobusy, and, ‘I can’t give you [time]off; you must work.’ I was verytired.’’

Sergio Soares Lima Filho Jr.and Marcos Rodrigues da Silvawere more than tired. They wereupset after finding out illegalworkers at some other area res-taurants were receiving time anda half after 40 hours. UpperCrust’s practice was to write onecheck for a worker’s first 40hours, and an additional check,at the same rate, to cover extrahours. Some workers said theywere paid entirely in cash.

Filho and da Silva decided to

meet with a lawyer to figure outtheir options. Then da Silvaasked Botelho — the go-to guy toget Tobins’s attention — to ar-range a meeting in the winter of2006 at the Brookline restaurantin Coolidge Corner.

Da Silva, who entered thecountry with a fake passport hebought in Portugal, told Tobinsthat employees were planning tostrike unless they received raisesor overtime pay. Tobins becameincensed. They didn’t have anyrights, he shouted, according tothree former workers and a man-ager present at the meeting. Ifthey wanted more money, Tobinssaid, they should find anotherjob. Then he fired da Silva andFilho on the spot.

‘‘Marcos and I cried because[Tobins] said we were selfish,’’ re-called Filho, speaking in his na-tive Portuguese. His father, a Ma-rilac native, followed him toUpper Crust.

A few hours later, Botelhocalled da Silva. He and Filho stillhad jobs if they wanted them, Bo-telho said. The men said they re-turned to work because they hadbills to pay in Boston and fam-ilies in Marilac who needed mon-ey. Besides, they believed their il-legal status made them beholdento an employer who they saidhad repeatedly threatened to callimmigration officials.

So they devised a plan. Da Sil-va and his relatives, including hisuncle Edmar da Silva, beganputting away of thousands of dol-lars that they hoped one daywould finance their own pizzashop in Massachusetts.

‘‘I just dream about leavingUpper Crust and getting a betterplace to work,’’ Marcos Rodriguesda Silva said.

They thought they had founda way out a few months later,when a Brazilian man stopped bythe Brookline restaurant andhanded da Silva the phone num-ber of someone who he saidcould sell them an authenticgreen card, permanent residentidentification that authorizes a

foreigner to live and work in theUnited States. But it was part ofan immigration sting. Da Silvawas arrested in August 2007,along with Botelho and other ille-gal Upper Crust workers whohad tried to buy immigrationdocuments. Da Silva spent eightmonths in prison before beingdeported in 2008.

Da Silva and Filho ‘‘were nev-er threatened or fired, and theycontinued to work for the com-pany until they were arrested,’’Regan said.

After the arrests, Joyce, theoperations manager, said Tobinstold him to meet with a lawyerwho could help get Botelho out ofjail. While the other workers ac-cused of being in the UnitedStates illegally fled or have sincebeen deported, Botelho receiveda voluntary order of departure,according to the Department ofHomeland Security, whichmeans he has a designatedamount of time to leave the Unit-ed States. He is currently appeal-ing to stay in the country longer.

Regan said the deportationshad nothing to do with the res-taurants.

‘‘This case did not involve thecompany,’’ he said. ‘‘A couple ofthe company’s employees werecharged as part of this sting anddeported. [Botelho] was notcharged and thus was not de-ported.’’

. . .

BY 2009, despite a deepen-ing recession, Upper Crustwas on a tear. It had 14

stores, a plan to open three more,and projected annual sales of upto $16 million, Tobins said in aninterview with the Globe at thetime. But the chain’s team ofworkers did not expand as quick-ly. To make up for the shortage ofhelp, cooks were often rotatedbetween stores and worked up to100 hours a week to fill the gaps,according to Greg Goncharov, aformer business manager at twoof the chain’s restaurants.

The stores were adequatelystaffed, Regan said.

‘‘I was so exhausted; I thoughtI wouldn’t make it there andcome back,’’ Luis Lucas da Silvasaid through a translator. TheMarilac native returned to Brazillast fall after working doubleshifts for several years. ‘‘My bodycouldn’t take it anymore. Icouldn’t even take my feet off theground.’’

Eventually, some of the em-ployees summoned the courageto report Upper Crust to labor of-ficials. That set off a firestorm atthe chain.

Federal labor laws requireemployers to pay workers over-time, even if the workers are inthe country illegally. The law isintended to dissuade companiesfrom hiring such workers as away to scrimp on payroll.

The Labor Department began

Harmony gives way to exploitation chargeº UPPER CRUSTContinued from Page A1

Continued on next page

PHOTOS BY DINA RUDICK/GLOBE STAFF

Many families in the small town of Marilac in southeastern Brazil have relied heavily on money sent by illegal immigrants working in Upper Crust stores.

Jose Bento worked behind the counter of the butcher shop he helped save using money heearned while employed at one of the pizza chain’s Massachusetts locations.

‘They tookadvantage ofme, but notonly me—everyone. I felthumiliatedthat I workand work andI was notvalued.’

WASHINGTON‘CHICO’ RODRIGUESDA SILVA

UPPER CRUST THE UNDERSIDE

2

Page 3: Upper Crust

DECEMBER 5 , 2010

A16 The Region D E C E M B E R 5 , 2 0 1 0B O S T O N S U N D A Y G L O B E

Over time, however, this ami-cable but unlawful relationshipwould unravel. Documents froma recent class action lawsuitshow that as Tobins expanded hispizza empire, he began to exploithis immigrant workers. The em-ployees took their complaints tothe US Department of Labor,which ordered the chain to doleout hundreds of thousands ofdollars in back pay. The depart-ment is now investigating wageviolations at Upper Crust for asecond time.

Meanwhile, in dusty Marilac,some fear a reliable source of in-come used to build farms andbusinesses and houses will van-ish. Others say the village will bebetter off without the pizza mon-ey and the sacrifices it requires.

‘‘We were the ones who madeUpper Crust as big and as rich asthey are, but I suffered verymuch,’’ said Washington ‘‘Chico’’Rodrigues da Silva, who followedhis brother Marcos from Marilacto Boston in 2003. With the mon-ey they earned at the second Up-per Crust store, in Brookline, thesiblings paid $35,000 to buy theirfamily in Marilac a small avo-cado-colored house. But plans tostart their own business wereabandoned after Marcos was de-ported. Since returning to Mari-lac last fall, Chico has spent hisdays milking cows and herdingcattle, and lacks a steady income.

‘‘They took advantage of me,but not only me — everyone,’’Chico said through a translator.‘‘I felt humiliated that I work andwork and I was not valued.’’

George Regan, a spokesmanfor Upper Crust, said allegationsof exploitation are unfounded.

‘‘This comes as a shock,’’ Re-gan said. ‘‘All of our workers aretreated with respect.’’

. . .

IN THE BEGINNING, the ar-rangement between Marilacand Upper Crust seemed just

right, at least to those willing torisk the illegal passage and fur-tive toil.

Pedro Chaves de Souza wasamong the first to come. Heslipped over the Mexican borderin March 2001 and came to Bos-ton looking for work. A cousin in-troduced him to Tobins, who hadjust opened a pizza shop onCharles Street, in Boston’s Bea-con Hill neighborhood. De Souzalanded a job preparing vegeta-bles in the kitchen. He earnedabout $8 an hour — well over theminimum wage at the time —and far more than he madeworking at a butcher shop in Ma-rilac.

Word of employment oppor-tunities at Upper Crust spread.Others from Marilac began arriv-ing. It felt like a family for theBrazilians in the shop. Tobinsand other managers worked sideby side with them, spinningdough and delivering pizzas onbicycles.

It typically took a year of gru-eling six- and seven-day work-weeks for the illegal immigrantsto pay off the $10,000 to thesmugglers who arranged theirjourney. After the obligation wassettled, the men would send hun-dreds of dollars each month tofamily back in Marilac. Jose daSilva built a bakery and a housein just a few years, Jose Bentosaved his troubled butcher shopon Rua Rio De Janeiro, and Pe-dro Chaves de Souza bought landand some cows on the outskirtsof town.

Marilac provided a pipeline ofcheap, dedicated workers for Up-per Crust. In 2002, Luciano Bo-telho arrived with a decent com-mand of English and an easysmile. Tobins tapped the Marilacnative to oversee the hiring of thecooks and delivery workers whowould become the backbone ofthe operation. Botelho, who isstill employed by Upper Crust,declined to comment for thisstory.

‘‘[Botelho] has always beencompetent and dedicated,’’ Re-gan said. ‘‘He was never asked tolocate employees from a particu-lar area, but it is hardly surpris-ing that he would know morepeople from the area where hecame from. Any person recom-mended for employment by himwould have to be considered seri-ously.’’

As the business grew, moremen in Marilac left behind girl-friends, fiancées, wives, and chil-dren to come to Boston, accord-ing to interviews with about 30

former workers and relatives ofcurrent and former workers.They easily found smugglers —called coyotes — to arrange theirtrip from Brazil: the bus to SaoPaulo, a short stay in Mexico City,and, finally, the border crossing— sometimes in an inner tubeacross the Rio Grande. Overtime, at least 80 men from Mari-lac set up a colony of sorts in EastBoston. Many lived together incrowded apartments near Mav-erick Square. Botelho, the inspi-ration for the ‘‘Lucky Luciano’’Brazilian pizza on Upper Crust’smenu, frequently put up new ar-rivals at his home and gave themfood and clothing.

‘‘I wanted to have a better fu-ture than I had if I stayed in Bra-zil,’’ said Dimas da Silva, whosaid he crossed through Mexicounder the floorboards of a pickuptruck, hiding among cans of gas-oline to mask his scent from thetrained dogs used by US borderguards. ‘‘In USA, you can workhard and stay there for a fewyears saving money, and you cancome back to Brazil and have anice life.’’

Da Silva said that he beganworking at Upper Crust just afew days after arriving in Bostonin 2003, and that within fouryears he had made enough mon-ey to buy apartments to rent outin Sao Paulo and to build an ex-pansive house in Marilac withporcelain tile floors, crown mold-ing, and the only green lawn intown. To this point, the UpperCrust story was not an unusualone at a time when many smallbusinesses in America, especiallyin the restaurant industry, relyon illegal labor. The risks of expo-sure are small: There are roughly11 million illegal immigrants inthe country, including about160,000 in Massachusetts, and itis impossible for authorities tocheck every workplace.

But then things soured, andthe chain’s Brazilian laborerstook a rare step: They foughtback.

. . .

UPPER CRUST began to cutcorners on labor costs asit grappled with expan-

sion, said Patrick Joyce, a formeroperations manager who workedat Upper Crust for seven years.The immigrants say they took onmore hours. The bonuses andemployee parties that had sweet-ened the job ended, and requestsfor raises were regularly rejected.The Brazilian currency — calledthe real — was also gettingstronger, so the workers’ dollarsdidn’t go as far back home.

At the same time, some of theAmericans who staffed thechain’s counters and worked asmanagers received raises, theysay. Tobins prospered more visi-bly, using his newfound wealth topay for expensive cars, a fancyboat, and even a private plane.

‘‘The stakes got higher, and itgot more cutthroat,’’ said Joyce,who said he left in June after be-coming frustrated by the work-ing conditions. ‘‘It was unbear-able.’’

For its Hingham restaurant,the fifth to open, Upper Crust setup an apartment for the immi-grants near the shop, accordingto Joyce, who collected rent incash from workers, then paid thebuilding’s landlord with a checkfrom the store’s account.

Valdeir Pereira Pinto, 27, wasa member of the group that livedin Hingham. In 2006, he left hisMarilac home — a pink concretestructure with gaping holes likemissing teeth where there shouldhave been windows — and cameto the South Shore town, one ofthe wealthiest suburbs in Massa-chusetts. He quickly found hisnew living arrangements werenot much of an improvement ov-

er what he left behind.Pinto was one of six workers

crammed into a two-bedroomapartment. They paid about$1,200 total in monthly rent toUpper Crust, but spent mostwaking hours at the small pizzashop — a five-minute walk away.They rarely saw their Marilacfriends in Boston.

‘‘I just worked all the time, 80hours and sometimes more,’’ Pin-to said. ‘‘They said they were toobusy, and, ‘I can’t give you [time]off; you must work.’ I was verytired.’’

Sergio Soares Lima Filho Jr.and Marcos Rodrigues da Silvawere more than tired. They wereupset after finding out illegalworkers at some other area res-taurants were receiving time anda half after 40 hours. UpperCrust’s practice was to write onecheck for a worker’s first 40hours, and an additional check,at the same rate, to cover extrahours. Some workers said theywere paid entirely in cash.

Filho and da Silva decided to

meet with a lawyer to figure outtheir options. Then da Silvaasked Botelho — the go-to guy toget Tobins’s attention — to ar-range a meeting in the winter of2006 at the Brookline restaurantin Coolidge Corner.

Da Silva, who entered thecountry with a fake passport hebought in Portugal, told Tobinsthat employees were planning tostrike unless they received raisesor overtime pay. Tobins becameincensed. They didn’t have anyrights, he shouted, according tothree former workers and a man-ager present at the meeting. Ifthey wanted more money, Tobinssaid, they should find anotherjob. Then he fired da Silva andFilho on the spot.

‘‘Marcos and I cried because[Tobins] said we were selfish,’’ re-called Filho, speaking in his na-tive Portuguese. His father, a Ma-rilac native, followed him toUpper Crust.

A few hours later, Botelhocalled da Silva. He and Filho stillhad jobs if they wanted them, Bo-telho said. The men said they re-turned to work because they hadbills to pay in Boston and fam-ilies in Marilac who needed mon-ey. Besides, they believed their il-legal status made them beholdento an employer who they saidhad repeatedly threatened to callimmigration officials.

So they devised a plan. Da Sil-va and his relatives, including hisuncle Edmar da Silva, beganputting away of thousands of dol-lars that they hoped one daywould finance their own pizzashop in Massachusetts.

‘‘I just dream about leavingUpper Crust and getting a betterplace to work,’’ Marcos Rodriguesda Silva said.

They thought they had founda way out a few months later,when a Brazilian man stopped bythe Brookline restaurant andhanded da Silva the phone num-ber of someone who he saidcould sell them an authenticgreen card, permanent residentidentification that authorizes a

foreigner to live and work in theUnited States. But it was part ofan immigration sting. Da Silvawas arrested in August 2007,along with Botelho and other ille-gal Upper Crust workers whohad tried to buy immigrationdocuments. Da Silva spent eightmonths in prison before beingdeported in 2008.

Da Silva and Filho ‘‘were nev-er threatened or fired, and theycontinued to work for the com-pany until they were arrested,’’Regan said.

After the arrests, Joyce, theoperations manager, said Tobinstold him to meet with a lawyerwho could help get Botelho out ofjail. While the other workers ac-cused of being in the UnitedStates illegally fled or have sincebeen deported, Botelho receiveda voluntary order of departure,according to the Department ofHomeland Security, whichmeans he has a designatedamount of time to leave the Unit-ed States. He is currently appeal-ing to stay in the country longer.

Regan said the deportationshad nothing to do with the res-taurants.

‘‘This case did not involve thecompany,’’ he said. ‘‘A couple ofthe company’s employees werecharged as part of this sting anddeported. [Botelho] was notcharged and thus was not de-ported.’’

. . .

BY 2009, despite a deepen-ing recession, Upper Crustwas on a tear. It had 14

stores, a plan to open three more,and projected annual sales of upto $16 million, Tobins said in aninterview with the Globe at thetime. But the chain’s team ofworkers did not expand as quick-ly. To make up for the shortage ofhelp, cooks were often rotatedbetween stores and worked up to100 hours a week to fill the gaps,according to Greg Goncharov, aformer business manager at twoof the chain’s restaurants.

The stores were adequatelystaffed, Regan said.

‘‘I was so exhausted; I thoughtI wouldn’t make it there andcome back,’’ Luis Lucas da Silvasaid through a translator. TheMarilac native returned to Brazillast fall after working doubleshifts for several years. ‘‘My bodycouldn’t take it anymore. Icouldn’t even take my feet off theground.’’

Eventually, some of the em-ployees summoned the courageto report Upper Crust to labor of-ficials. That set off a firestorm atthe chain.

Federal labor laws requireemployers to pay workers over-time, even if the workers are inthe country illegally. The law isintended to dissuade companiesfrom hiring such workers as away to scrimp on payroll.

The Labor Department began

Harmony gives way to exploitation chargeº UPPER CRUSTContinued from Page A1

Continued on next page

PHOTOS BY DINA RUDICK/GLOBE STAFF

Many families in the small town of Marilac in southeastern Brazil have relied heavily on money sent by illegal immigrants working in Upper Crust stores.

Jose Bento worked behind the counter of the butcher shop he helped save using money heearned while employed at one of the pizza chain’s Massachusetts locations.

‘They tookadvantage ofme, but notonly me—everyone. I felthumiliatedthat I workand work andI was notvalued.’

WASHINGTON‘CHICO’ RODRIGUESDA SILVA

UPPER CRUST THE UNDERSIDE

A16 The Region D E C E M B E R 5 , 2 0 1 0B O S T O N S U N D A Y G L O B E

Over time, however, this ami-cable but unlawful relationshipwould unravel. Documents froma recent class action lawsuitshow that as Tobins expanded hispizza empire, he began to exploithis immigrant workers. The em-ployees took their complaints tothe US Department of Labor,which ordered the chain to doleout hundreds of thousands ofdollars in back pay. The depart-ment is now investigating wageviolations at Upper Crust for asecond time.

Meanwhile, in dusty Marilac,some fear a reliable source of in-come used to build farms andbusinesses and houses will van-ish. Others say the village will bebetter off without the pizza mon-ey and the sacrifices it requires.

‘‘We were the ones who madeUpper Crust as big and as rich asthey are, but I suffered verymuch,’’ said Washington ‘‘Chico’’Rodrigues da Silva, who followedhis brother Marcos from Marilacto Boston in 2003. With the mon-ey they earned at the second Up-per Crust store, in Brookline, thesiblings paid $35,000 to buy theirfamily in Marilac a small avo-cado-colored house. But plans tostart their own business wereabandoned after Marcos was de-ported. Since returning to Mari-lac last fall, Chico has spent hisdays milking cows and herdingcattle, and lacks a steady income.

‘‘They took advantage of me,but not only me — everyone,’’Chico said through a translator.‘‘I felt humiliated that I work andwork and I was not valued.’’

George Regan, a spokesmanfor Upper Crust, said allegationsof exploitation are unfounded.

‘‘This comes as a shock,’’ Re-gan said. ‘‘All of our workers aretreated with respect.’’

. . .

IN THE BEGINNING, the ar-rangement between Marilacand Upper Crust seemed just

right, at least to those willing torisk the illegal passage and fur-tive toil.

Pedro Chaves de Souza wasamong the first to come. Heslipped over the Mexican borderin March 2001 and came to Bos-ton looking for work. A cousin in-troduced him to Tobins, who hadjust opened a pizza shop onCharles Street, in Boston’s Bea-con Hill neighborhood. De Souzalanded a job preparing vegeta-bles in the kitchen. He earnedabout $8 an hour — well over theminimum wage at the time —and far more than he madeworking at a butcher shop in Ma-rilac.

Word of employment oppor-tunities at Upper Crust spread.Others from Marilac began arriv-ing. It felt like a family for theBrazilians in the shop. Tobinsand other managers worked sideby side with them, spinningdough and delivering pizzas onbicycles.

It typically took a year of gru-eling six- and seven-day work-weeks for the illegal immigrantsto pay off the $10,000 to thesmugglers who arranged theirjourney. After the obligation wassettled, the men would send hun-dreds of dollars each month tofamily back in Marilac. Jose daSilva built a bakery and a housein just a few years, Jose Bentosaved his troubled butcher shopon Rua Rio De Janeiro, and Pe-dro Chaves de Souza bought landand some cows on the outskirtsof town.

Marilac provided a pipeline ofcheap, dedicated workers for Up-per Crust. In 2002, Luciano Bo-telho arrived with a decent com-mand of English and an easysmile. Tobins tapped the Marilacnative to oversee the hiring of thecooks and delivery workers whowould become the backbone ofthe operation. Botelho, who isstill employed by Upper Crust,declined to comment for thisstory.

‘‘[Botelho] has always beencompetent and dedicated,’’ Re-gan said. ‘‘He was never asked tolocate employees from a particu-lar area, but it is hardly surpris-ing that he would know morepeople from the area where hecame from. Any person recom-mended for employment by himwould have to be considered seri-ously.’’

As the business grew, moremen in Marilac left behind girl-friends, fiancées, wives, and chil-dren to come to Boston, accord-ing to interviews with about 30

former workers and relatives ofcurrent and former workers.They easily found smugglers —called coyotes — to arrange theirtrip from Brazil: the bus to SaoPaulo, a short stay in Mexico City,and, finally, the border crossing— sometimes in an inner tubeacross the Rio Grande. Overtime, at least 80 men from Mari-lac set up a colony of sorts in EastBoston. Many lived together incrowded apartments near Mav-erick Square. Botelho, the inspi-ration for the ‘‘Lucky Luciano’’Brazilian pizza on Upper Crust’smenu, frequently put up new ar-rivals at his home and gave themfood and clothing.

‘‘I wanted to have a better fu-ture than I had if I stayed in Bra-zil,’’ said Dimas da Silva, whosaid he crossed through Mexicounder the floorboards of a pickuptruck, hiding among cans of gas-oline to mask his scent from thetrained dogs used by US borderguards. ‘‘In USA, you can workhard and stay there for a fewyears saving money, and you cancome back to Brazil and have anice life.’’

Da Silva said that he beganworking at Upper Crust just afew days after arriving in Bostonin 2003, and that within fouryears he had made enough mon-ey to buy apartments to rent outin Sao Paulo and to build an ex-pansive house in Marilac withporcelain tile floors, crown mold-ing, and the only green lawn intown. To this point, the UpperCrust story was not an unusualone at a time when many smallbusinesses in America, especiallyin the restaurant industry, relyon illegal labor. The risks of expo-sure are small: There are roughly11 million illegal immigrants inthe country, including about160,000 in Massachusetts, and itis impossible for authorities tocheck every workplace.

But then things soured, andthe chain’s Brazilian laborerstook a rare step: They foughtback.

. . .

UPPER CRUST began to cutcorners on labor costs asit grappled with expan-

sion, said Patrick Joyce, a formeroperations manager who workedat Upper Crust for seven years.The immigrants say they took onmore hours. The bonuses andemployee parties that had sweet-ened the job ended, and requestsfor raises were regularly rejected.The Brazilian currency — calledthe real — was also gettingstronger, so the workers’ dollarsdidn’t go as far back home.

At the same time, some of theAmericans who staffed thechain’s counters and worked asmanagers received raises, theysay. Tobins prospered more visi-bly, using his newfound wealth topay for expensive cars, a fancyboat, and even a private plane.

‘‘The stakes got higher, and itgot more cutthroat,’’ said Joyce,who said he left in June after be-coming frustrated by the work-ing conditions. ‘‘It was unbear-able.’’

For its Hingham restaurant,the fifth to open, Upper Crust setup an apartment for the immi-grants near the shop, accordingto Joyce, who collected rent incash from workers, then paid thebuilding’s landlord with a checkfrom the store’s account.

Valdeir Pereira Pinto, 27, wasa member of the group that livedin Hingham. In 2006, he left hisMarilac home — a pink concretestructure with gaping holes likemissing teeth where there shouldhave been windows — and cameto the South Shore town, one ofthe wealthiest suburbs in Massa-chusetts. He quickly found hisnew living arrangements werenot much of an improvement ov-

er what he left behind.Pinto was one of six workers

crammed into a two-bedroomapartment. They paid about$1,200 total in monthly rent toUpper Crust, but spent mostwaking hours at the small pizzashop — a five-minute walk away.They rarely saw their Marilacfriends in Boston.

‘‘I just worked all the time, 80hours and sometimes more,’’ Pin-to said. ‘‘They said they were toobusy, and, ‘I can’t give you [time]off; you must work.’ I was verytired.’’

Sergio Soares Lima Filho Jr.and Marcos Rodrigues da Silvawere more than tired. They wereupset after finding out illegalworkers at some other area res-taurants were receiving time anda half after 40 hours. UpperCrust’s practice was to write onecheck for a worker’s first 40hours, and an additional check,at the same rate, to cover extrahours. Some workers said theywere paid entirely in cash.

Filho and da Silva decided to

meet with a lawyer to figure outtheir options. Then da Silvaasked Botelho — the go-to guy toget Tobins’s attention — to ar-range a meeting in the winter of2006 at the Brookline restaurantin Coolidge Corner.

Da Silva, who entered thecountry with a fake passport hebought in Portugal, told Tobinsthat employees were planning tostrike unless they received raisesor overtime pay. Tobins becameincensed. They didn’t have anyrights, he shouted, according tothree former workers and a man-ager present at the meeting. Ifthey wanted more money, Tobinssaid, they should find anotherjob. Then he fired da Silva andFilho on the spot.

‘‘Marcos and I cried because[Tobins] said we were selfish,’’ re-called Filho, speaking in his na-tive Portuguese. His father, a Ma-rilac native, followed him toUpper Crust.

A few hours later, Botelhocalled da Silva. He and Filho stillhad jobs if they wanted them, Bo-telho said. The men said they re-turned to work because they hadbills to pay in Boston and fam-ilies in Marilac who needed mon-ey. Besides, they believed their il-legal status made them beholdento an employer who they saidhad repeatedly threatened to callimmigration officials.

So they devised a plan. Da Sil-va and his relatives, including hisuncle Edmar da Silva, beganputting away of thousands of dol-lars that they hoped one daywould finance their own pizzashop in Massachusetts.

‘‘I just dream about leavingUpper Crust and getting a betterplace to work,’’ Marcos Rodriguesda Silva said.

They thought they had founda way out a few months later,when a Brazilian man stopped bythe Brookline restaurant andhanded da Silva the phone num-ber of someone who he saidcould sell them an authenticgreen card, permanent residentidentification that authorizes a

foreigner to live and work in theUnited States. But it was part ofan immigration sting. Da Silvawas arrested in August 2007,along with Botelho and other ille-gal Upper Crust workers whohad tried to buy immigrationdocuments. Da Silva spent eightmonths in prison before beingdeported in 2008.

Da Silva and Filho ‘‘were nev-er threatened or fired, and theycontinued to work for the com-pany until they were arrested,’’Regan said.

After the arrests, Joyce, theoperations manager, said Tobinstold him to meet with a lawyerwho could help get Botelho out ofjail. While the other workers ac-cused of being in the UnitedStates illegally fled or have sincebeen deported, Botelho receiveda voluntary order of departure,according to the Department ofHomeland Security, whichmeans he has a designatedamount of time to leave the Unit-ed States. He is currently appeal-ing to stay in the country longer.

Regan said the deportationshad nothing to do with the res-taurants.

‘‘This case did not involve thecompany,’’ he said. ‘‘A couple ofthe company’s employees werecharged as part of this sting anddeported. [Botelho] was notcharged and thus was not de-ported.’’

. . .

BY 2009, despite a deepen-ing recession, Upper Crustwas on a tear. It had 14

stores, a plan to open three more,and projected annual sales of upto $16 million, Tobins said in aninterview with the Globe at thetime. But the chain’s team ofworkers did not expand as quick-ly. To make up for the shortage ofhelp, cooks were often rotatedbetween stores and worked up to100 hours a week to fill the gaps,according to Greg Goncharov, aformer business manager at twoof the chain’s restaurants.

The stores were adequatelystaffed, Regan said.

‘‘I was so exhausted; I thoughtI wouldn’t make it there andcome back,’’ Luis Lucas da Silvasaid through a translator. TheMarilac native returned to Brazillast fall after working doubleshifts for several years. ‘‘My bodycouldn’t take it anymore. Icouldn’t even take my feet off theground.’’

Eventually, some of the em-ployees summoned the courageto report Upper Crust to labor of-ficials. That set off a firestorm atthe chain.

Federal labor laws requireemployers to pay workers over-time, even if the workers are inthe country illegally. The law isintended to dissuade companiesfrom hiring such workers as away to scrimp on payroll.

The Labor Department began

Harmony gives way to exploitation chargeº UPPER CRUSTContinued from Page A1

Continued on next page

PHOTOS BY DINA RUDICK/GLOBE STAFF

Many families in the small town of Marilac in southeastern Brazil have relied heavily on money sent by illegal immigrants working in Upper Crust stores.

Jose Bento worked behind the counter of the butcher shop he helped save using money heearned while employed at one of the pizza chain’s Massachusetts locations.

‘They tookadvantage ofme, but notonly me—everyone. I felthumiliatedthat I workand work andI was notvalued.’

WASHINGTON‘CHICO’ RODRIGUESDA SILVA

UPPER CRUST THE UNDERSIDE

A16 The Region D E C E M B E R 5 , 2 0 1 0B O S T O N S U N D A Y G L O B E

Over time, however, this ami-cable but unlawful relationshipwould unravel. Documents froma recent class action lawsuitshow that as Tobins expanded hispizza empire, he began to exploithis immigrant workers. The em-ployees took their complaints tothe US Department of Labor,which ordered the chain to doleout hundreds of thousands ofdollars in back pay. The depart-ment is now investigating wageviolations at Upper Crust for asecond time.

Meanwhile, in dusty Marilac,some fear a reliable source of in-come used to build farms andbusinesses and houses will van-ish. Others say the village will bebetter off without the pizza mon-ey and the sacrifices it requires.

‘‘We were the ones who madeUpper Crust as big and as rich asthey are, but I suffered verymuch,’’ said Washington ‘‘Chico’’Rodrigues da Silva, who followedhis brother Marcos from Marilacto Boston in 2003. With the mon-ey they earned at the second Up-per Crust store, in Brookline, thesiblings paid $35,000 to buy theirfamily in Marilac a small avo-cado-colored house. But plans tostart their own business wereabandoned after Marcos was de-ported. Since returning to Mari-lac last fall, Chico has spent hisdays milking cows and herdingcattle, and lacks a steady income.

‘‘They took advantage of me,but not only me — everyone,’’Chico said through a translator.‘‘I felt humiliated that I work andwork and I was not valued.’’

George Regan, a spokesmanfor Upper Crust, said allegationsof exploitation are unfounded.

‘‘This comes as a shock,’’ Re-gan said. ‘‘All of our workers aretreated with respect.’’

. . .

IN THE BEGINNING, the ar-rangement between Marilacand Upper Crust seemed just

right, at least to those willing torisk the illegal passage and fur-tive toil.

Pedro Chaves de Souza wasamong the first to come. Heslipped over the Mexican borderin March 2001 and came to Bos-ton looking for work. A cousin in-troduced him to Tobins, who hadjust opened a pizza shop onCharles Street, in Boston’s Bea-con Hill neighborhood. De Souzalanded a job preparing vegeta-bles in the kitchen. He earnedabout $8 an hour — well over theminimum wage at the time —and far more than he madeworking at a butcher shop in Ma-rilac.

Word of employment oppor-tunities at Upper Crust spread.Others from Marilac began arriv-ing. It felt like a family for theBrazilians in the shop. Tobinsand other managers worked sideby side with them, spinningdough and delivering pizzas onbicycles.

It typically took a year of gru-eling six- and seven-day work-weeks for the illegal immigrantsto pay off the $10,000 to thesmugglers who arranged theirjourney. After the obligation wassettled, the men would send hun-dreds of dollars each month tofamily back in Marilac. Jose daSilva built a bakery and a housein just a few years, Jose Bentosaved his troubled butcher shopon Rua Rio De Janeiro, and Pe-dro Chaves de Souza bought landand some cows on the outskirtsof town.

Marilac provided a pipeline ofcheap, dedicated workers for Up-per Crust. In 2002, Luciano Bo-telho arrived with a decent com-mand of English and an easysmile. Tobins tapped the Marilacnative to oversee the hiring of thecooks and delivery workers whowould become the backbone ofthe operation. Botelho, who isstill employed by Upper Crust,declined to comment for thisstory.

‘‘[Botelho] has always beencompetent and dedicated,’’ Re-gan said. ‘‘He was never asked tolocate employees from a particu-lar area, but it is hardly surpris-ing that he would know morepeople from the area where hecame from. Any person recom-mended for employment by himwould have to be considered seri-ously.’’

As the business grew, moremen in Marilac left behind girl-friends, fiancées, wives, and chil-dren to come to Boston, accord-ing to interviews with about 30

former workers and relatives ofcurrent and former workers.They easily found smugglers —called coyotes — to arrange theirtrip from Brazil: the bus to SaoPaulo, a short stay in Mexico City,and, finally, the border crossing— sometimes in an inner tubeacross the Rio Grande. Overtime, at least 80 men from Mari-lac set up a colony of sorts in EastBoston. Many lived together incrowded apartments near Mav-erick Square. Botelho, the inspi-ration for the ‘‘Lucky Luciano’’Brazilian pizza on Upper Crust’smenu, frequently put up new ar-rivals at his home and gave themfood and clothing.

‘‘I wanted to have a better fu-ture than I had if I stayed in Bra-zil,’’ said Dimas da Silva, whosaid he crossed through Mexicounder the floorboards of a pickuptruck, hiding among cans of gas-oline to mask his scent from thetrained dogs used by US borderguards. ‘‘In USA, you can workhard and stay there for a fewyears saving money, and you cancome back to Brazil and have anice life.’’

Da Silva said that he beganworking at Upper Crust just afew days after arriving in Bostonin 2003, and that within fouryears he had made enough mon-ey to buy apartments to rent outin Sao Paulo and to build an ex-pansive house in Marilac withporcelain tile floors, crown mold-ing, and the only green lawn intown. To this point, the UpperCrust story was not an unusualone at a time when many smallbusinesses in America, especiallyin the restaurant industry, relyon illegal labor. The risks of expo-sure are small: There are roughly11 million illegal immigrants inthe country, including about160,000 in Massachusetts, and itis impossible for authorities tocheck every workplace.

But then things soured, andthe chain’s Brazilian laborerstook a rare step: They foughtback.

. . .

UPPER CRUST began to cutcorners on labor costs asit grappled with expan-

sion, said Patrick Joyce, a formeroperations manager who workedat Upper Crust for seven years.The immigrants say they took onmore hours. The bonuses andemployee parties that had sweet-ened the job ended, and requestsfor raises were regularly rejected.The Brazilian currency — calledthe real — was also gettingstronger, so the workers’ dollarsdidn’t go as far back home.

At the same time, some of theAmericans who staffed thechain’s counters and worked asmanagers received raises, theysay. Tobins prospered more visi-bly, using his newfound wealth topay for expensive cars, a fancyboat, and even a private plane.

‘‘The stakes got higher, and itgot more cutthroat,’’ said Joyce,who said he left in June after be-coming frustrated by the work-ing conditions. ‘‘It was unbear-able.’’

For its Hingham restaurant,the fifth to open, Upper Crust setup an apartment for the immi-grants near the shop, accordingto Joyce, who collected rent incash from workers, then paid thebuilding’s landlord with a checkfrom the store’s account.

Valdeir Pereira Pinto, 27, wasa member of the group that livedin Hingham. In 2006, he left hisMarilac home — a pink concretestructure with gaping holes likemissing teeth where there shouldhave been windows — and cameto the South Shore town, one ofthe wealthiest suburbs in Massa-chusetts. He quickly found hisnew living arrangements werenot much of an improvement ov-

er what he left behind.Pinto was one of six workers

crammed into a two-bedroomapartment. They paid about$1,200 total in monthly rent toUpper Crust, but spent mostwaking hours at the small pizzashop — a five-minute walk away.They rarely saw their Marilacfriends in Boston.

‘‘I just worked all the time, 80hours and sometimes more,’’ Pin-to said. ‘‘They said they were toobusy, and, ‘I can’t give you [time]off; you must work.’ I was verytired.’’

Sergio Soares Lima Filho Jr.and Marcos Rodrigues da Silvawere more than tired. They wereupset after finding out illegalworkers at some other area res-taurants were receiving time anda half after 40 hours. UpperCrust’s practice was to write onecheck for a worker’s first 40hours, and an additional check,at the same rate, to cover extrahours. Some workers said theywere paid entirely in cash.

Filho and da Silva decided to

meet with a lawyer to figure outtheir options. Then da Silvaasked Botelho — the go-to guy toget Tobins’s attention — to ar-range a meeting in the winter of2006 at the Brookline restaurantin Coolidge Corner.

Da Silva, who entered thecountry with a fake passport hebought in Portugal, told Tobinsthat employees were planning tostrike unless they received raisesor overtime pay. Tobins becameincensed. They didn’t have anyrights, he shouted, according tothree former workers and a man-ager present at the meeting. Ifthey wanted more money, Tobinssaid, they should find anotherjob. Then he fired da Silva andFilho on the spot.

‘‘Marcos and I cried because[Tobins] said we were selfish,’’ re-called Filho, speaking in his na-tive Portuguese. His father, a Ma-rilac native, followed him toUpper Crust.

A few hours later, Botelhocalled da Silva. He and Filho stillhad jobs if they wanted them, Bo-telho said. The men said they re-turned to work because they hadbills to pay in Boston and fam-ilies in Marilac who needed mon-ey. Besides, they believed their il-legal status made them beholdento an employer who they saidhad repeatedly threatened to callimmigration officials.

So they devised a plan. Da Sil-va and his relatives, including hisuncle Edmar da Silva, beganputting away of thousands of dol-lars that they hoped one daywould finance their own pizzashop in Massachusetts.

‘‘I just dream about leavingUpper Crust and getting a betterplace to work,’’ Marcos Rodriguesda Silva said.

They thought they had founda way out a few months later,when a Brazilian man stopped bythe Brookline restaurant andhanded da Silva the phone num-ber of someone who he saidcould sell them an authenticgreen card, permanent residentidentification that authorizes a

foreigner to live and work in theUnited States. But it was part ofan immigration sting. Da Silvawas arrested in August 2007,along with Botelho and other ille-gal Upper Crust workers whohad tried to buy immigrationdocuments. Da Silva spent eightmonths in prison before beingdeported in 2008.

Da Silva and Filho ‘‘were nev-er threatened or fired, and theycontinued to work for the com-pany until they were arrested,’’Regan said.

After the arrests, Joyce, theoperations manager, said Tobinstold him to meet with a lawyerwho could help get Botelho out ofjail. While the other workers ac-cused of being in the UnitedStates illegally fled or have sincebeen deported, Botelho receiveda voluntary order of departure,according to the Department ofHomeland Security, whichmeans he has a designatedamount of time to leave the Unit-ed States. He is currently appeal-ing to stay in the country longer.

Regan said the deportationshad nothing to do with the res-taurants.

‘‘This case did not involve thecompany,’’ he said. ‘‘A couple ofthe company’s employees werecharged as part of this sting anddeported. [Botelho] was notcharged and thus was not de-ported.’’

. . .

BY 2009, despite a deepen-ing recession, Upper Crustwas on a tear. It had 14

stores, a plan to open three more,and projected annual sales of upto $16 million, Tobins said in aninterview with the Globe at thetime. But the chain’s team ofworkers did not expand as quick-ly. To make up for the shortage ofhelp, cooks were often rotatedbetween stores and worked up to100 hours a week to fill the gaps,according to Greg Goncharov, aformer business manager at twoof the chain’s restaurants.

The stores were adequatelystaffed, Regan said.

‘‘I was so exhausted; I thoughtI wouldn’t make it there andcome back,’’ Luis Lucas da Silvasaid through a translator. TheMarilac native returned to Brazillast fall after working doubleshifts for several years. ‘‘My bodycouldn’t take it anymore. Icouldn’t even take my feet off theground.’’

Eventually, some of the em-ployees summoned the courageto report Upper Crust to labor of-ficials. That set off a firestorm atthe chain.

Federal labor laws requireemployers to pay workers over-time, even if the workers are inthe country illegally. The law isintended to dissuade companiesfrom hiring such workers as away to scrimp on payroll.

The Labor Department began

Harmony gives way to exploitation chargeº UPPER CRUSTContinued from Page A1

Continued on next page

PHOTOS BY DINA RUDICK/GLOBE STAFF

Many families in the small town of Marilac in southeastern Brazil have relied heavily on money sent by illegal immigrants working in Upper Crust stores.

Jose Bento worked behind the counter of the butcher shop he helped save using money heearned while employed at one of the pizza chain’s Massachusetts locations.

‘They tookadvantage ofme, but notonly me—everyone. I felthumiliatedthat I workand work andI was notvalued.’

WASHINGTON‘CHICO’ RODRIGUESDA SILVA

UPPER CRUST THE UNDERSIDE

A16 The Region D E C E M B E R 5 , 2 0 1 0B O S T O N S U N D A Y G L O B E

Over time, however, this ami-cable but unlawful relationshipwould unravel. Documents froma recent class action lawsuitshow that as Tobins expanded hispizza empire, he began to exploithis immigrant workers. The em-ployees took their complaints tothe US Department of Labor,which ordered the chain to doleout hundreds of thousands ofdollars in back pay. The depart-ment is now investigating wageviolations at Upper Crust for asecond time.

Meanwhile, in dusty Marilac,some fear a reliable source of in-come used to build farms andbusinesses and houses will van-ish. Others say the village will bebetter off without the pizza mon-ey and the sacrifices it requires.

‘‘We were the ones who madeUpper Crust as big and as rich asthey are, but I suffered verymuch,’’ said Washington ‘‘Chico’’Rodrigues da Silva, who followedhis brother Marcos from Marilacto Boston in 2003. With the mon-ey they earned at the second Up-per Crust store, in Brookline, thesiblings paid $35,000 to buy theirfamily in Marilac a small avo-cado-colored house. But plans tostart their own business wereabandoned after Marcos was de-ported. Since returning to Mari-lac last fall, Chico has spent hisdays milking cows and herdingcattle, and lacks a steady income.

‘‘They took advantage of me,but not only me — everyone,’’Chico said through a translator.‘‘I felt humiliated that I work andwork and I was not valued.’’

George Regan, a spokesmanfor Upper Crust, said allegationsof exploitation are unfounded.

‘‘This comes as a shock,’’ Re-gan said. ‘‘All of our workers aretreated with respect.’’

. . .

IN THE BEGINNING, the ar-rangement between Marilacand Upper Crust seemed just

right, at least to those willing torisk the illegal passage and fur-tive toil.

Pedro Chaves de Souza wasamong the first to come. Heslipped over the Mexican borderin March 2001 and came to Bos-ton looking for work. A cousin in-troduced him to Tobins, who hadjust opened a pizza shop onCharles Street, in Boston’s Bea-con Hill neighborhood. De Souzalanded a job preparing vegeta-bles in the kitchen. He earnedabout $8 an hour — well over theminimum wage at the time —and far more than he madeworking at a butcher shop in Ma-rilac.

Word of employment oppor-tunities at Upper Crust spread.Others from Marilac began arriv-ing. It felt like a family for theBrazilians in the shop. Tobinsand other managers worked sideby side with them, spinningdough and delivering pizzas onbicycles.

It typically took a year of gru-eling six- and seven-day work-weeks for the illegal immigrantsto pay off the $10,000 to thesmugglers who arranged theirjourney. After the obligation wassettled, the men would send hun-dreds of dollars each month tofamily back in Marilac. Jose daSilva built a bakery and a housein just a few years, Jose Bentosaved his troubled butcher shopon Rua Rio De Janeiro, and Pe-dro Chaves de Souza bought landand some cows on the outskirtsof town.

Marilac provided a pipeline ofcheap, dedicated workers for Up-per Crust. In 2002, Luciano Bo-telho arrived with a decent com-mand of English and an easysmile. Tobins tapped the Marilacnative to oversee the hiring of thecooks and delivery workers whowould become the backbone ofthe operation. Botelho, who isstill employed by Upper Crust,declined to comment for thisstory.

‘‘[Botelho] has always beencompetent and dedicated,’’ Re-gan said. ‘‘He was never asked tolocate employees from a particu-lar area, but it is hardly surpris-ing that he would know morepeople from the area where hecame from. Any person recom-mended for employment by himwould have to be considered seri-ously.’’

As the business grew, moremen in Marilac left behind girl-friends, fiancées, wives, and chil-dren to come to Boston, accord-ing to interviews with about 30

former workers and relatives ofcurrent and former workers.They easily found smugglers —called coyotes — to arrange theirtrip from Brazil: the bus to SaoPaulo, a short stay in Mexico City,and, finally, the border crossing— sometimes in an inner tubeacross the Rio Grande. Overtime, at least 80 men from Mari-lac set up a colony of sorts in EastBoston. Many lived together incrowded apartments near Mav-erick Square. Botelho, the inspi-ration for the ‘‘Lucky Luciano’’Brazilian pizza on Upper Crust’smenu, frequently put up new ar-rivals at his home and gave themfood and clothing.

‘‘I wanted to have a better fu-ture than I had if I stayed in Bra-zil,’’ said Dimas da Silva, whosaid he crossed through Mexicounder the floorboards of a pickuptruck, hiding among cans of gas-oline to mask his scent from thetrained dogs used by US borderguards. ‘‘In USA, you can workhard and stay there for a fewyears saving money, and you cancome back to Brazil and have anice life.’’

Da Silva said that he beganworking at Upper Crust just afew days after arriving in Bostonin 2003, and that within fouryears he had made enough mon-ey to buy apartments to rent outin Sao Paulo and to build an ex-pansive house in Marilac withporcelain tile floors, crown mold-ing, and the only green lawn intown. To this point, the UpperCrust story was not an unusualone at a time when many smallbusinesses in America, especiallyin the restaurant industry, relyon illegal labor. The risks of expo-sure are small: There are roughly11 million illegal immigrants inthe country, including about160,000 in Massachusetts, and itis impossible for authorities tocheck every workplace.

But then things soured, andthe chain’s Brazilian laborerstook a rare step: They foughtback.

. . .

UPPER CRUST began to cutcorners on labor costs asit grappled with expan-

sion, said Patrick Joyce, a formeroperations manager who workedat Upper Crust for seven years.The immigrants say they took onmore hours. The bonuses andemployee parties that had sweet-ened the job ended, and requestsfor raises were regularly rejected.The Brazilian currency — calledthe real — was also gettingstronger, so the workers’ dollarsdidn’t go as far back home.

At the same time, some of theAmericans who staffed thechain’s counters and worked asmanagers received raises, theysay. Tobins prospered more visi-bly, using his newfound wealth topay for expensive cars, a fancyboat, and even a private plane.

‘‘The stakes got higher, and itgot more cutthroat,’’ said Joyce,who said he left in June after be-coming frustrated by the work-ing conditions. ‘‘It was unbear-able.’’

For its Hingham restaurant,the fifth to open, Upper Crust setup an apartment for the immi-grants near the shop, accordingto Joyce, who collected rent incash from workers, then paid thebuilding’s landlord with a checkfrom the store’s account.

Valdeir Pereira Pinto, 27, wasa member of the group that livedin Hingham. In 2006, he left hisMarilac home — a pink concretestructure with gaping holes likemissing teeth where there shouldhave been windows — and cameto the South Shore town, one ofthe wealthiest suburbs in Massa-chusetts. He quickly found hisnew living arrangements werenot much of an improvement ov-

er what he left behind.Pinto was one of six workers

crammed into a two-bedroomapartment. They paid about$1,200 total in monthly rent toUpper Crust, but spent mostwaking hours at the small pizzashop — a five-minute walk away.They rarely saw their Marilacfriends in Boston.

‘‘I just worked all the time, 80hours and sometimes more,’’ Pin-to said. ‘‘They said they were toobusy, and, ‘I can’t give you [time]off; you must work.’ I was verytired.’’

Sergio Soares Lima Filho Jr.and Marcos Rodrigues da Silvawere more than tired. They wereupset after finding out illegalworkers at some other area res-taurants were receiving time anda half after 40 hours. UpperCrust’s practice was to write onecheck for a worker’s first 40hours, and an additional check,at the same rate, to cover extrahours. Some workers said theywere paid entirely in cash.

Filho and da Silva decided to

meet with a lawyer to figure outtheir options. Then da Silvaasked Botelho — the go-to guy toget Tobins’s attention — to ar-range a meeting in the winter of2006 at the Brookline restaurantin Coolidge Corner.

Da Silva, who entered thecountry with a fake passport hebought in Portugal, told Tobinsthat employees were planning tostrike unless they received raisesor overtime pay. Tobins becameincensed. They didn’t have anyrights, he shouted, according tothree former workers and a man-ager present at the meeting. Ifthey wanted more money, Tobinssaid, they should find anotherjob. Then he fired da Silva andFilho on the spot.

‘‘Marcos and I cried because[Tobins] said we were selfish,’’ re-called Filho, speaking in his na-tive Portuguese. His father, a Ma-rilac native, followed him toUpper Crust.

A few hours later, Botelhocalled da Silva. He and Filho stillhad jobs if they wanted them, Bo-telho said. The men said they re-turned to work because they hadbills to pay in Boston and fam-ilies in Marilac who needed mon-ey. Besides, they believed their il-legal status made them beholdento an employer who they saidhad repeatedly threatened to callimmigration officials.

So they devised a plan. Da Sil-va and his relatives, including hisuncle Edmar da Silva, beganputting away of thousands of dol-lars that they hoped one daywould finance their own pizzashop in Massachusetts.

‘‘I just dream about leavingUpper Crust and getting a betterplace to work,’’ Marcos Rodriguesda Silva said.

They thought they had founda way out a few months later,when a Brazilian man stopped bythe Brookline restaurant andhanded da Silva the phone num-ber of someone who he saidcould sell them an authenticgreen card, permanent residentidentification that authorizes a

foreigner to live and work in theUnited States. But it was part ofan immigration sting. Da Silvawas arrested in August 2007,along with Botelho and other ille-gal Upper Crust workers whohad tried to buy immigrationdocuments. Da Silva spent eightmonths in prison before beingdeported in 2008.

Da Silva and Filho ‘‘were nev-er threatened or fired, and theycontinued to work for the com-pany until they were arrested,’’Regan said.

After the arrests, Joyce, theoperations manager, said Tobinstold him to meet with a lawyerwho could help get Botelho out ofjail. While the other workers ac-cused of being in the UnitedStates illegally fled or have sincebeen deported, Botelho receiveda voluntary order of departure,according to the Department ofHomeland Security, whichmeans he has a designatedamount of time to leave the Unit-ed States. He is currently appeal-ing to stay in the country longer.

Regan said the deportationshad nothing to do with the res-taurants.

‘‘This case did not involve thecompany,’’ he said. ‘‘A couple ofthe company’s employees werecharged as part of this sting anddeported. [Botelho] was notcharged and thus was not de-ported.’’

. . .

BY 2009, despite a deepen-ing recession, Upper Crustwas on a tear. It had 14

stores, a plan to open three more,and projected annual sales of upto $16 million, Tobins said in aninterview with the Globe at thetime. But the chain’s team ofworkers did not expand as quick-ly. To make up for the shortage ofhelp, cooks were often rotatedbetween stores and worked up to100 hours a week to fill the gaps,according to Greg Goncharov, aformer business manager at twoof the chain’s restaurants.

The stores were adequatelystaffed, Regan said.

‘‘I was so exhausted; I thoughtI wouldn’t make it there andcome back,’’ Luis Lucas da Silvasaid through a translator. TheMarilac native returned to Brazillast fall after working doubleshifts for several years. ‘‘My bodycouldn’t take it anymore. Icouldn’t even take my feet off theground.’’

Eventually, some of the em-ployees summoned the courageto report Upper Crust to labor of-ficials. That set off a firestorm atthe chain.

Federal labor laws requireemployers to pay workers over-time, even if the workers are inthe country illegally. The law isintended to dissuade companiesfrom hiring such workers as away to scrimp on payroll.

The Labor Department began

Harmony gives way to exploitation chargeº UPPER CRUSTContinued from Page A1

Continued on next page

PHOTOS BY DINA RUDICK/GLOBE STAFF

Many families in the small town of Marilac in southeastern Brazil have relied heavily on money sent by illegal immigrants working in Upper Crust stores.

Jose Bento worked behind the counter of the butcher shop he helped save using money heearned while employed at one of the pizza chain’s Massachusetts locations.

‘They tookadvantage ofme, but notonly me—everyone. I felthumiliatedthat I workand work andI was notvalued.’

WASHINGTON‘CHICO’ RODRIGUESDA SILVA

UPPER CRUST THE UNDERSIDE

A16 The Region D E C E M B E R 5 , 2 0 1 0B O S T O N S U N D A Y G L O B E

Over time, however, this ami-cable but unlawful relationshipwould unravel. Documents froma recent class action lawsuitshow that as Tobins expanded hispizza empire, he began to exploithis immigrant workers. The em-ployees took their complaints tothe US Department of Labor,which ordered the chain to doleout hundreds of thousands ofdollars in back pay. The depart-ment is now investigating wageviolations at Upper Crust for asecond time.

Meanwhile, in dusty Marilac,some fear a reliable source of in-come used to build farms andbusinesses and houses will van-ish. Others say the village will bebetter off without the pizza mon-ey and the sacrifices it requires.

‘‘We were the ones who madeUpper Crust as big and as rich asthey are, but I suffered verymuch,’’ said Washington ‘‘Chico’’Rodrigues da Silva, who followedhis brother Marcos from Marilacto Boston in 2003. With the mon-ey they earned at the second Up-per Crust store, in Brookline, thesiblings paid $35,000 to buy theirfamily in Marilac a small avo-cado-colored house. But plans tostart their own business wereabandoned after Marcos was de-ported. Since returning to Mari-lac last fall, Chico has spent hisdays milking cows and herdingcattle, and lacks a steady income.

‘‘They took advantage of me,but not only me — everyone,’’Chico said through a translator.‘‘I felt humiliated that I work andwork and I was not valued.’’

George Regan, a spokesmanfor Upper Crust, said allegationsof exploitation are unfounded.

‘‘This comes as a shock,’’ Re-gan said. ‘‘All of our workers aretreated with respect.’’

. . .

IN THE BEGINNING, the ar-rangement between Marilacand Upper Crust seemed just

right, at least to those willing torisk the illegal passage and fur-tive toil.

Pedro Chaves de Souza wasamong the first to come. Heslipped over the Mexican borderin March 2001 and came to Bos-ton looking for work. A cousin in-troduced him to Tobins, who hadjust opened a pizza shop onCharles Street, in Boston’s Bea-con Hill neighborhood. De Souzalanded a job preparing vegeta-bles in the kitchen. He earnedabout $8 an hour — well over theminimum wage at the time —and far more than he madeworking at a butcher shop in Ma-rilac.

Word of employment oppor-tunities at Upper Crust spread.Others from Marilac began arriv-ing. It felt like a family for theBrazilians in the shop. Tobinsand other managers worked sideby side with them, spinningdough and delivering pizzas onbicycles.

It typically took a year of gru-eling six- and seven-day work-weeks for the illegal immigrantsto pay off the $10,000 to thesmugglers who arranged theirjourney. After the obligation wassettled, the men would send hun-dreds of dollars each month tofamily back in Marilac. Jose daSilva built a bakery and a housein just a few years, Jose Bentosaved his troubled butcher shopon Rua Rio De Janeiro, and Pe-dro Chaves de Souza bought landand some cows on the outskirtsof town.

Marilac provided a pipeline ofcheap, dedicated workers for Up-per Crust. In 2002, Luciano Bo-telho arrived with a decent com-mand of English and an easysmile. Tobins tapped the Marilacnative to oversee the hiring of thecooks and delivery workers whowould become the backbone ofthe operation. Botelho, who isstill employed by Upper Crust,declined to comment for thisstory.

‘‘[Botelho] has always beencompetent and dedicated,’’ Re-gan said. ‘‘He was never asked tolocate employees from a particu-lar area, but it is hardly surpris-ing that he would know morepeople from the area where hecame from. Any person recom-mended for employment by himwould have to be considered seri-ously.’’

As the business grew, moremen in Marilac left behind girl-friends, fiancées, wives, and chil-dren to come to Boston, accord-ing to interviews with about 30

former workers and relatives ofcurrent and former workers.They easily found smugglers —called coyotes — to arrange theirtrip from Brazil: the bus to SaoPaulo, a short stay in Mexico City,and, finally, the border crossing— sometimes in an inner tubeacross the Rio Grande. Overtime, at least 80 men from Mari-lac set up a colony of sorts in EastBoston. Many lived together incrowded apartments near Mav-erick Square. Botelho, the inspi-ration for the ‘‘Lucky Luciano’’Brazilian pizza on Upper Crust’smenu, frequently put up new ar-rivals at his home and gave themfood and clothing.

‘‘I wanted to have a better fu-ture than I had if I stayed in Bra-zil,’’ said Dimas da Silva, whosaid he crossed through Mexicounder the floorboards of a pickuptruck, hiding among cans of gas-oline to mask his scent from thetrained dogs used by US borderguards. ‘‘In USA, you can workhard and stay there for a fewyears saving money, and you cancome back to Brazil and have anice life.’’

Da Silva said that he beganworking at Upper Crust just afew days after arriving in Bostonin 2003, and that within fouryears he had made enough mon-ey to buy apartments to rent outin Sao Paulo and to build an ex-pansive house in Marilac withporcelain tile floors, crown mold-ing, and the only green lawn intown. To this point, the UpperCrust story was not an unusualone at a time when many smallbusinesses in America, especiallyin the restaurant industry, relyon illegal labor. The risks of expo-sure are small: There are roughly11 million illegal immigrants inthe country, including about160,000 in Massachusetts, and itis impossible for authorities tocheck every workplace.

But then things soured, andthe chain’s Brazilian laborerstook a rare step: They foughtback.

. . .

UPPER CRUST began to cutcorners on labor costs asit grappled with expan-

sion, said Patrick Joyce, a formeroperations manager who workedat Upper Crust for seven years.The immigrants say they took onmore hours. The bonuses andemployee parties that had sweet-ened the job ended, and requestsfor raises were regularly rejected.The Brazilian currency — calledthe real — was also gettingstronger, so the workers’ dollarsdidn’t go as far back home.

At the same time, some of theAmericans who staffed thechain’s counters and worked asmanagers received raises, theysay. Tobins prospered more visi-bly, using his newfound wealth topay for expensive cars, a fancyboat, and even a private plane.

‘‘The stakes got higher, and itgot more cutthroat,’’ said Joyce,who said he left in June after be-coming frustrated by the work-ing conditions. ‘‘It was unbear-able.’’

For its Hingham restaurant,the fifth to open, Upper Crust setup an apartment for the immi-grants near the shop, accordingto Joyce, who collected rent incash from workers, then paid thebuilding’s landlord with a checkfrom the store’s account.

Valdeir Pereira Pinto, 27, wasa member of the group that livedin Hingham. In 2006, he left hisMarilac home — a pink concretestructure with gaping holes likemissing teeth where there shouldhave been windows — and cameto the South Shore town, one ofthe wealthiest suburbs in Massa-chusetts. He quickly found hisnew living arrangements werenot much of an improvement ov-

er what he left behind.Pinto was one of six workers

crammed into a two-bedroomapartment. They paid about$1,200 total in monthly rent toUpper Crust, but spent mostwaking hours at the small pizzashop — a five-minute walk away.They rarely saw their Marilacfriends in Boston.

‘‘I just worked all the time, 80hours and sometimes more,’’ Pin-to said. ‘‘They said they were toobusy, and, ‘I can’t give you [time]off; you must work.’ I was verytired.’’

Sergio Soares Lima Filho Jr.and Marcos Rodrigues da Silvawere more than tired. They wereupset after finding out illegalworkers at some other area res-taurants were receiving time anda half after 40 hours. UpperCrust’s practice was to write onecheck for a worker’s first 40hours, and an additional check,at the same rate, to cover extrahours. Some workers said theywere paid entirely in cash.

Filho and da Silva decided to

meet with a lawyer to figure outtheir options. Then da Silvaasked Botelho — the go-to guy toget Tobins’s attention — to ar-range a meeting in the winter of2006 at the Brookline restaurantin Coolidge Corner.

Da Silva, who entered thecountry with a fake passport hebought in Portugal, told Tobinsthat employees were planning tostrike unless they received raisesor overtime pay. Tobins becameincensed. They didn’t have anyrights, he shouted, according tothree former workers and a man-ager present at the meeting. Ifthey wanted more money, Tobinssaid, they should find anotherjob. Then he fired da Silva andFilho on the spot.

‘‘Marcos and I cried because[Tobins] said we were selfish,’’ re-called Filho, speaking in his na-tive Portuguese. His father, a Ma-rilac native, followed him toUpper Crust.

A few hours later, Botelhocalled da Silva. He and Filho stillhad jobs if they wanted them, Bo-telho said. The men said they re-turned to work because they hadbills to pay in Boston and fam-ilies in Marilac who needed mon-ey. Besides, they believed their il-legal status made them beholdento an employer who they saidhad repeatedly threatened to callimmigration officials.

So they devised a plan. Da Sil-va and his relatives, including hisuncle Edmar da Silva, beganputting away of thousands of dol-lars that they hoped one daywould finance their own pizzashop in Massachusetts.

‘‘I just dream about leavingUpper Crust and getting a betterplace to work,’’ Marcos Rodriguesda Silva said.

They thought they had founda way out a few months later,when a Brazilian man stopped bythe Brookline restaurant andhanded da Silva the phone num-ber of someone who he saidcould sell them an authenticgreen card, permanent residentidentification that authorizes a

foreigner to live and work in theUnited States. But it was part ofan immigration sting. Da Silvawas arrested in August 2007,along with Botelho and other ille-gal Upper Crust workers whohad tried to buy immigrationdocuments. Da Silva spent eightmonths in prison before beingdeported in 2008.

Da Silva and Filho ‘‘were nev-er threatened or fired, and theycontinued to work for the com-pany until they were arrested,’’Regan said.

After the arrests, Joyce, theoperations manager, said Tobinstold him to meet with a lawyerwho could help get Botelho out ofjail. While the other workers ac-cused of being in the UnitedStates illegally fled or have sincebeen deported, Botelho receiveda voluntary order of departure,according to the Department ofHomeland Security, whichmeans he has a designatedamount of time to leave the Unit-ed States. He is currently appeal-ing to stay in the country longer.

Regan said the deportationshad nothing to do with the res-taurants.

‘‘This case did not involve thecompany,’’ he said. ‘‘A couple ofthe company’s employees werecharged as part of this sting anddeported. [Botelho] was notcharged and thus was not de-ported.’’

. . .

BY 2009, despite a deepen-ing recession, Upper Crustwas on a tear. It had 14

stores, a plan to open three more,and projected annual sales of upto $16 million, Tobins said in aninterview with the Globe at thetime. But the chain’s team ofworkers did not expand as quick-ly. To make up for the shortage ofhelp, cooks were often rotatedbetween stores and worked up to100 hours a week to fill the gaps,according to Greg Goncharov, aformer business manager at twoof the chain’s restaurants.

The stores were adequatelystaffed, Regan said.

‘‘I was so exhausted; I thoughtI wouldn’t make it there andcome back,’’ Luis Lucas da Silvasaid through a translator. TheMarilac native returned to Brazillast fall after working doubleshifts for several years. ‘‘My bodycouldn’t take it anymore. Icouldn’t even take my feet off theground.’’

Eventually, some of the em-ployees summoned the courageto report Upper Crust to labor of-ficials. That set off a firestorm atthe chain.

Federal labor laws requireemployers to pay workers over-time, even if the workers are inthe country illegally. The law isintended to dissuade companiesfrom hiring such workers as away to scrimp on payroll.

The Labor Department began

Harmony gives way to exploitation chargeº UPPER CRUSTContinued from Page A1

Continued on next page

PHOTOS BY DINA RUDICK/GLOBE STAFF

Many families in the small town of Marilac in southeastern Brazil have relied heavily on money sent by illegal immigrants working in Upper Crust stores.

Jose Bento worked behind the counter of the butcher shop he helped save using money heearned while employed at one of the pizza chain’s Massachusetts locations.

‘They tookadvantage ofme, but notonly me—everyone. I felthumiliatedthat I workand work andI was notvalued.’

WASHINGTON‘CHICO’ RODRIGUESDA SILVA

UPPER CRUST THE UNDERSIDEA16 The Region D E C E M B E R 5 , 2 0 1 0B O S T O N S U N D A Y G L O B E

Over time, however, this ami-cable but unlawful relationshipwould unravel. Documents froma recent class action lawsuitshow that as Tobins expanded hispizza empire, he began to exploithis immigrant workers. The em-ployees took their complaints tothe US Department of Labor,which ordered the chain to doleout hundreds of thousands ofdollars in back pay. The depart-ment is now investigating wageviolations at Upper Crust for asecond time.

Meanwhile, in dusty Marilac,some fear a reliable source of in-come used to build farms andbusinesses and houses will van-ish. Others say the village will bebetter off without the pizza mon-ey and the sacrifices it requires.

‘‘We were the ones who madeUpper Crust as big and as rich asthey are, but I suffered verymuch,’’ said Washington ‘‘Chico’’Rodrigues da Silva, who followedhis brother Marcos from Marilacto Boston in 2003. With the mon-ey they earned at the second Up-per Crust store, in Brookline, thesiblings paid $35,000 to buy theirfamily in Marilac a small avo-cado-colored house. But plans tostart their own business wereabandoned after Marcos was de-ported. Since returning to Mari-lac last fall, Chico has spent hisdays milking cows and herdingcattle, and lacks a steady income.

‘‘They took advantage of me,but not only me — everyone,’’Chico said through a translator.‘‘I felt humiliated that I work andwork and I was not valued.’’

George Regan, a spokesmanfor Upper Crust, said allegationsof exploitation are unfounded.

‘‘This comes as a shock,’’ Re-gan said. ‘‘All of our workers aretreated with respect.’’

. . .

IN THE BEGINNING, the ar-rangement between Marilacand Upper Crust seemed just

right, at least to those willing torisk the illegal passage and fur-tive toil.

Pedro Chaves de Souza wasamong the first to come. Heslipped over the Mexican borderin March 2001 and came to Bos-ton looking for work. A cousin in-troduced him to Tobins, who hadjust opened a pizza shop onCharles Street, in Boston’s Bea-con Hill neighborhood. De Souzalanded a job preparing vegeta-bles in the kitchen. He earnedabout $8 an hour — well over theminimum wage at the time —and far more than he madeworking at a butcher shop in Ma-rilac.

Word of employment oppor-tunities at Upper Crust spread.Others from Marilac began arriv-ing. It felt like a family for theBrazilians in the shop. Tobinsand other managers worked sideby side with them, spinningdough and delivering pizzas onbicycles.

It typically took a year of gru-eling six- and seven-day work-weeks for the illegal immigrantsto pay off the $10,000 to thesmugglers who arranged theirjourney. After the obligation wassettled, the men would send hun-dreds of dollars each month tofamily back in Marilac. Jose daSilva built a bakery and a housein just a few years, Jose Bentosaved his troubled butcher shopon Rua Rio De Janeiro, and Pe-dro Chaves de Souza bought landand some cows on the outskirtsof town.

Marilac provided a pipeline ofcheap, dedicated workers for Up-per Crust. In 2002, Luciano Bo-telho arrived with a decent com-mand of English and an easysmile. Tobins tapped the Marilacnative to oversee the hiring of thecooks and delivery workers whowould become the backbone ofthe operation. Botelho, who isstill employed by Upper Crust,declined to comment for thisstory.

‘‘[Botelho] has always beencompetent and dedicated,’’ Re-gan said. ‘‘He was never asked tolocate employees from a particu-lar area, but it is hardly surpris-ing that he would know morepeople from the area where hecame from. Any person recom-mended for employment by himwould have to be considered seri-ously.’’

As the business grew, moremen in Marilac left behind girl-friends, fiancées, wives, and chil-dren to come to Boston, accord-ing to interviews with about 30

former workers and relatives ofcurrent and former workers.They easily found smugglers —called coyotes — to arrange theirtrip from Brazil: the bus to SaoPaulo, a short stay in Mexico City,and, finally, the border crossing— sometimes in an inner tubeacross the Rio Grande. Overtime, at least 80 men from Mari-lac set up a colony of sorts in EastBoston. Many lived together incrowded apartments near Mav-erick Square. Botelho, the inspi-ration for the ‘‘Lucky Luciano’’Brazilian pizza on Upper Crust’smenu, frequently put up new ar-rivals at his home and gave themfood and clothing.

‘‘I wanted to have a better fu-ture than I had if I stayed in Bra-zil,’’ said Dimas da Silva, whosaid he crossed through Mexicounder the floorboards of a pickuptruck, hiding among cans of gas-oline to mask his scent from thetrained dogs used by US borderguards. ‘‘In USA, you can workhard and stay there for a fewyears saving money, and you cancome back to Brazil and have anice life.’’

Da Silva said that he beganworking at Upper Crust just afew days after arriving in Bostonin 2003, and that within fouryears he had made enough mon-ey to buy apartments to rent outin Sao Paulo and to build an ex-pansive house in Marilac withporcelain tile floors, crown mold-ing, and the only green lawn intown. To this point, the UpperCrust story was not an unusualone at a time when many smallbusinesses in America, especiallyin the restaurant industry, relyon illegal labor. The risks of expo-sure are small: There are roughly11 million illegal immigrants inthe country, including about160,000 in Massachusetts, and itis impossible for authorities tocheck every workplace.

But then things soured, andthe chain’s Brazilian laborerstook a rare step: They foughtback.

. . .

UPPER CRUST began to cutcorners on labor costs asit grappled with expan-

sion, said Patrick Joyce, a formeroperations manager who workedat Upper Crust for seven years.The immigrants say they took onmore hours. The bonuses andemployee parties that had sweet-ened the job ended, and requestsfor raises were regularly rejected.The Brazilian currency — calledthe real — was also gettingstronger, so the workers’ dollarsdidn’t go as far back home.

At the same time, some of theAmericans who staffed thechain’s counters and worked asmanagers received raises, theysay. Tobins prospered more visi-bly, using his newfound wealth topay for expensive cars, a fancyboat, and even a private plane.

‘‘The stakes got higher, and itgot more cutthroat,’’ said Joyce,who said he left in June after be-coming frustrated by the work-ing conditions. ‘‘It was unbear-able.’’

For its Hingham restaurant,the fifth to open, Upper Crust setup an apartment for the immi-grants near the shop, accordingto Joyce, who collected rent incash from workers, then paid thebuilding’s landlord with a checkfrom the store’s account.

Valdeir Pereira Pinto, 27, wasa member of the group that livedin Hingham. In 2006, he left hisMarilac home — a pink concretestructure with gaping holes likemissing teeth where there shouldhave been windows — and cameto the South Shore town, one ofthe wealthiest suburbs in Massa-chusetts. He quickly found hisnew living arrangements werenot much of an improvement ov-

er what he left behind.Pinto was one of six workers

crammed into a two-bedroomapartment. They paid about$1,200 total in monthly rent toUpper Crust, but spent mostwaking hours at the small pizzashop — a five-minute walk away.They rarely saw their Marilacfriends in Boston.

‘‘I just worked all the time, 80hours and sometimes more,’’ Pin-to said. ‘‘They said they were toobusy, and, ‘I can’t give you [time]off; you must work.’ I was verytired.’’

Sergio Soares Lima Filho Jr.and Marcos Rodrigues da Silvawere more than tired. They wereupset after finding out illegalworkers at some other area res-taurants were receiving time anda half after 40 hours. UpperCrust’s practice was to write onecheck for a worker’s first 40hours, and an additional check,at the same rate, to cover extrahours. Some workers said theywere paid entirely in cash.

Filho and da Silva decided to

meet with a lawyer to figure outtheir options. Then da Silvaasked Botelho — the go-to guy toget Tobins’s attention — to ar-range a meeting in the winter of2006 at the Brookline restaurantin Coolidge Corner.

Da Silva, who entered thecountry with a fake passport hebought in Portugal, told Tobinsthat employees were planning tostrike unless they received raisesor overtime pay. Tobins becameincensed. They didn’t have anyrights, he shouted, according tothree former workers and a man-ager present at the meeting. Ifthey wanted more money, Tobinssaid, they should find anotherjob. Then he fired da Silva andFilho on the spot.

‘‘Marcos and I cried because[Tobins] said we were selfish,’’ re-called Filho, speaking in his na-tive Portuguese. His father, a Ma-rilac native, followed him toUpper Crust.

A few hours later, Botelhocalled da Silva. He and Filho stillhad jobs if they wanted them, Bo-telho said. The men said they re-turned to work because they hadbills to pay in Boston and fam-ilies in Marilac who needed mon-ey. Besides, they believed their il-legal status made them beholdento an employer who they saidhad repeatedly threatened to callimmigration officials.

So they devised a plan. Da Sil-va and his relatives, including hisuncle Edmar da Silva, beganputting away of thousands of dol-lars that they hoped one daywould finance their own pizzashop in Massachusetts.

‘‘I just dream about leavingUpper Crust and getting a betterplace to work,’’ Marcos Rodriguesda Silva said.

They thought they had founda way out a few months later,when a Brazilian man stopped bythe Brookline restaurant andhanded da Silva the phone num-ber of someone who he saidcould sell them an authenticgreen card, permanent residentidentification that authorizes a

foreigner to live and work in theUnited States. But it was part ofan immigration sting. Da Silvawas arrested in August 2007,along with Botelho and other ille-gal Upper Crust workers whohad tried to buy immigrationdocuments. Da Silva spent eightmonths in prison before beingdeported in 2008.

Da Silva and Filho ‘‘were nev-er threatened or fired, and theycontinued to work for the com-pany until they were arrested,’’Regan said.

After the arrests, Joyce, theoperations manager, said Tobinstold him to meet with a lawyerwho could help get Botelho out ofjail. While the other workers ac-cused of being in the UnitedStates illegally fled or have sincebeen deported, Botelho receiveda voluntary order of departure,according to the Department ofHomeland Security, whichmeans he has a designatedamount of time to leave the Unit-ed States. He is currently appeal-ing to stay in the country longer.

Regan said the deportationshad nothing to do with the res-taurants.

‘‘This case did not involve thecompany,’’ he said. ‘‘A couple ofthe company’s employees werecharged as part of this sting anddeported. [Botelho] was notcharged and thus was not de-ported.’’

. . .

BY 2009, despite a deepen-ing recession, Upper Crustwas on a tear. It had 14

stores, a plan to open three more,and projected annual sales of upto $16 million, Tobins said in aninterview with the Globe at thetime. But the chain’s team ofworkers did not expand as quick-ly. To make up for the shortage ofhelp, cooks were often rotatedbetween stores and worked up to100 hours a week to fill the gaps,according to Greg Goncharov, aformer business manager at twoof the chain’s restaurants.

The stores were adequatelystaffed, Regan said.

‘‘I was so exhausted; I thoughtI wouldn’t make it there andcome back,’’ Luis Lucas da Silvasaid through a translator. TheMarilac native returned to Brazillast fall after working doubleshifts for several years. ‘‘My bodycouldn’t take it anymore. Icouldn’t even take my feet off theground.’’

Eventually, some of the em-ployees summoned the courageto report Upper Crust to labor of-ficials. That set off a firestorm atthe chain.

Federal labor laws requireemployers to pay workers over-time, even if the workers are inthe country illegally. The law isintended to dissuade companiesfrom hiring such workers as away to scrimp on payroll.

The Labor Department began

Harmony gives way to exploitation chargeº UPPER CRUSTContinued from Page A1

Continued on next page

PHOTOS BY DINA RUDICK/GLOBE STAFF

Many families in the small town of Marilac in southeastern Brazil have relied heavily on money sent by illegal immigrants working in Upper Crust stores.

Jose Bento worked behind the counter of the butcher shop he helped save using money heearned while employed at one of the pizza chain’s Massachusetts locations.

‘They tookadvantage ofme, but notonly me—everyone. I felthumiliatedthat I workand work andI was notvalued.’

WASHINGTON‘CHICO’ RODRIGUESDA SILVA

UPPER CRUST THE UNDERSIDE

3

Page 4: Upper Crust

DECEMBER 5 , 2010

A16 The Region D E C E M B E R 5 , 2 0 1 0B O S T O N S U N D A Y G L O B E

Over time, however, this ami-cable but unlawful relationshipwould unravel. Documents froma recent class action lawsuitshow that as Tobins expanded hispizza empire, he began to exploithis immigrant workers. The em-ployees took their complaints tothe US Department of Labor,which ordered the chain to doleout hundreds of thousands ofdollars in back pay. The depart-ment is now investigating wageviolations at Upper Crust for asecond time.

Meanwhile, in dusty Marilac,some fear a reliable source of in-come used to build farms andbusinesses and houses will van-ish. Others say the village will bebetter off without the pizza mon-ey and the sacrifices it requires.

‘‘We were the ones who madeUpper Crust as big and as rich asthey are, but I suffered verymuch,’’ said Washington ‘‘Chico’’Rodrigues da Silva, who followedhis brother Marcos from Marilacto Boston in 2003. With the mon-ey they earned at the second Up-per Crust store, in Brookline, thesiblings paid $35,000 to buy theirfamily in Marilac a small avo-cado-colored house. But plans tostart their own business wereabandoned after Marcos was de-ported. Since returning to Mari-lac last fall, Chico has spent hisdays milking cows and herdingcattle, and lacks a steady income.

‘‘They took advantage of me,but not only me — everyone,’’Chico said through a translator.‘‘I felt humiliated that I work andwork and I was not valued.’’

George Regan, a spokesmanfor Upper Crust, said allegationsof exploitation are unfounded.

‘‘This comes as a shock,’’ Re-gan said. ‘‘All of our workers aretreated with respect.’’

. . .

IN THE BEGINNING, the ar-rangement between Marilacand Upper Crust seemed just

right, at least to those willing torisk the illegal passage and fur-tive toil.

Pedro Chaves de Souza wasamong the first to come. Heslipped over the Mexican borderin March 2001 and came to Bos-ton looking for work. A cousin in-troduced him to Tobins, who hadjust opened a pizza shop onCharles Street, in Boston’s Bea-con Hill neighborhood. De Souzalanded a job preparing vegeta-bles in the kitchen. He earnedabout $8 an hour — well over theminimum wage at the time —and far more than he madeworking at a butcher shop in Ma-rilac.

Word of employment oppor-tunities at Upper Crust spread.Others from Marilac began arriv-ing. It felt like a family for theBrazilians in the shop. Tobinsand other managers worked sideby side with them, spinningdough and delivering pizzas onbicycles.

It typically took a year of gru-eling six- and seven-day work-weeks for the illegal immigrantsto pay off the $10,000 to thesmugglers who arranged theirjourney. After the obligation wassettled, the men would send hun-dreds of dollars each month tofamily back in Marilac. Jose daSilva built a bakery and a housein just a few years, Jose Bentosaved his troubled butcher shopon Rua Rio De Janeiro, and Pe-dro Chaves de Souza bought landand some cows on the outskirtsof town.

Marilac provided a pipeline ofcheap, dedicated workers for Up-per Crust. In 2002, Luciano Bo-telho arrived with a decent com-mand of English and an easysmile. Tobins tapped the Marilacnative to oversee the hiring of thecooks and delivery workers whowould become the backbone ofthe operation. Botelho, who isstill employed by Upper Crust,declined to comment for thisstory.

‘‘[Botelho] has always beencompetent and dedicated,’’ Re-gan said. ‘‘He was never asked tolocate employees from a particu-lar area, but it is hardly surpris-ing that he would know morepeople from the area where hecame from. Any person recom-mended for employment by himwould have to be considered seri-ously.’’

As the business grew, moremen in Marilac left behind girl-friends, fiancées, wives, and chil-dren to come to Boston, accord-ing to interviews with about 30

former workers and relatives ofcurrent and former workers.They easily found smugglers —called coyotes — to arrange theirtrip from Brazil: the bus to SaoPaulo, a short stay in Mexico City,and, finally, the border crossing— sometimes in an inner tubeacross the Rio Grande. Overtime, at least 80 men from Mari-lac set up a colony of sorts in EastBoston. Many lived together incrowded apartments near Mav-erick Square. Botelho, the inspi-ration for the ‘‘Lucky Luciano’’Brazilian pizza on Upper Crust’smenu, frequently put up new ar-rivals at his home and gave themfood and clothing.

‘‘I wanted to have a better fu-ture than I had if I stayed in Bra-zil,’’ said Dimas da Silva, whosaid he crossed through Mexicounder the floorboards of a pickuptruck, hiding among cans of gas-oline to mask his scent from thetrained dogs used by US borderguards. ‘‘In USA, you can workhard and stay there for a fewyears saving money, and you cancome back to Brazil and have anice life.’’

Da Silva said that he beganworking at Upper Crust just afew days after arriving in Bostonin 2003, and that within fouryears he had made enough mon-ey to buy apartments to rent outin Sao Paulo and to build an ex-pansive house in Marilac withporcelain tile floors, crown mold-ing, and the only green lawn intown. To this point, the UpperCrust story was not an unusualone at a time when many smallbusinesses in America, especiallyin the restaurant industry, relyon illegal labor. The risks of expo-sure are small: There are roughly11 million illegal immigrants inthe country, including about160,000 in Massachusetts, and itis impossible for authorities tocheck every workplace.

But then things soured, andthe chain’s Brazilian laborerstook a rare step: They foughtback.

. . .

UPPER CRUST began to cutcorners on labor costs asit grappled with expan-

sion, said Patrick Joyce, a formeroperations manager who workedat Upper Crust for seven years.The immigrants say they took onmore hours. The bonuses andemployee parties that had sweet-ened the job ended, and requestsfor raises were regularly rejected.The Brazilian currency — calledthe real — was also gettingstronger, so the workers’ dollarsdidn’t go as far back home.

At the same time, some of theAmericans who staffed thechain’s counters and worked asmanagers received raises, theysay. Tobins prospered more visi-bly, using his newfound wealth topay for expensive cars, a fancyboat, and even a private plane.

‘‘The stakes got higher, and itgot more cutthroat,’’ said Joyce,who said he left in June after be-coming frustrated by the work-ing conditions. ‘‘It was unbear-able.’’

For its Hingham restaurant,the fifth to open, Upper Crust setup an apartment for the immi-grants near the shop, accordingto Joyce, who collected rent incash from workers, then paid thebuilding’s landlord with a checkfrom the store’s account.

Valdeir Pereira Pinto, 27, wasa member of the group that livedin Hingham. In 2006, he left hisMarilac home — a pink concretestructure with gaping holes likemissing teeth where there shouldhave been windows — and cameto the South Shore town, one ofthe wealthiest suburbs in Massa-chusetts. He quickly found hisnew living arrangements werenot much of an improvement ov-

er what he left behind.Pinto was one of six workers

crammed into a two-bedroomapartment. They paid about$1,200 total in monthly rent toUpper Crust, but spent mostwaking hours at the small pizzashop — a five-minute walk away.They rarely saw their Marilacfriends in Boston.

‘‘I just worked all the time, 80hours and sometimes more,’’ Pin-to said. ‘‘They said they were toobusy, and, ‘I can’t give you [time]off; you must work.’ I was verytired.’’

Sergio Soares Lima Filho Jr.and Marcos Rodrigues da Silvawere more than tired. They wereupset after finding out illegalworkers at some other area res-taurants were receiving time anda half after 40 hours. UpperCrust’s practice was to write onecheck for a worker’s first 40hours, and an additional check,at the same rate, to cover extrahours. Some workers said theywere paid entirely in cash.

Filho and da Silva decided to

meet with a lawyer to figure outtheir options. Then da Silvaasked Botelho — the go-to guy toget Tobins’s attention — to ar-range a meeting in the winter of2006 at the Brookline restaurantin Coolidge Corner.

Da Silva, who entered thecountry with a fake passport hebought in Portugal, told Tobinsthat employees were planning tostrike unless they received raisesor overtime pay. Tobins becameincensed. They didn’t have anyrights, he shouted, according tothree former workers and a man-ager present at the meeting. Ifthey wanted more money, Tobinssaid, they should find anotherjob. Then he fired da Silva andFilho on the spot.

‘‘Marcos and I cried because[Tobins] said we were selfish,’’ re-called Filho, speaking in his na-tive Portuguese. His father, a Ma-rilac native, followed him toUpper Crust.

A few hours later, Botelhocalled da Silva. He and Filho stillhad jobs if they wanted them, Bo-telho said. The men said they re-turned to work because they hadbills to pay in Boston and fam-ilies in Marilac who needed mon-ey. Besides, they believed their il-legal status made them beholdento an employer who they saidhad repeatedly threatened to callimmigration officials.

So they devised a plan. Da Sil-va and his relatives, including hisuncle Edmar da Silva, beganputting away of thousands of dol-lars that they hoped one daywould finance their own pizzashop in Massachusetts.

‘‘I just dream about leavingUpper Crust and getting a betterplace to work,’’ Marcos Rodriguesda Silva said.

They thought they had founda way out a few months later,when a Brazilian man stopped bythe Brookline restaurant andhanded da Silva the phone num-ber of someone who he saidcould sell them an authenticgreen card, permanent residentidentification that authorizes a

foreigner to live and work in theUnited States. But it was part ofan immigration sting. Da Silvawas arrested in August 2007,along with Botelho and other ille-gal Upper Crust workers whohad tried to buy immigrationdocuments. Da Silva spent eightmonths in prison before beingdeported in 2008.

Da Silva and Filho ‘‘were nev-er threatened or fired, and theycontinued to work for the com-pany until they were arrested,’’Regan said.

After the arrests, Joyce, theoperations manager, said Tobinstold him to meet with a lawyerwho could help get Botelho out ofjail. While the other workers ac-cused of being in the UnitedStates illegally fled or have sincebeen deported, Botelho receiveda voluntary order of departure,according to the Department ofHomeland Security, whichmeans he has a designatedamount of time to leave the Unit-ed States. He is currently appeal-ing to stay in the country longer.

Regan said the deportationshad nothing to do with the res-taurants.

‘‘This case did not involve thecompany,’’ he said. ‘‘A couple ofthe company’s employees werecharged as part of this sting anddeported. [Botelho] was notcharged and thus was not de-ported.’’

. . .

BY 2009, despite a deepen-ing recession, Upper Crustwas on a tear. It had 14

stores, a plan to open three more,and projected annual sales of upto $16 million, Tobins said in aninterview with the Globe at thetime. But the chain’s team ofworkers did not expand as quick-ly. To make up for the shortage ofhelp, cooks were often rotatedbetween stores and worked up to100 hours a week to fill the gaps,according to Greg Goncharov, aformer business manager at twoof the chain’s restaurants.

The stores were adequatelystaffed, Regan said.

‘‘I was so exhausted; I thoughtI wouldn’t make it there andcome back,’’ Luis Lucas da Silvasaid through a translator. TheMarilac native returned to Brazillast fall after working doubleshifts for several years. ‘‘My bodycouldn’t take it anymore. Icouldn’t even take my feet off theground.’’

Eventually, some of the em-ployees summoned the courageto report Upper Crust to labor of-ficials. That set off a firestorm atthe chain.

Federal labor laws requireemployers to pay workers over-time, even if the workers are inthe country illegally. The law isintended to dissuade companiesfrom hiring such workers as away to scrimp on payroll.

The Labor Department began

Harmony gives way to exploitation chargeº UPPER CRUSTContinued from Page A1

Continued on next page

PHOTOS BY DINA RUDICK/GLOBE STAFF

Many families in the small town of Marilac in southeastern Brazil have relied heavily on money sent by illegal immigrants working in Upper Crust stores.

Jose Bento worked behind the counter of the butcher shop he helped save using money heearned while employed at one of the pizza chain’s Massachusetts locations.

‘They tookadvantage ofme, but notonly me—everyone. I felthumiliatedthat I workand work andI was notvalued.’

WASHINGTON‘CHICO’ RODRIGUESDA SILVA

UPPER CRUST THE UNDERSIDE

A16 The Region D E C E M B E R 5 , 2 0 1 0B O S T O N S U N D A Y G L O B E

Over time, however, this ami-cable but unlawful relationshipwould unravel. Documents froma recent class action lawsuitshow that as Tobins expanded hispizza empire, he began to exploithis immigrant workers. The em-ployees took their complaints tothe US Department of Labor,which ordered the chain to doleout hundreds of thousands ofdollars in back pay. The depart-ment is now investigating wageviolations at Upper Crust for asecond time.

Meanwhile, in dusty Marilac,some fear a reliable source of in-come used to build farms andbusinesses and houses will van-ish. Others say the village will bebetter off without the pizza mon-ey and the sacrifices it requires.

‘‘We were the ones who madeUpper Crust as big and as rich asthey are, but I suffered verymuch,’’ said Washington ‘‘Chico’’Rodrigues da Silva, who followedhis brother Marcos from Marilacto Boston in 2003. With the mon-ey they earned at the second Up-per Crust store, in Brookline, thesiblings paid $35,000 to buy theirfamily in Marilac a small avo-cado-colored house. But plans tostart their own business wereabandoned after Marcos was de-ported. Since returning to Mari-lac last fall, Chico has spent hisdays milking cows and herdingcattle, and lacks a steady income.

‘‘They took advantage of me,but not only me — everyone,’’Chico said through a translator.‘‘I felt humiliated that I work andwork and I was not valued.’’

George Regan, a spokesmanfor Upper Crust, said allegationsof exploitation are unfounded.

‘‘This comes as a shock,’’ Re-gan said. ‘‘All of our workers aretreated with respect.’’

. . .

IN THE BEGINNING, the ar-rangement between Marilacand Upper Crust seemed just

right, at least to those willing torisk the illegal passage and fur-tive toil.

Pedro Chaves de Souza wasamong the first to come. Heslipped over the Mexican borderin March 2001 and came to Bos-ton looking for work. A cousin in-troduced him to Tobins, who hadjust opened a pizza shop onCharles Street, in Boston’s Bea-con Hill neighborhood. De Souzalanded a job preparing vegeta-bles in the kitchen. He earnedabout $8 an hour — well over theminimum wage at the time —and far more than he madeworking at a butcher shop in Ma-rilac.

Word of employment oppor-tunities at Upper Crust spread.Others from Marilac began arriv-ing. It felt like a family for theBrazilians in the shop. Tobinsand other managers worked sideby side with them, spinningdough and delivering pizzas onbicycles.

It typically took a year of gru-eling six- and seven-day work-weeks for the illegal immigrantsto pay off the $10,000 to thesmugglers who arranged theirjourney. After the obligation wassettled, the men would send hun-dreds of dollars each month tofamily back in Marilac. Jose daSilva built a bakery and a housein just a few years, Jose Bentosaved his troubled butcher shopon Rua Rio De Janeiro, and Pe-dro Chaves de Souza bought landand some cows on the outskirtsof town.

Marilac provided a pipeline ofcheap, dedicated workers for Up-per Crust. In 2002, Luciano Bo-telho arrived with a decent com-mand of English and an easysmile. Tobins tapped the Marilacnative to oversee the hiring of thecooks and delivery workers whowould become the backbone ofthe operation. Botelho, who isstill employed by Upper Crust,declined to comment for thisstory.

‘‘[Botelho] has always beencompetent and dedicated,’’ Re-gan said. ‘‘He was never asked tolocate employees from a particu-lar area, but it is hardly surpris-ing that he would know morepeople from the area where hecame from. Any person recom-mended for employment by himwould have to be considered seri-ously.’’

As the business grew, moremen in Marilac left behind girl-friends, fiancées, wives, and chil-dren to come to Boston, accord-ing to interviews with about 30

former workers and relatives ofcurrent and former workers.They easily found smugglers —called coyotes — to arrange theirtrip from Brazil: the bus to SaoPaulo, a short stay in Mexico City,and, finally, the border crossing— sometimes in an inner tubeacross the Rio Grande. Overtime, at least 80 men from Mari-lac set up a colony of sorts in EastBoston. Many lived together incrowded apartments near Mav-erick Square. Botelho, the inspi-ration for the ‘‘Lucky Luciano’’Brazilian pizza on Upper Crust’smenu, frequently put up new ar-rivals at his home and gave themfood and clothing.

‘‘I wanted to have a better fu-ture than I had if I stayed in Bra-zil,’’ said Dimas da Silva, whosaid he crossed through Mexicounder the floorboards of a pickuptruck, hiding among cans of gas-oline to mask his scent from thetrained dogs used by US borderguards. ‘‘In USA, you can workhard and stay there for a fewyears saving money, and you cancome back to Brazil and have anice life.’’

Da Silva said that he beganworking at Upper Crust just afew days after arriving in Bostonin 2003, and that within fouryears he had made enough mon-ey to buy apartments to rent outin Sao Paulo and to build an ex-pansive house in Marilac withporcelain tile floors, crown mold-ing, and the only green lawn intown. To this point, the UpperCrust story was not an unusualone at a time when many smallbusinesses in America, especiallyin the restaurant industry, relyon illegal labor. The risks of expo-sure are small: There are roughly11 million illegal immigrants inthe country, including about160,000 in Massachusetts, and itis impossible for authorities tocheck every workplace.

But then things soured, andthe chain’s Brazilian laborerstook a rare step: They foughtback.

. . .

UPPER CRUST began to cutcorners on labor costs asit grappled with expan-

sion, said Patrick Joyce, a formeroperations manager who workedat Upper Crust for seven years.The immigrants say they took onmore hours. The bonuses andemployee parties that had sweet-ened the job ended, and requestsfor raises were regularly rejected.The Brazilian currency — calledthe real — was also gettingstronger, so the workers’ dollarsdidn’t go as far back home.

At the same time, some of theAmericans who staffed thechain’s counters and worked asmanagers received raises, theysay. Tobins prospered more visi-bly, using his newfound wealth topay for expensive cars, a fancyboat, and even a private plane.

‘‘The stakes got higher, and itgot more cutthroat,’’ said Joyce,who said he left in June after be-coming frustrated by the work-ing conditions. ‘‘It was unbear-able.’’

For its Hingham restaurant,the fifth to open, Upper Crust setup an apartment for the immi-grants near the shop, accordingto Joyce, who collected rent incash from workers, then paid thebuilding’s landlord with a checkfrom the store’s account.

Valdeir Pereira Pinto, 27, wasa member of the group that livedin Hingham. In 2006, he left hisMarilac home — a pink concretestructure with gaping holes likemissing teeth where there shouldhave been windows — and cameto the South Shore town, one ofthe wealthiest suburbs in Massa-chusetts. He quickly found hisnew living arrangements werenot much of an improvement ov-

er what he left behind.Pinto was one of six workers

crammed into a two-bedroomapartment. They paid about$1,200 total in monthly rent toUpper Crust, but spent mostwaking hours at the small pizzashop — a five-minute walk away.They rarely saw their Marilacfriends in Boston.

‘‘I just worked all the time, 80hours and sometimes more,’’ Pin-to said. ‘‘They said they were toobusy, and, ‘I can’t give you [time]off; you must work.’ I was verytired.’’

Sergio Soares Lima Filho Jr.and Marcos Rodrigues da Silvawere more than tired. They wereupset after finding out illegalworkers at some other area res-taurants were receiving time anda half after 40 hours. UpperCrust’s practice was to write onecheck for a worker’s first 40hours, and an additional check,at the same rate, to cover extrahours. Some workers said theywere paid entirely in cash.

Filho and da Silva decided to

meet with a lawyer to figure outtheir options. Then da Silvaasked Botelho — the go-to guy toget Tobins’s attention — to ar-range a meeting in the winter of2006 at the Brookline restaurantin Coolidge Corner.

Da Silva, who entered thecountry with a fake passport hebought in Portugal, told Tobinsthat employees were planning tostrike unless they received raisesor overtime pay. Tobins becameincensed. They didn’t have anyrights, he shouted, according tothree former workers and a man-ager present at the meeting. Ifthey wanted more money, Tobinssaid, they should find anotherjob. Then he fired da Silva andFilho on the spot.

‘‘Marcos and I cried because[Tobins] said we were selfish,’’ re-called Filho, speaking in his na-tive Portuguese. His father, a Ma-rilac native, followed him toUpper Crust.

A few hours later, Botelhocalled da Silva. He and Filho stillhad jobs if they wanted them, Bo-telho said. The men said they re-turned to work because they hadbills to pay in Boston and fam-ilies in Marilac who needed mon-ey. Besides, they believed their il-legal status made them beholdento an employer who they saidhad repeatedly threatened to callimmigration officials.

So they devised a plan. Da Sil-va and his relatives, including hisuncle Edmar da Silva, beganputting away of thousands of dol-lars that they hoped one daywould finance their own pizzashop in Massachusetts.

‘‘I just dream about leavingUpper Crust and getting a betterplace to work,’’ Marcos Rodriguesda Silva said.

They thought they had founda way out a few months later,when a Brazilian man stopped bythe Brookline restaurant andhanded da Silva the phone num-ber of someone who he saidcould sell them an authenticgreen card, permanent residentidentification that authorizes a

foreigner to live and work in theUnited States. But it was part ofan immigration sting. Da Silvawas arrested in August 2007,along with Botelho and other ille-gal Upper Crust workers whohad tried to buy immigrationdocuments. Da Silva spent eightmonths in prison before beingdeported in 2008.

Da Silva and Filho ‘‘were nev-er threatened or fired, and theycontinued to work for the com-pany until they were arrested,’’Regan said.

After the arrests, Joyce, theoperations manager, said Tobinstold him to meet with a lawyerwho could help get Botelho out ofjail. While the other workers ac-cused of being in the UnitedStates illegally fled or have sincebeen deported, Botelho receiveda voluntary order of departure,according to the Department ofHomeland Security, whichmeans he has a designatedamount of time to leave the Unit-ed States. He is currently appeal-ing to stay in the country longer.

Regan said the deportationshad nothing to do with the res-taurants.

‘‘This case did not involve thecompany,’’ he said. ‘‘A couple ofthe company’s employees werecharged as part of this sting anddeported. [Botelho] was notcharged and thus was not de-ported.’’

. . .

BY 2009, despite a deepen-ing recession, Upper Crustwas on a tear. It had 14

stores, a plan to open three more,and projected annual sales of upto $16 million, Tobins said in aninterview with the Globe at thetime. But the chain’s team ofworkers did not expand as quick-ly. To make up for the shortage ofhelp, cooks were often rotatedbetween stores and worked up to100 hours a week to fill the gaps,according to Greg Goncharov, aformer business manager at twoof the chain’s restaurants.

The stores were adequatelystaffed, Regan said.

‘‘I was so exhausted; I thoughtI wouldn’t make it there andcome back,’’ Luis Lucas da Silvasaid through a translator. TheMarilac native returned to Brazillast fall after working doubleshifts for several years. ‘‘My bodycouldn’t take it anymore. Icouldn’t even take my feet off theground.’’

Eventually, some of the em-ployees summoned the courageto report Upper Crust to labor of-ficials. That set off a firestorm atthe chain.

Federal labor laws requireemployers to pay workers over-time, even if the workers are inthe country illegally. The law isintended to dissuade companiesfrom hiring such workers as away to scrimp on payroll.

The Labor Department began

Harmony gives way to exploitation chargeº UPPER CRUSTContinued from Page A1

Continued on next page

PHOTOS BY DINA RUDICK/GLOBE STAFF

Many families in the small town of Marilac in southeastern Brazil have relied heavily on money sent by illegal immigrants working in Upper Crust stores.

Jose Bento worked behind the counter of the butcher shop he helped save using money heearned while employed at one of the pizza chain’s Massachusetts locations.

‘They tookadvantage ofme, but notonly me—everyone. I felthumiliatedthat I workand work andI was notvalued.’

WASHINGTON‘CHICO’ RODRIGUESDA SILVA

UPPER CRUST THE UNDERSIDE

A16 The Region D E C E M B E R 5 , 2 0 1 0B O S T O N S U N D A Y G L O B E

Over time, however, this ami-cable but unlawful relationshipwould unravel. Documents froma recent class action lawsuitshow that as Tobins expanded hispizza empire, he began to exploithis immigrant workers. The em-ployees took their complaints tothe US Department of Labor,which ordered the chain to doleout hundreds of thousands ofdollars in back pay. The depart-ment is now investigating wageviolations at Upper Crust for asecond time.

Meanwhile, in dusty Marilac,some fear a reliable source of in-come used to build farms andbusinesses and houses will van-ish. Others say the village will bebetter off without the pizza mon-ey and the sacrifices it requires.

‘‘We were the ones who madeUpper Crust as big and as rich asthey are, but I suffered verymuch,’’ said Washington ‘‘Chico’’Rodrigues da Silva, who followedhis brother Marcos from Marilacto Boston in 2003. With the mon-ey they earned at the second Up-per Crust store, in Brookline, thesiblings paid $35,000 to buy theirfamily in Marilac a small avo-cado-colored house. But plans tostart their own business wereabandoned after Marcos was de-ported. Since returning to Mari-lac last fall, Chico has spent hisdays milking cows and herdingcattle, and lacks a steady income.

‘‘They took advantage of me,but not only me — everyone,’’Chico said through a translator.‘‘I felt humiliated that I work andwork and I was not valued.’’

George Regan, a spokesmanfor Upper Crust, said allegationsof exploitation are unfounded.

‘‘This comes as a shock,’’ Re-gan said. ‘‘All of our workers aretreated with respect.’’

. . .

IN THE BEGINNING, the ar-rangement between Marilacand Upper Crust seemed just

right, at least to those willing torisk the illegal passage and fur-tive toil.

Pedro Chaves de Souza wasamong the first to come. Heslipped over the Mexican borderin March 2001 and came to Bos-ton looking for work. A cousin in-troduced him to Tobins, who hadjust opened a pizza shop onCharles Street, in Boston’s Bea-con Hill neighborhood. De Souzalanded a job preparing vegeta-bles in the kitchen. He earnedabout $8 an hour — well over theminimum wage at the time —and far more than he madeworking at a butcher shop in Ma-rilac.

Word of employment oppor-tunities at Upper Crust spread.Others from Marilac began arriv-ing. It felt like a family for theBrazilians in the shop. Tobinsand other managers worked sideby side with them, spinningdough and delivering pizzas onbicycles.

It typically took a year of gru-eling six- and seven-day work-weeks for the illegal immigrantsto pay off the $10,000 to thesmugglers who arranged theirjourney. After the obligation wassettled, the men would send hun-dreds of dollars each month tofamily back in Marilac. Jose daSilva built a bakery and a housein just a few years, Jose Bentosaved his troubled butcher shopon Rua Rio De Janeiro, and Pe-dro Chaves de Souza bought landand some cows on the outskirtsof town.

Marilac provided a pipeline ofcheap, dedicated workers for Up-per Crust. In 2002, Luciano Bo-telho arrived with a decent com-mand of English and an easysmile. Tobins tapped the Marilacnative to oversee the hiring of thecooks and delivery workers whowould become the backbone ofthe operation. Botelho, who isstill employed by Upper Crust,declined to comment for thisstory.

‘‘[Botelho] has always beencompetent and dedicated,’’ Re-gan said. ‘‘He was never asked tolocate employees from a particu-lar area, but it is hardly surpris-ing that he would know morepeople from the area where hecame from. Any person recom-mended for employment by himwould have to be considered seri-ously.’’

As the business grew, moremen in Marilac left behind girl-friends, fiancées, wives, and chil-dren to come to Boston, accord-ing to interviews with about 30

former workers and relatives ofcurrent and former workers.They easily found smugglers —called coyotes — to arrange theirtrip from Brazil: the bus to SaoPaulo, a short stay in Mexico City,and, finally, the border crossing— sometimes in an inner tubeacross the Rio Grande. Overtime, at least 80 men from Mari-lac set up a colony of sorts in EastBoston. Many lived together incrowded apartments near Mav-erick Square. Botelho, the inspi-ration for the ‘‘Lucky Luciano’’Brazilian pizza on Upper Crust’smenu, frequently put up new ar-rivals at his home and gave themfood and clothing.

‘‘I wanted to have a better fu-ture than I had if I stayed in Bra-zil,’’ said Dimas da Silva, whosaid he crossed through Mexicounder the floorboards of a pickuptruck, hiding among cans of gas-oline to mask his scent from thetrained dogs used by US borderguards. ‘‘In USA, you can workhard and stay there for a fewyears saving money, and you cancome back to Brazil and have anice life.’’

Da Silva said that he beganworking at Upper Crust just afew days after arriving in Bostonin 2003, and that within fouryears he had made enough mon-ey to buy apartments to rent outin Sao Paulo and to build an ex-pansive house in Marilac withporcelain tile floors, crown mold-ing, and the only green lawn intown. To this point, the UpperCrust story was not an unusualone at a time when many smallbusinesses in America, especiallyin the restaurant industry, relyon illegal labor. The risks of expo-sure are small: There are roughly11 million illegal immigrants inthe country, including about160,000 in Massachusetts, and itis impossible for authorities tocheck every workplace.

But then things soured, andthe chain’s Brazilian laborerstook a rare step: They foughtback.

. . .

UPPER CRUST began to cutcorners on labor costs asit grappled with expan-

sion, said Patrick Joyce, a formeroperations manager who workedat Upper Crust for seven years.The immigrants say they took onmore hours. The bonuses andemployee parties that had sweet-ened the job ended, and requestsfor raises were regularly rejected.The Brazilian currency — calledthe real — was also gettingstronger, so the workers’ dollarsdidn’t go as far back home.

At the same time, some of theAmericans who staffed thechain’s counters and worked asmanagers received raises, theysay. Tobins prospered more visi-bly, using his newfound wealth topay for expensive cars, a fancyboat, and even a private plane.

‘‘The stakes got higher, and itgot more cutthroat,’’ said Joyce,who said he left in June after be-coming frustrated by the work-ing conditions. ‘‘It was unbear-able.’’

For its Hingham restaurant,the fifth to open, Upper Crust setup an apartment for the immi-grants near the shop, accordingto Joyce, who collected rent incash from workers, then paid thebuilding’s landlord with a checkfrom the store’s account.

Valdeir Pereira Pinto, 27, wasa member of the group that livedin Hingham. In 2006, he left hisMarilac home — a pink concretestructure with gaping holes likemissing teeth where there shouldhave been windows — and cameto the South Shore town, one ofthe wealthiest suburbs in Massa-chusetts. He quickly found hisnew living arrangements werenot much of an improvement ov-

er what he left behind.Pinto was one of six workers

crammed into a two-bedroomapartment. They paid about$1,200 total in monthly rent toUpper Crust, but spent mostwaking hours at the small pizzashop — a five-minute walk away.They rarely saw their Marilacfriends in Boston.

‘‘I just worked all the time, 80hours and sometimes more,’’ Pin-to said. ‘‘They said they were toobusy, and, ‘I can’t give you [time]off; you must work.’ I was verytired.’’

Sergio Soares Lima Filho Jr.and Marcos Rodrigues da Silvawere more than tired. They wereupset after finding out illegalworkers at some other area res-taurants were receiving time anda half after 40 hours. UpperCrust’s practice was to write onecheck for a worker’s first 40hours, and an additional check,at the same rate, to cover extrahours. Some workers said theywere paid entirely in cash.

Filho and da Silva decided to

meet with a lawyer to figure outtheir options. Then da Silvaasked Botelho — the go-to guy toget Tobins’s attention — to ar-range a meeting in the winter of2006 at the Brookline restaurantin Coolidge Corner.

Da Silva, who entered thecountry with a fake passport hebought in Portugal, told Tobinsthat employees were planning tostrike unless they received raisesor overtime pay. Tobins becameincensed. They didn’t have anyrights, he shouted, according tothree former workers and a man-ager present at the meeting. Ifthey wanted more money, Tobinssaid, they should find anotherjob. Then he fired da Silva andFilho on the spot.

‘‘Marcos and I cried because[Tobins] said we were selfish,’’ re-called Filho, speaking in his na-tive Portuguese. His father, a Ma-rilac native, followed him toUpper Crust.

A few hours later, Botelhocalled da Silva. He and Filho stillhad jobs if they wanted them, Bo-telho said. The men said they re-turned to work because they hadbills to pay in Boston and fam-ilies in Marilac who needed mon-ey. Besides, they believed their il-legal status made them beholdento an employer who they saidhad repeatedly threatened to callimmigration officials.

So they devised a plan. Da Sil-va and his relatives, including hisuncle Edmar da Silva, beganputting away of thousands of dol-lars that they hoped one daywould finance their own pizzashop in Massachusetts.

‘‘I just dream about leavingUpper Crust and getting a betterplace to work,’’ Marcos Rodriguesda Silva said.

They thought they had founda way out a few months later,when a Brazilian man stopped bythe Brookline restaurant andhanded da Silva the phone num-ber of someone who he saidcould sell them an authenticgreen card, permanent residentidentification that authorizes a

foreigner to live and work in theUnited States. But it was part ofan immigration sting. Da Silvawas arrested in August 2007,along with Botelho and other ille-gal Upper Crust workers whohad tried to buy immigrationdocuments. Da Silva spent eightmonths in prison before beingdeported in 2008.

Da Silva and Filho ‘‘were nev-er threatened or fired, and theycontinued to work for the com-pany until they were arrested,’’Regan said.

After the arrests, Joyce, theoperations manager, said Tobinstold him to meet with a lawyerwho could help get Botelho out ofjail. While the other workers ac-cused of being in the UnitedStates illegally fled or have sincebeen deported, Botelho receiveda voluntary order of departure,according to the Department ofHomeland Security, whichmeans he has a designatedamount of time to leave the Unit-ed States. He is currently appeal-ing to stay in the country longer.

Regan said the deportationshad nothing to do with the res-taurants.

‘‘This case did not involve thecompany,’’ he said. ‘‘A couple ofthe company’s employees werecharged as part of this sting anddeported. [Botelho] was notcharged and thus was not de-ported.’’

. . .

BY 2009, despite a deepen-ing recession, Upper Crustwas on a tear. It had 14

stores, a plan to open three more,and projected annual sales of upto $16 million, Tobins said in aninterview with the Globe at thetime. But the chain’s team ofworkers did not expand as quick-ly. To make up for the shortage ofhelp, cooks were often rotatedbetween stores and worked up to100 hours a week to fill the gaps,according to Greg Goncharov, aformer business manager at twoof the chain’s restaurants.

The stores were adequatelystaffed, Regan said.

‘‘I was so exhausted; I thoughtI wouldn’t make it there andcome back,’’ Luis Lucas da Silvasaid through a translator. TheMarilac native returned to Brazillast fall after working doubleshifts for several years. ‘‘My bodycouldn’t take it anymore. Icouldn’t even take my feet off theground.’’

Eventually, some of the em-ployees summoned the courageto report Upper Crust to labor of-ficials. That set off a firestorm atthe chain.

Federal labor laws requireemployers to pay workers over-time, even if the workers are inthe country illegally. The law isintended to dissuade companiesfrom hiring such workers as away to scrimp on payroll.

The Labor Department began

Harmony gives way to exploitation chargeº UPPER CRUSTContinued from Page A1

Continued on next page

PHOTOS BY DINA RUDICK/GLOBE STAFF

Many families in the small town of Marilac in southeastern Brazil have relied heavily on money sent by illegal immigrants working in Upper Crust stores.

Jose Bento worked behind the counter of the butcher shop he helped save using money heearned while employed at one of the pizza chain’s Massachusetts locations.

‘They tookadvantage ofme, but notonly me—everyone. I felthumiliatedthat I workand work andI was notvalued.’

WASHINGTON‘CHICO’ RODRIGUESDA SILVA

UPPER CRUST THE UNDERSIDE

A16 The Region D E C E M B E R 5 , 2 0 1 0B O S T O N S U N D A Y G L O B E

Over time, however, this ami-cable but unlawful relationshipwould unravel. Documents froma recent class action lawsuitshow that as Tobins expanded hispizza empire, he began to exploithis immigrant workers. The em-ployees took their complaints tothe US Department of Labor,which ordered the chain to doleout hundreds of thousands ofdollars in back pay. The depart-ment is now investigating wageviolations at Upper Crust for asecond time.

Meanwhile, in dusty Marilac,some fear a reliable source of in-come used to build farms andbusinesses and houses will van-ish. Others say the village will bebetter off without the pizza mon-ey and the sacrifices it requires.

‘‘We were the ones who madeUpper Crust as big and as rich asthey are, but I suffered verymuch,’’ said Washington ‘‘Chico’’Rodrigues da Silva, who followedhis brother Marcos from Marilacto Boston in 2003. With the mon-ey they earned at the second Up-per Crust store, in Brookline, thesiblings paid $35,000 to buy theirfamily in Marilac a small avo-cado-colored house. But plans tostart their own business wereabandoned after Marcos was de-ported. Since returning to Mari-lac last fall, Chico has spent hisdays milking cows and herdingcattle, and lacks a steady income.

‘‘They took advantage of me,but not only me — everyone,’’Chico said through a translator.‘‘I felt humiliated that I work andwork and I was not valued.’’

George Regan, a spokesmanfor Upper Crust, said allegationsof exploitation are unfounded.

‘‘This comes as a shock,’’ Re-gan said. ‘‘All of our workers aretreated with respect.’’

. . .

IN THE BEGINNING, the ar-rangement between Marilacand Upper Crust seemed just

right, at least to those willing torisk the illegal passage and fur-tive toil.

Pedro Chaves de Souza wasamong the first to come. Heslipped over the Mexican borderin March 2001 and came to Bos-ton looking for work. A cousin in-troduced him to Tobins, who hadjust opened a pizza shop onCharles Street, in Boston’s Bea-con Hill neighborhood. De Souzalanded a job preparing vegeta-bles in the kitchen. He earnedabout $8 an hour — well over theminimum wage at the time —and far more than he madeworking at a butcher shop in Ma-rilac.

Word of employment oppor-tunities at Upper Crust spread.Others from Marilac began arriv-ing. It felt like a family for theBrazilians in the shop. Tobinsand other managers worked sideby side with them, spinningdough and delivering pizzas onbicycles.

It typically took a year of gru-eling six- and seven-day work-weeks for the illegal immigrantsto pay off the $10,000 to thesmugglers who arranged theirjourney. After the obligation wassettled, the men would send hun-dreds of dollars each month tofamily back in Marilac. Jose daSilva built a bakery and a housein just a few years, Jose Bentosaved his troubled butcher shopon Rua Rio De Janeiro, and Pe-dro Chaves de Souza bought landand some cows on the outskirtsof town.

Marilac provided a pipeline ofcheap, dedicated workers for Up-per Crust. In 2002, Luciano Bo-telho arrived with a decent com-mand of English and an easysmile. Tobins tapped the Marilacnative to oversee the hiring of thecooks and delivery workers whowould become the backbone ofthe operation. Botelho, who isstill employed by Upper Crust,declined to comment for thisstory.

‘‘[Botelho] has always beencompetent and dedicated,’’ Re-gan said. ‘‘He was never asked tolocate employees from a particu-lar area, but it is hardly surpris-ing that he would know morepeople from the area where hecame from. Any person recom-mended for employment by himwould have to be considered seri-ously.’’

As the business grew, moremen in Marilac left behind girl-friends, fiancées, wives, and chil-dren to come to Boston, accord-ing to interviews with about 30

former workers and relatives ofcurrent and former workers.They easily found smugglers —called coyotes — to arrange theirtrip from Brazil: the bus to SaoPaulo, a short stay in Mexico City,and, finally, the border crossing— sometimes in an inner tubeacross the Rio Grande. Overtime, at least 80 men from Mari-lac set up a colony of sorts in EastBoston. Many lived together incrowded apartments near Mav-erick Square. Botelho, the inspi-ration for the ‘‘Lucky Luciano’’Brazilian pizza on Upper Crust’smenu, frequently put up new ar-rivals at his home and gave themfood and clothing.

‘‘I wanted to have a better fu-ture than I had if I stayed in Bra-zil,’’ said Dimas da Silva, whosaid he crossed through Mexicounder the floorboards of a pickuptruck, hiding among cans of gas-oline to mask his scent from thetrained dogs used by US borderguards. ‘‘In USA, you can workhard and stay there for a fewyears saving money, and you cancome back to Brazil and have anice life.’’

Da Silva said that he beganworking at Upper Crust just afew days after arriving in Bostonin 2003, and that within fouryears he had made enough mon-ey to buy apartments to rent outin Sao Paulo and to build an ex-pansive house in Marilac withporcelain tile floors, crown mold-ing, and the only green lawn intown. To this point, the UpperCrust story was not an unusualone at a time when many smallbusinesses in America, especiallyin the restaurant industry, relyon illegal labor. The risks of expo-sure are small: There are roughly11 million illegal immigrants inthe country, including about160,000 in Massachusetts, and itis impossible for authorities tocheck every workplace.

But then things soured, andthe chain’s Brazilian laborerstook a rare step: They foughtback.

. . .

UPPER CRUST began to cutcorners on labor costs asit grappled with expan-

sion, said Patrick Joyce, a formeroperations manager who workedat Upper Crust for seven years.The immigrants say they took onmore hours. The bonuses andemployee parties that had sweet-ened the job ended, and requestsfor raises were regularly rejected.The Brazilian currency — calledthe real — was also gettingstronger, so the workers’ dollarsdidn’t go as far back home.

At the same time, some of theAmericans who staffed thechain’s counters and worked asmanagers received raises, theysay. Tobins prospered more visi-bly, using his newfound wealth topay for expensive cars, a fancyboat, and even a private plane.

‘‘The stakes got higher, and itgot more cutthroat,’’ said Joyce,who said he left in June after be-coming frustrated by the work-ing conditions. ‘‘It was unbear-able.’’

For its Hingham restaurant,the fifth to open, Upper Crust setup an apartment for the immi-grants near the shop, accordingto Joyce, who collected rent incash from workers, then paid thebuilding’s landlord with a checkfrom the store’s account.

Valdeir Pereira Pinto, 27, wasa member of the group that livedin Hingham. In 2006, he left hisMarilac home — a pink concretestructure with gaping holes likemissing teeth where there shouldhave been windows — and cameto the South Shore town, one ofthe wealthiest suburbs in Massa-chusetts. He quickly found hisnew living arrangements werenot much of an improvement ov-

er what he left behind.Pinto was one of six workers

crammed into a two-bedroomapartment. They paid about$1,200 total in monthly rent toUpper Crust, but spent mostwaking hours at the small pizzashop — a five-minute walk away.They rarely saw their Marilacfriends in Boston.

‘‘I just worked all the time, 80hours and sometimes more,’’ Pin-to said. ‘‘They said they were toobusy, and, ‘I can’t give you [time]off; you must work.’ I was verytired.’’

Sergio Soares Lima Filho Jr.and Marcos Rodrigues da Silvawere more than tired. They wereupset after finding out illegalworkers at some other area res-taurants were receiving time anda half after 40 hours. UpperCrust’s practice was to write onecheck for a worker’s first 40hours, and an additional check,at the same rate, to cover extrahours. Some workers said theywere paid entirely in cash.

Filho and da Silva decided to

meet with a lawyer to figure outtheir options. Then da Silvaasked Botelho — the go-to guy toget Tobins’s attention — to ar-range a meeting in the winter of2006 at the Brookline restaurantin Coolidge Corner.

Da Silva, who entered thecountry with a fake passport hebought in Portugal, told Tobinsthat employees were planning tostrike unless they received raisesor overtime pay. Tobins becameincensed. They didn’t have anyrights, he shouted, according tothree former workers and a man-ager present at the meeting. Ifthey wanted more money, Tobinssaid, they should find anotherjob. Then he fired da Silva andFilho on the spot.

‘‘Marcos and I cried because[Tobins] said we were selfish,’’ re-called Filho, speaking in his na-tive Portuguese. His father, a Ma-rilac native, followed him toUpper Crust.

A few hours later, Botelhocalled da Silva. He and Filho stillhad jobs if they wanted them, Bo-telho said. The men said they re-turned to work because they hadbills to pay in Boston and fam-ilies in Marilac who needed mon-ey. Besides, they believed their il-legal status made them beholdento an employer who they saidhad repeatedly threatened to callimmigration officials.

So they devised a plan. Da Sil-va and his relatives, including hisuncle Edmar da Silva, beganputting away of thousands of dol-lars that they hoped one daywould finance their own pizzashop in Massachusetts.

‘‘I just dream about leavingUpper Crust and getting a betterplace to work,’’ Marcos Rodriguesda Silva said.

They thought they had founda way out a few months later,when a Brazilian man stopped bythe Brookline restaurant andhanded da Silva the phone num-ber of someone who he saidcould sell them an authenticgreen card, permanent residentidentification that authorizes a

foreigner to live and work in theUnited States. But it was part ofan immigration sting. Da Silvawas arrested in August 2007,along with Botelho and other ille-gal Upper Crust workers whohad tried to buy immigrationdocuments. Da Silva spent eightmonths in prison before beingdeported in 2008.

Da Silva and Filho ‘‘were nev-er threatened or fired, and theycontinued to work for the com-pany until they were arrested,’’Regan said.

After the arrests, Joyce, theoperations manager, said Tobinstold him to meet with a lawyerwho could help get Botelho out ofjail. While the other workers ac-cused of being in the UnitedStates illegally fled or have sincebeen deported, Botelho receiveda voluntary order of departure,according to the Department ofHomeland Security, whichmeans he has a designatedamount of time to leave the Unit-ed States. He is currently appeal-ing to stay in the country longer.

Regan said the deportationshad nothing to do with the res-taurants.

‘‘This case did not involve thecompany,’’ he said. ‘‘A couple ofthe company’s employees werecharged as part of this sting anddeported. [Botelho] was notcharged and thus was not de-ported.’’

. . .

BY 2009, despite a deepen-ing recession, Upper Crustwas on a tear. It had 14

stores, a plan to open three more,and projected annual sales of upto $16 million, Tobins said in aninterview with the Globe at thetime. But the chain’s team ofworkers did not expand as quick-ly. To make up for the shortage ofhelp, cooks were often rotatedbetween stores and worked up to100 hours a week to fill the gaps,according to Greg Goncharov, aformer business manager at twoof the chain’s restaurants.

The stores were adequatelystaffed, Regan said.

‘‘I was so exhausted; I thoughtI wouldn’t make it there andcome back,’’ Luis Lucas da Silvasaid through a translator. TheMarilac native returned to Brazillast fall after working doubleshifts for several years. ‘‘My bodycouldn’t take it anymore. Icouldn’t even take my feet off theground.’’

Eventually, some of the em-ployees summoned the courageto report Upper Crust to labor of-ficials. That set off a firestorm atthe chain.

Federal labor laws requireemployers to pay workers over-time, even if the workers are inthe country illegally. The law isintended to dissuade companiesfrom hiring such workers as away to scrimp on payroll.

The Labor Department began

Harmony gives way to exploitation chargeº UPPER CRUSTContinued from Page A1

Continued on next page

PHOTOS BY DINA RUDICK/GLOBE STAFF

Many families in the small town of Marilac in southeastern Brazil have relied heavily on money sent by illegal immigrants working in Upper Crust stores.

Jose Bento worked behind the counter of the butcher shop he helped save using money heearned while employed at one of the pizza chain’s Massachusetts locations.

‘They tookadvantage ofme, but notonly me—everyone. I felthumiliatedthat I workand work andI was notvalued.’

WASHINGTON‘CHICO’ RODRIGUESDA SILVA

UPPER CRUST THE UNDERSIDE

A16 The Region D E C E M B E R 5 , 2 0 1 0B O S T O N S U N D A Y G L O B E

Over time, however, this ami-cable but unlawful relationshipwould unravel. Documents froma recent class action lawsuitshow that as Tobins expanded hispizza empire, he began to exploithis immigrant workers. The em-ployees took their complaints tothe US Department of Labor,which ordered the chain to doleout hundreds of thousands ofdollars in back pay. The depart-ment is now investigating wageviolations at Upper Crust for asecond time.

Meanwhile, in dusty Marilac,some fear a reliable source of in-come used to build farms andbusinesses and houses will van-ish. Others say the village will bebetter off without the pizza mon-ey and the sacrifices it requires.

‘‘We were the ones who madeUpper Crust as big and as rich asthey are, but I suffered verymuch,’’ said Washington ‘‘Chico’’Rodrigues da Silva, who followedhis brother Marcos from Marilacto Boston in 2003. With the mon-ey they earned at the second Up-per Crust store, in Brookline, thesiblings paid $35,000 to buy theirfamily in Marilac a small avo-cado-colored house. But plans tostart their own business wereabandoned after Marcos was de-ported. Since returning to Mari-lac last fall, Chico has spent hisdays milking cows and herdingcattle, and lacks a steady income.

‘‘They took advantage of me,but not only me — everyone,’’Chico said through a translator.‘‘I felt humiliated that I work andwork and I was not valued.’’

George Regan, a spokesmanfor Upper Crust, said allegationsof exploitation are unfounded.

‘‘This comes as a shock,’’ Re-gan said. ‘‘All of our workers aretreated with respect.’’

. . .

IN THE BEGINNING, the ar-rangement between Marilacand Upper Crust seemed just

right, at least to those willing torisk the illegal passage and fur-tive toil.

Pedro Chaves de Souza wasamong the first to come. Heslipped over the Mexican borderin March 2001 and came to Bos-ton looking for work. A cousin in-troduced him to Tobins, who hadjust opened a pizza shop onCharles Street, in Boston’s Bea-con Hill neighborhood. De Souzalanded a job preparing vegeta-bles in the kitchen. He earnedabout $8 an hour — well over theminimum wage at the time —and far more than he madeworking at a butcher shop in Ma-rilac.

Word of employment oppor-tunities at Upper Crust spread.Others from Marilac began arriv-ing. It felt like a family for theBrazilians in the shop. Tobinsand other managers worked sideby side with them, spinningdough and delivering pizzas onbicycles.

It typically took a year of gru-eling six- and seven-day work-weeks for the illegal immigrantsto pay off the $10,000 to thesmugglers who arranged theirjourney. After the obligation wassettled, the men would send hun-dreds of dollars each month tofamily back in Marilac. Jose daSilva built a bakery and a housein just a few years, Jose Bentosaved his troubled butcher shopon Rua Rio De Janeiro, and Pe-dro Chaves de Souza bought landand some cows on the outskirtsof town.

Marilac provided a pipeline ofcheap, dedicated workers for Up-per Crust. In 2002, Luciano Bo-telho arrived with a decent com-mand of English and an easysmile. Tobins tapped the Marilacnative to oversee the hiring of thecooks and delivery workers whowould become the backbone ofthe operation. Botelho, who isstill employed by Upper Crust,declined to comment for thisstory.

‘‘[Botelho] has always beencompetent and dedicated,’’ Re-gan said. ‘‘He was never asked tolocate employees from a particu-lar area, but it is hardly surpris-ing that he would know morepeople from the area where hecame from. Any person recom-mended for employment by himwould have to be considered seri-ously.’’

As the business grew, moremen in Marilac left behind girl-friends, fiancées, wives, and chil-dren to come to Boston, accord-ing to interviews with about 30

former workers and relatives ofcurrent and former workers.They easily found smugglers —called coyotes — to arrange theirtrip from Brazil: the bus to SaoPaulo, a short stay in Mexico City,and, finally, the border crossing— sometimes in an inner tubeacross the Rio Grande. Overtime, at least 80 men from Mari-lac set up a colony of sorts in EastBoston. Many lived together incrowded apartments near Mav-erick Square. Botelho, the inspi-ration for the ‘‘Lucky Luciano’’Brazilian pizza on Upper Crust’smenu, frequently put up new ar-rivals at his home and gave themfood and clothing.

‘‘I wanted to have a better fu-ture than I had if I stayed in Bra-zil,’’ said Dimas da Silva, whosaid he crossed through Mexicounder the floorboards of a pickuptruck, hiding among cans of gas-oline to mask his scent from thetrained dogs used by US borderguards. ‘‘In USA, you can workhard and stay there for a fewyears saving money, and you cancome back to Brazil and have anice life.’’

Da Silva said that he beganworking at Upper Crust just afew days after arriving in Bostonin 2003, and that within fouryears he had made enough mon-ey to buy apartments to rent outin Sao Paulo and to build an ex-pansive house in Marilac withporcelain tile floors, crown mold-ing, and the only green lawn intown. To this point, the UpperCrust story was not an unusualone at a time when many smallbusinesses in America, especiallyin the restaurant industry, relyon illegal labor. The risks of expo-sure are small: There are roughly11 million illegal immigrants inthe country, including about160,000 in Massachusetts, and itis impossible for authorities tocheck every workplace.

But then things soured, andthe chain’s Brazilian laborerstook a rare step: They foughtback.

. . .

UPPER CRUST began to cutcorners on labor costs asit grappled with expan-

sion, said Patrick Joyce, a formeroperations manager who workedat Upper Crust for seven years.The immigrants say they took onmore hours. The bonuses andemployee parties that had sweet-ened the job ended, and requestsfor raises were regularly rejected.The Brazilian currency — calledthe real — was also gettingstronger, so the workers’ dollarsdidn’t go as far back home.

At the same time, some of theAmericans who staffed thechain’s counters and worked asmanagers received raises, theysay. Tobins prospered more visi-bly, using his newfound wealth topay for expensive cars, a fancyboat, and even a private plane.

‘‘The stakes got higher, and itgot more cutthroat,’’ said Joyce,who said he left in June after be-coming frustrated by the work-ing conditions. ‘‘It was unbear-able.’’

For its Hingham restaurant,the fifth to open, Upper Crust setup an apartment for the immi-grants near the shop, accordingto Joyce, who collected rent incash from workers, then paid thebuilding’s landlord with a checkfrom the store’s account.

Valdeir Pereira Pinto, 27, wasa member of the group that livedin Hingham. In 2006, he left hisMarilac home — a pink concretestructure with gaping holes likemissing teeth where there shouldhave been windows — and cameto the South Shore town, one ofthe wealthiest suburbs in Massa-chusetts. He quickly found hisnew living arrangements werenot much of an improvement ov-

er what he left behind.Pinto was one of six workers

crammed into a two-bedroomapartment. They paid about$1,200 total in monthly rent toUpper Crust, but spent mostwaking hours at the small pizzashop — a five-minute walk away.They rarely saw their Marilacfriends in Boston.

‘‘I just worked all the time, 80hours and sometimes more,’’ Pin-to said. ‘‘They said they were toobusy, and, ‘I can’t give you [time]off; you must work.’ I was verytired.’’

Sergio Soares Lima Filho Jr.and Marcos Rodrigues da Silvawere more than tired. They wereupset after finding out illegalworkers at some other area res-taurants were receiving time anda half after 40 hours. UpperCrust’s practice was to write onecheck for a worker’s first 40hours, and an additional check,at the same rate, to cover extrahours. Some workers said theywere paid entirely in cash.

Filho and da Silva decided to

meet with a lawyer to figure outtheir options. Then da Silvaasked Botelho — the go-to guy toget Tobins’s attention — to ar-range a meeting in the winter of2006 at the Brookline restaurantin Coolidge Corner.

Da Silva, who entered thecountry with a fake passport hebought in Portugal, told Tobinsthat employees were planning tostrike unless they received raisesor overtime pay. Tobins becameincensed. They didn’t have anyrights, he shouted, according tothree former workers and a man-ager present at the meeting. Ifthey wanted more money, Tobinssaid, they should find anotherjob. Then he fired da Silva andFilho on the spot.

‘‘Marcos and I cried because[Tobins] said we were selfish,’’ re-called Filho, speaking in his na-tive Portuguese. His father, a Ma-rilac native, followed him toUpper Crust.

A few hours later, Botelhocalled da Silva. He and Filho stillhad jobs if they wanted them, Bo-telho said. The men said they re-turned to work because they hadbills to pay in Boston and fam-ilies in Marilac who needed mon-ey. Besides, they believed their il-legal status made them beholdento an employer who they saidhad repeatedly threatened to callimmigration officials.

So they devised a plan. Da Sil-va and his relatives, including hisuncle Edmar da Silva, beganputting away of thousands of dol-lars that they hoped one daywould finance their own pizzashop in Massachusetts.

‘‘I just dream about leavingUpper Crust and getting a betterplace to work,’’ Marcos Rodriguesda Silva said.

They thought they had founda way out a few months later,when a Brazilian man stopped bythe Brookline restaurant andhanded da Silva the phone num-ber of someone who he saidcould sell them an authenticgreen card, permanent residentidentification that authorizes a

foreigner to live and work in theUnited States. But it was part ofan immigration sting. Da Silvawas arrested in August 2007,along with Botelho and other ille-gal Upper Crust workers whohad tried to buy immigrationdocuments. Da Silva spent eightmonths in prison before beingdeported in 2008.

Da Silva and Filho ‘‘were nev-er threatened or fired, and theycontinued to work for the com-pany until they were arrested,’’Regan said.

After the arrests, Joyce, theoperations manager, said Tobinstold him to meet with a lawyerwho could help get Botelho out ofjail. While the other workers ac-cused of being in the UnitedStates illegally fled or have sincebeen deported, Botelho receiveda voluntary order of departure,according to the Department ofHomeland Security, whichmeans he has a designatedamount of time to leave the Unit-ed States. He is currently appeal-ing to stay in the country longer.

Regan said the deportationshad nothing to do with the res-taurants.

‘‘This case did not involve thecompany,’’ he said. ‘‘A couple ofthe company’s employees werecharged as part of this sting anddeported. [Botelho] was notcharged and thus was not de-ported.’’

. . .

BY 2009, despite a deepen-ing recession, Upper Crustwas on a tear. It had 14

stores, a plan to open three more,and projected annual sales of upto $16 million, Tobins said in aninterview with the Globe at thetime. But the chain’s team ofworkers did not expand as quick-ly. To make up for the shortage ofhelp, cooks were often rotatedbetween stores and worked up to100 hours a week to fill the gaps,according to Greg Goncharov, aformer business manager at twoof the chain’s restaurants.

The stores were adequatelystaffed, Regan said.

‘‘I was so exhausted; I thoughtI wouldn’t make it there andcome back,’’ Luis Lucas da Silvasaid through a translator. TheMarilac native returned to Brazillast fall after working doubleshifts for several years. ‘‘My bodycouldn’t take it anymore. Icouldn’t even take my feet off theground.’’

Eventually, some of the em-ployees summoned the courageto report Upper Crust to labor of-ficials. That set off a firestorm atthe chain.

Federal labor laws requireemployers to pay workers over-time, even if the workers are inthe country illegally. The law isintended to dissuade companiesfrom hiring such workers as away to scrimp on payroll.

The Labor Department began

Harmony gives way to exploitation chargeº UPPER CRUSTContinued from Page A1

Continued on next page

PHOTOS BY DINA RUDICK/GLOBE STAFF

Many families in the small town of Marilac in southeastern Brazil have relied heavily on money sent by illegal immigrants working in Upper Crust stores.

Jose Bento worked behind the counter of the butcher shop he helped save using money heearned while employed at one of the pizza chain’s Massachusetts locations.

‘They tookadvantage ofme, but notonly me—everyone. I felthumiliatedthat I workand work andI was notvalued.’

WASHINGTON‘CHICO’ RODRIGUESDA SILVA

UPPER CRUST THE UNDERSIDE

A16 The Region D E C E M B E R 5 , 2 0 1 0B O S T O N S U N D A Y G L O B E

Over time, however, this ami-cable but unlawful relationshipwould unravel. Documents froma recent class action lawsuitshow that as Tobins expanded hispizza empire, he began to exploithis immigrant workers. The em-ployees took their complaints tothe US Department of Labor,which ordered the chain to doleout hundreds of thousands ofdollars in back pay. The depart-ment is now investigating wageviolations at Upper Crust for asecond time.

Meanwhile, in dusty Marilac,some fear a reliable source of in-come used to build farms andbusinesses and houses will van-ish. Others say the village will bebetter off without the pizza mon-ey and the sacrifices it requires.

‘‘We were the ones who madeUpper Crust as big and as rich asthey are, but I suffered verymuch,’’ said Washington ‘‘Chico’’Rodrigues da Silva, who followedhis brother Marcos from Marilacto Boston in 2003. With the mon-ey they earned at the second Up-per Crust store, in Brookline, thesiblings paid $35,000 to buy theirfamily in Marilac a small avo-cado-colored house. But plans tostart their own business wereabandoned after Marcos was de-ported. Since returning to Mari-lac last fall, Chico has spent hisdays milking cows and herdingcattle, and lacks a steady income.

‘‘They took advantage of me,but not only me — everyone,’’Chico said through a translator.‘‘I felt humiliated that I work andwork and I was not valued.’’

George Regan, a spokesmanfor Upper Crust, said allegationsof exploitation are unfounded.

‘‘This comes as a shock,’’ Re-gan said. ‘‘All of our workers aretreated with respect.’’

. . .

IN THE BEGINNING, the ar-rangement between Marilacand Upper Crust seemed just

right, at least to those willing torisk the illegal passage and fur-tive toil.

Pedro Chaves de Souza wasamong the first to come. Heslipped over the Mexican borderin March 2001 and came to Bos-ton looking for work. A cousin in-troduced him to Tobins, who hadjust opened a pizza shop onCharles Street, in Boston’s Bea-con Hill neighborhood. De Souzalanded a job preparing vegeta-bles in the kitchen. He earnedabout $8 an hour — well over theminimum wage at the time —and far more than he madeworking at a butcher shop in Ma-rilac.

Word of employment oppor-tunities at Upper Crust spread.Others from Marilac began arriv-ing. It felt like a family for theBrazilians in the shop. Tobinsand other managers worked sideby side with them, spinningdough and delivering pizzas onbicycles.

It typically took a year of gru-eling six- and seven-day work-weeks for the illegal immigrantsto pay off the $10,000 to thesmugglers who arranged theirjourney. After the obligation wassettled, the men would send hun-dreds of dollars each month tofamily back in Marilac. Jose daSilva built a bakery and a housein just a few years, Jose Bentosaved his troubled butcher shopon Rua Rio De Janeiro, and Pe-dro Chaves de Souza bought landand some cows on the outskirtsof town.

Marilac provided a pipeline ofcheap, dedicated workers for Up-per Crust. In 2002, Luciano Bo-telho arrived with a decent com-mand of English and an easysmile. Tobins tapped the Marilacnative to oversee the hiring of thecooks and delivery workers whowould become the backbone ofthe operation. Botelho, who isstill employed by Upper Crust,declined to comment for thisstory.

‘‘[Botelho] has always beencompetent and dedicated,’’ Re-gan said. ‘‘He was never asked tolocate employees from a particu-lar area, but it is hardly surpris-ing that he would know morepeople from the area where hecame from. Any person recom-mended for employment by himwould have to be considered seri-ously.’’

As the business grew, moremen in Marilac left behind girl-friends, fiancées, wives, and chil-dren to come to Boston, accord-ing to interviews with about 30

former workers and relatives ofcurrent and former workers.They easily found smugglers —called coyotes — to arrange theirtrip from Brazil: the bus to SaoPaulo, a short stay in Mexico City,and, finally, the border crossing— sometimes in an inner tubeacross the Rio Grande. Overtime, at least 80 men from Mari-lac set up a colony of sorts in EastBoston. Many lived together incrowded apartments near Mav-erick Square. Botelho, the inspi-ration for the ‘‘Lucky Luciano’’Brazilian pizza on Upper Crust’smenu, frequently put up new ar-rivals at his home and gave themfood and clothing.

‘‘I wanted to have a better fu-ture than I had if I stayed in Bra-zil,’’ said Dimas da Silva, whosaid he crossed through Mexicounder the floorboards of a pickuptruck, hiding among cans of gas-oline to mask his scent from thetrained dogs used by US borderguards. ‘‘In USA, you can workhard and stay there for a fewyears saving money, and you cancome back to Brazil and have anice life.’’

Da Silva said that he beganworking at Upper Crust just afew days after arriving in Bostonin 2003, and that within fouryears he had made enough mon-ey to buy apartments to rent outin Sao Paulo and to build an ex-pansive house in Marilac withporcelain tile floors, crown mold-ing, and the only green lawn intown. To this point, the UpperCrust story was not an unusualone at a time when many smallbusinesses in America, especiallyin the restaurant industry, relyon illegal labor. The risks of expo-sure are small: There are roughly11 million illegal immigrants inthe country, including about160,000 in Massachusetts, and itis impossible for authorities tocheck every workplace.

But then things soured, andthe chain’s Brazilian laborerstook a rare step: They foughtback.

. . .

UPPER CRUST began to cutcorners on labor costs asit grappled with expan-

sion, said Patrick Joyce, a formeroperations manager who workedat Upper Crust for seven years.The immigrants say they took onmore hours. The bonuses andemployee parties that had sweet-ened the job ended, and requestsfor raises were regularly rejected.The Brazilian currency — calledthe real — was also gettingstronger, so the workers’ dollarsdidn’t go as far back home.

At the same time, some of theAmericans who staffed thechain’s counters and worked asmanagers received raises, theysay. Tobins prospered more visi-bly, using his newfound wealth topay for expensive cars, a fancyboat, and even a private plane.

‘‘The stakes got higher, and itgot more cutthroat,’’ said Joyce,who said he left in June after be-coming frustrated by the work-ing conditions. ‘‘It was unbear-able.’’

For its Hingham restaurant,the fifth to open, Upper Crust setup an apartment for the immi-grants near the shop, accordingto Joyce, who collected rent incash from workers, then paid thebuilding’s landlord with a checkfrom the store’s account.

Valdeir Pereira Pinto, 27, wasa member of the group that livedin Hingham. In 2006, he left hisMarilac home — a pink concretestructure with gaping holes likemissing teeth where there shouldhave been windows — and cameto the South Shore town, one ofthe wealthiest suburbs in Massa-chusetts. He quickly found hisnew living arrangements werenot much of an improvement ov-

er what he left behind.Pinto was one of six workers

crammed into a two-bedroomapartment. They paid about$1,200 total in monthly rent toUpper Crust, but spent mostwaking hours at the small pizzashop — a five-minute walk away.They rarely saw their Marilacfriends in Boston.

‘‘I just worked all the time, 80hours and sometimes more,’’ Pin-to said. ‘‘They said they were toobusy, and, ‘I can’t give you [time]off; you must work.’ I was verytired.’’

Sergio Soares Lima Filho Jr.and Marcos Rodrigues da Silvawere more than tired. They wereupset after finding out illegalworkers at some other area res-taurants were receiving time anda half after 40 hours. UpperCrust’s practice was to write onecheck for a worker’s first 40hours, and an additional check,at the same rate, to cover extrahours. Some workers said theywere paid entirely in cash.

Filho and da Silva decided to

meet with a lawyer to figure outtheir options. Then da Silvaasked Botelho — the go-to guy toget Tobins’s attention — to ar-range a meeting in the winter of2006 at the Brookline restaurantin Coolidge Corner.

Da Silva, who entered thecountry with a fake passport hebought in Portugal, told Tobinsthat employees were planning tostrike unless they received raisesor overtime pay. Tobins becameincensed. They didn’t have anyrights, he shouted, according tothree former workers and a man-ager present at the meeting. Ifthey wanted more money, Tobinssaid, they should find anotherjob. Then he fired da Silva andFilho on the spot.

‘‘Marcos and I cried because[Tobins] said we were selfish,’’ re-called Filho, speaking in his na-tive Portuguese. His father, a Ma-rilac native, followed him toUpper Crust.

A few hours later, Botelhocalled da Silva. He and Filho stillhad jobs if they wanted them, Bo-telho said. The men said they re-turned to work because they hadbills to pay in Boston and fam-ilies in Marilac who needed mon-ey. Besides, they believed their il-legal status made them beholdento an employer who they saidhad repeatedly threatened to callimmigration officials.

So they devised a plan. Da Sil-va and his relatives, including hisuncle Edmar da Silva, beganputting away of thousands of dol-lars that they hoped one daywould finance their own pizzashop in Massachusetts.

‘‘I just dream about leavingUpper Crust and getting a betterplace to work,’’ Marcos Rodriguesda Silva said.

They thought they had founda way out a few months later,when a Brazilian man stopped bythe Brookline restaurant andhanded da Silva the phone num-ber of someone who he saidcould sell them an authenticgreen card, permanent residentidentification that authorizes a

foreigner to live and work in theUnited States. But it was part ofan immigration sting. Da Silvawas arrested in August 2007,along with Botelho and other ille-gal Upper Crust workers whohad tried to buy immigrationdocuments. Da Silva spent eightmonths in prison before beingdeported in 2008.

Da Silva and Filho ‘‘were nev-er threatened or fired, and theycontinued to work for the com-pany until they were arrested,’’Regan said.

After the arrests, Joyce, theoperations manager, said Tobinstold him to meet with a lawyerwho could help get Botelho out ofjail. While the other workers ac-cused of being in the UnitedStates illegally fled or have sincebeen deported, Botelho receiveda voluntary order of departure,according to the Department ofHomeland Security, whichmeans he has a designatedamount of time to leave the Unit-ed States. He is currently appeal-ing to stay in the country longer.

Regan said the deportationshad nothing to do with the res-taurants.

‘‘This case did not involve thecompany,’’ he said. ‘‘A couple ofthe company’s employees werecharged as part of this sting anddeported. [Botelho] was notcharged and thus was not de-ported.’’

. . .

BY 2009, despite a deepen-ing recession, Upper Crustwas on a tear. It had 14

stores, a plan to open three more,and projected annual sales of upto $16 million, Tobins said in aninterview with the Globe at thetime. But the chain’s team ofworkers did not expand as quick-ly. To make up for the shortage ofhelp, cooks were often rotatedbetween stores and worked up to100 hours a week to fill the gaps,according to Greg Goncharov, aformer business manager at twoof the chain’s restaurants.

The stores were adequatelystaffed, Regan said.

‘‘I was so exhausted; I thoughtI wouldn’t make it there andcome back,’’ Luis Lucas da Silvasaid through a translator. TheMarilac native returned to Brazillast fall after working doubleshifts for several years. ‘‘My bodycouldn’t take it anymore. Icouldn’t even take my feet off theground.’’

Eventually, some of the em-ployees summoned the courageto report Upper Crust to labor of-ficials. That set off a firestorm atthe chain.

Federal labor laws requireemployers to pay workers over-time, even if the workers are inthe country illegally. The law isintended to dissuade companiesfrom hiring such workers as away to scrimp on payroll.

The Labor Department began

Harmony gives way to exploitation chargeº UPPER CRUSTContinued from Page A1

Continued on next page

PHOTOS BY DINA RUDICK/GLOBE STAFF

Many families in the small town of Marilac in southeastern Brazil have relied heavily on money sent by illegal immigrants working in Upper Crust stores.

Jose Bento worked behind the counter of the butcher shop he helped save using money heearned while employed at one of the pizza chain’s Massachusetts locations.

‘They tookadvantage ofme, but notonly me—everyone. I felthumiliatedthat I workand work andI was notvalued.’

WASHINGTON‘CHICO’ RODRIGUESDA SILVA

UPPER CRUST THE UNDERSIDE

A16 The Region D E C E M B E R 5 , 2 0 1 0B O S T O N S U N D A Y G L O B E

Over time, however, this ami-cable but unlawful relationshipwould unravel. Documents froma recent class action lawsuitshow that as Tobins expanded hispizza empire, he began to exploithis immigrant workers. The em-ployees took their complaints tothe US Department of Labor,which ordered the chain to doleout hundreds of thousands ofdollars in back pay. The depart-ment is now investigating wageviolations at Upper Crust for asecond time.

Meanwhile, in dusty Marilac,some fear a reliable source of in-come used to build farms andbusinesses and houses will van-ish. Others say the village will bebetter off without the pizza mon-ey and the sacrifices it requires.

‘‘We were the ones who madeUpper Crust as big and as rich asthey are, but I suffered verymuch,’’ said Washington ‘‘Chico’’Rodrigues da Silva, who followedhis brother Marcos from Marilacto Boston in 2003. With the mon-ey they earned at the second Up-per Crust store, in Brookline, thesiblings paid $35,000 to buy theirfamily in Marilac a small avo-cado-colored house. But plans tostart their own business wereabandoned after Marcos was de-ported. Since returning to Mari-lac last fall, Chico has spent hisdays milking cows and herdingcattle, and lacks a steady income.

‘‘They took advantage of me,but not only me — everyone,’’Chico said through a translator.‘‘I felt humiliated that I work andwork and I was not valued.’’

George Regan, a spokesmanfor Upper Crust, said allegationsof exploitation are unfounded.

‘‘This comes as a shock,’’ Re-gan said. ‘‘All of our workers aretreated with respect.’’

. . .

IN THE BEGINNING, the ar-rangement between Marilacand Upper Crust seemed just

right, at least to those willing torisk the illegal passage and fur-tive toil.

Pedro Chaves de Souza wasamong the first to come. Heslipped over the Mexican borderin March 2001 and came to Bos-ton looking for work. A cousin in-troduced him to Tobins, who hadjust opened a pizza shop onCharles Street, in Boston’s Bea-con Hill neighborhood. De Souzalanded a job preparing vegeta-bles in the kitchen. He earnedabout $8 an hour — well over theminimum wage at the time —and far more than he madeworking at a butcher shop in Ma-rilac.

Word of employment oppor-tunities at Upper Crust spread.Others from Marilac began arriv-ing. It felt like a family for theBrazilians in the shop. Tobinsand other managers worked sideby side with them, spinningdough and delivering pizzas onbicycles.

It typically took a year of gru-eling six- and seven-day work-weeks for the illegal immigrantsto pay off the $10,000 to thesmugglers who arranged theirjourney. After the obligation wassettled, the men would send hun-dreds of dollars each month tofamily back in Marilac. Jose daSilva built a bakery and a housein just a few years, Jose Bentosaved his troubled butcher shopon Rua Rio De Janeiro, and Pe-dro Chaves de Souza bought landand some cows on the outskirtsof town.

Marilac provided a pipeline ofcheap, dedicated workers for Up-per Crust. In 2002, Luciano Bo-telho arrived with a decent com-mand of English and an easysmile. Tobins tapped the Marilacnative to oversee the hiring of thecooks and delivery workers whowould become the backbone ofthe operation. Botelho, who isstill employed by Upper Crust,declined to comment for thisstory.

‘‘[Botelho] has always beencompetent and dedicated,’’ Re-gan said. ‘‘He was never asked tolocate employees from a particu-lar area, but it is hardly surpris-ing that he would know morepeople from the area where hecame from. Any person recom-mended for employment by himwould have to be considered seri-ously.’’

As the business grew, moremen in Marilac left behind girl-friends, fiancées, wives, and chil-dren to come to Boston, accord-ing to interviews with about 30

former workers and relatives ofcurrent and former workers.They easily found smugglers —called coyotes — to arrange theirtrip from Brazil: the bus to SaoPaulo, a short stay in Mexico City,and, finally, the border crossing— sometimes in an inner tubeacross the Rio Grande. Overtime, at least 80 men from Mari-lac set up a colony of sorts in EastBoston. Many lived together incrowded apartments near Mav-erick Square. Botelho, the inspi-ration for the ‘‘Lucky Luciano’’Brazilian pizza on Upper Crust’smenu, frequently put up new ar-rivals at his home and gave themfood and clothing.

‘‘I wanted to have a better fu-ture than I had if I stayed in Bra-zil,’’ said Dimas da Silva, whosaid he crossed through Mexicounder the floorboards of a pickuptruck, hiding among cans of gas-oline to mask his scent from thetrained dogs used by US borderguards. ‘‘In USA, you can workhard and stay there for a fewyears saving money, and you cancome back to Brazil and have anice life.’’

Da Silva said that he beganworking at Upper Crust just afew days after arriving in Bostonin 2003, and that within fouryears he had made enough mon-ey to buy apartments to rent outin Sao Paulo and to build an ex-pansive house in Marilac withporcelain tile floors, crown mold-ing, and the only green lawn intown. To this point, the UpperCrust story was not an unusualone at a time when many smallbusinesses in America, especiallyin the restaurant industry, relyon illegal labor. The risks of expo-sure are small: There are roughly11 million illegal immigrants inthe country, including about160,000 in Massachusetts, and itis impossible for authorities tocheck every workplace.

But then things soured, andthe chain’s Brazilian laborerstook a rare step: They foughtback.

. . .

UPPER CRUST began to cutcorners on labor costs asit grappled with expan-

sion, said Patrick Joyce, a formeroperations manager who workedat Upper Crust for seven years.The immigrants say they took onmore hours. The bonuses andemployee parties that had sweet-ened the job ended, and requestsfor raises were regularly rejected.The Brazilian currency — calledthe real — was also gettingstronger, so the workers’ dollarsdidn’t go as far back home.

At the same time, some of theAmericans who staffed thechain’s counters and worked asmanagers received raises, theysay. Tobins prospered more visi-bly, using his newfound wealth topay for expensive cars, a fancyboat, and even a private plane.

‘‘The stakes got higher, and itgot more cutthroat,’’ said Joyce,who said he left in June after be-coming frustrated by the work-ing conditions. ‘‘It was unbear-able.’’

For its Hingham restaurant,the fifth to open, Upper Crust setup an apartment for the immi-grants near the shop, accordingto Joyce, who collected rent incash from workers, then paid thebuilding’s landlord with a checkfrom the store’s account.

Valdeir Pereira Pinto, 27, wasa member of the group that livedin Hingham. In 2006, he left hisMarilac home — a pink concretestructure with gaping holes likemissing teeth where there shouldhave been windows — and cameto the South Shore town, one ofthe wealthiest suburbs in Massa-chusetts. He quickly found hisnew living arrangements werenot much of an improvement ov-

er what he left behind.Pinto was one of six workers

crammed into a two-bedroomapartment. They paid about$1,200 total in monthly rent toUpper Crust, but spent mostwaking hours at the small pizzashop — a five-minute walk away.They rarely saw their Marilacfriends in Boston.

‘‘I just worked all the time, 80hours and sometimes more,’’ Pin-to said. ‘‘They said they were toobusy, and, ‘I can’t give you [time]off; you must work.’ I was verytired.’’

Sergio Soares Lima Filho Jr.and Marcos Rodrigues da Silvawere more than tired. They wereupset after finding out illegalworkers at some other area res-taurants were receiving time anda half after 40 hours. UpperCrust’s practice was to write onecheck for a worker’s first 40hours, and an additional check,at the same rate, to cover extrahours. Some workers said theywere paid entirely in cash.

Filho and da Silva decided to

meet with a lawyer to figure outtheir options. Then da Silvaasked Botelho — the go-to guy toget Tobins’s attention — to ar-range a meeting in the winter of2006 at the Brookline restaurantin Coolidge Corner.

Da Silva, who entered thecountry with a fake passport hebought in Portugal, told Tobinsthat employees were planning tostrike unless they received raisesor overtime pay. Tobins becameincensed. They didn’t have anyrights, he shouted, according tothree former workers and a man-ager present at the meeting. Ifthey wanted more money, Tobinssaid, they should find anotherjob. Then he fired da Silva andFilho on the spot.

‘‘Marcos and I cried because[Tobins] said we were selfish,’’ re-called Filho, speaking in his na-tive Portuguese. His father, a Ma-rilac native, followed him toUpper Crust.

A few hours later, Botelhocalled da Silva. He and Filho stillhad jobs if they wanted them, Bo-telho said. The men said they re-turned to work because they hadbills to pay in Boston and fam-ilies in Marilac who needed mon-ey. Besides, they believed their il-legal status made them beholdento an employer who they saidhad repeatedly threatened to callimmigration officials.

So they devised a plan. Da Sil-va and his relatives, including hisuncle Edmar da Silva, beganputting away of thousands of dol-lars that they hoped one daywould finance their own pizzashop in Massachusetts.

‘‘I just dream about leavingUpper Crust and getting a betterplace to work,’’ Marcos Rodriguesda Silva said.

They thought they had founda way out a few months later,when a Brazilian man stopped bythe Brookline restaurant andhanded da Silva the phone num-ber of someone who he saidcould sell them an authenticgreen card, permanent residentidentification that authorizes a

foreigner to live and work in theUnited States. But it was part ofan immigration sting. Da Silvawas arrested in August 2007,along with Botelho and other ille-gal Upper Crust workers whohad tried to buy immigrationdocuments. Da Silva spent eightmonths in prison before beingdeported in 2008.

Da Silva and Filho ‘‘were nev-er threatened or fired, and theycontinued to work for the com-pany until they were arrested,’’Regan said.

After the arrests, Joyce, theoperations manager, said Tobinstold him to meet with a lawyerwho could help get Botelho out ofjail. While the other workers ac-cused of being in the UnitedStates illegally fled or have sincebeen deported, Botelho receiveda voluntary order of departure,according to the Department ofHomeland Security, whichmeans he has a designatedamount of time to leave the Unit-ed States. He is currently appeal-ing to stay in the country longer.

Regan said the deportationshad nothing to do with the res-taurants.

‘‘This case did not involve thecompany,’’ he said. ‘‘A couple ofthe company’s employees werecharged as part of this sting anddeported. [Botelho] was notcharged and thus was not de-ported.’’

. . .

BY 2009, despite a deepen-ing recession, Upper Crustwas on a tear. It had 14

stores, a plan to open three more,and projected annual sales of upto $16 million, Tobins said in aninterview with the Globe at thetime. But the chain’s team ofworkers did not expand as quick-ly. To make up for the shortage ofhelp, cooks were often rotatedbetween stores and worked up to100 hours a week to fill the gaps,according to Greg Goncharov, aformer business manager at twoof the chain’s restaurants.

The stores were adequatelystaffed, Regan said.

‘‘I was so exhausted; I thoughtI wouldn’t make it there andcome back,’’ Luis Lucas da Silvasaid through a translator. TheMarilac native returned to Brazillast fall after working doubleshifts for several years. ‘‘My bodycouldn’t take it anymore. Icouldn’t even take my feet off theground.’’

Eventually, some of the em-ployees summoned the courageto report Upper Crust to labor of-ficials. That set off a firestorm atthe chain.

Federal labor laws requireemployers to pay workers over-time, even if the workers are inthe country illegally. The law isintended to dissuade companiesfrom hiring such workers as away to scrimp on payroll.

The Labor Department began

Harmony gives way to exploitation chargeº UPPER CRUSTContinued from Page A1

Continued on next page

PHOTOS BY DINA RUDICK/GLOBE STAFF

Many families in the small town of Marilac in southeastern Brazil have relied heavily on money sent by illegal immigrants working in Upper Crust stores.

Jose Bento worked behind the counter of the butcher shop he helped save using money heearned while employed at one of the pizza chain’s Massachusetts locations.

‘They tookadvantage ofme, but notonly me—everyone. I felthumiliatedthat I workand work andI was notvalued.’

WASHINGTON‘CHICO’ RODRIGUESDA SILVA

UPPER CRUST THE UNDERSIDE

A16 The Region D E C E M B E R 5 , 2 0 1 0B O S T O N S U N D A Y G L O B E

Over time, however, this ami-cable but unlawful relationshipwould unravel. Documents froma recent class action lawsuitshow that as Tobins expanded hispizza empire, he began to exploithis immigrant workers. The em-ployees took their complaints tothe US Department of Labor,which ordered the chain to doleout hundreds of thousands ofdollars in back pay. The depart-ment is now investigating wageviolations at Upper Crust for asecond time.

Meanwhile, in dusty Marilac,some fear a reliable source of in-come used to build farms andbusinesses and houses will van-ish. Others say the village will bebetter off without the pizza mon-ey and the sacrifices it requires.

‘‘We were the ones who madeUpper Crust as big and as rich asthey are, but I suffered verymuch,’’ said Washington ‘‘Chico’’Rodrigues da Silva, who followedhis brother Marcos from Marilacto Boston in 2003. With the mon-ey they earned at the second Up-per Crust store, in Brookline, thesiblings paid $35,000 to buy theirfamily in Marilac a small avo-cado-colored house. But plans tostart their own business wereabandoned after Marcos was de-ported. Since returning to Mari-lac last fall, Chico has spent hisdays milking cows and herdingcattle, and lacks a steady income.

‘‘They took advantage of me,but not only me — everyone,’’Chico said through a translator.‘‘I felt humiliated that I work andwork and I was not valued.’’

George Regan, a spokesmanfor Upper Crust, said allegationsof exploitation are unfounded.

‘‘This comes as a shock,’’ Re-gan said. ‘‘All of our workers aretreated with respect.’’

. . .

IN THE BEGINNING, the ar-rangement between Marilacand Upper Crust seemed just

right, at least to those willing torisk the illegal passage and fur-tive toil.

Pedro Chaves de Souza wasamong the first to come. Heslipped over the Mexican borderin March 2001 and came to Bos-ton looking for work. A cousin in-troduced him to Tobins, who hadjust opened a pizza shop onCharles Street, in Boston’s Bea-con Hill neighborhood. De Souzalanded a job preparing vegeta-bles in the kitchen. He earnedabout $8 an hour — well over theminimum wage at the time —and far more than he madeworking at a butcher shop in Ma-rilac.

Word of employment oppor-tunities at Upper Crust spread.Others from Marilac began arriv-ing. It felt like a family for theBrazilians in the shop. Tobinsand other managers worked sideby side with them, spinningdough and delivering pizzas onbicycles.

It typically took a year of gru-eling six- and seven-day work-weeks for the illegal immigrantsto pay off the $10,000 to thesmugglers who arranged theirjourney. After the obligation wassettled, the men would send hun-dreds of dollars each month tofamily back in Marilac. Jose daSilva built a bakery and a housein just a few years, Jose Bentosaved his troubled butcher shopon Rua Rio De Janeiro, and Pe-dro Chaves de Souza bought landand some cows on the outskirtsof town.

Marilac provided a pipeline ofcheap, dedicated workers for Up-per Crust. In 2002, Luciano Bo-telho arrived with a decent com-mand of English and an easysmile. Tobins tapped the Marilacnative to oversee the hiring of thecooks and delivery workers whowould become the backbone ofthe operation. Botelho, who isstill employed by Upper Crust,declined to comment for thisstory.

‘‘[Botelho] has always beencompetent and dedicated,’’ Re-gan said. ‘‘He was never asked tolocate employees from a particu-lar area, but it is hardly surpris-ing that he would know morepeople from the area where hecame from. Any person recom-mended for employment by himwould have to be considered seri-ously.’’

As the business grew, moremen in Marilac left behind girl-friends, fiancées, wives, and chil-dren to come to Boston, accord-ing to interviews with about 30

former workers and relatives ofcurrent and former workers.They easily found smugglers —called coyotes — to arrange theirtrip from Brazil: the bus to SaoPaulo, a short stay in Mexico City,and, finally, the border crossing— sometimes in an inner tubeacross the Rio Grande. Overtime, at least 80 men from Mari-lac set up a colony of sorts in EastBoston. Many lived together incrowded apartments near Mav-erick Square. Botelho, the inspi-ration for the ‘‘Lucky Luciano’’Brazilian pizza on Upper Crust’smenu, frequently put up new ar-rivals at his home and gave themfood and clothing.

‘‘I wanted to have a better fu-ture than I had if I stayed in Bra-zil,’’ said Dimas da Silva, whosaid he crossed through Mexicounder the floorboards of a pickuptruck, hiding among cans of gas-oline to mask his scent from thetrained dogs used by US borderguards. ‘‘In USA, you can workhard and stay there for a fewyears saving money, and you cancome back to Brazil and have anice life.’’

Da Silva said that he beganworking at Upper Crust just afew days after arriving in Bostonin 2003, and that within fouryears he had made enough mon-ey to buy apartments to rent outin Sao Paulo and to build an ex-pansive house in Marilac withporcelain tile floors, crown mold-ing, and the only green lawn intown. To this point, the UpperCrust story was not an unusualone at a time when many smallbusinesses in America, especiallyin the restaurant industry, relyon illegal labor. The risks of expo-sure are small: There are roughly11 million illegal immigrants inthe country, including about160,000 in Massachusetts, and itis impossible for authorities tocheck every workplace.

But then things soured, andthe chain’s Brazilian laborerstook a rare step: They foughtback.

. . .

UPPER CRUST began to cutcorners on labor costs asit grappled with expan-

sion, said Patrick Joyce, a formeroperations manager who workedat Upper Crust for seven years.The immigrants say they took onmore hours. The bonuses andemployee parties that had sweet-ened the job ended, and requestsfor raises were regularly rejected.The Brazilian currency — calledthe real — was also gettingstronger, so the workers’ dollarsdidn’t go as far back home.

At the same time, some of theAmericans who staffed thechain’s counters and worked asmanagers received raises, theysay. Tobins prospered more visi-bly, using his newfound wealth topay for expensive cars, a fancyboat, and even a private plane.

‘‘The stakes got higher, and itgot more cutthroat,’’ said Joyce,who said he left in June after be-coming frustrated by the work-ing conditions. ‘‘It was unbear-able.’’

For its Hingham restaurant,the fifth to open, Upper Crust setup an apartment for the immi-grants near the shop, accordingto Joyce, who collected rent incash from workers, then paid thebuilding’s landlord with a checkfrom the store’s account.

Valdeir Pereira Pinto, 27, wasa member of the group that livedin Hingham. In 2006, he left hisMarilac home — a pink concretestructure with gaping holes likemissing teeth where there shouldhave been windows — and cameto the South Shore town, one ofthe wealthiest suburbs in Massa-chusetts. He quickly found hisnew living arrangements werenot much of an improvement ov-

er what he left behind.Pinto was one of six workers

crammed into a two-bedroomapartment. They paid about$1,200 total in monthly rent toUpper Crust, but spent mostwaking hours at the small pizzashop — a five-minute walk away.They rarely saw their Marilacfriends in Boston.

‘‘I just worked all the time, 80hours and sometimes more,’’ Pin-to said. ‘‘They said they were toobusy, and, ‘I can’t give you [time]off; you must work.’ I was verytired.’’

Sergio Soares Lima Filho Jr.and Marcos Rodrigues da Silvawere more than tired. They wereupset after finding out illegalworkers at some other area res-taurants were receiving time anda half after 40 hours. UpperCrust’s practice was to write onecheck for a worker’s first 40hours, and an additional check,at the same rate, to cover extrahours. Some workers said theywere paid entirely in cash.

Filho and da Silva decided to

meet with a lawyer to figure outtheir options. Then da Silvaasked Botelho — the go-to guy toget Tobins’s attention — to ar-range a meeting in the winter of2006 at the Brookline restaurantin Coolidge Corner.

Da Silva, who entered thecountry with a fake passport hebought in Portugal, told Tobinsthat employees were planning tostrike unless they received raisesor overtime pay. Tobins becameincensed. They didn’t have anyrights, he shouted, according tothree former workers and a man-ager present at the meeting. Ifthey wanted more money, Tobinssaid, they should find anotherjob. Then he fired da Silva andFilho on the spot.

‘‘Marcos and I cried because[Tobins] said we were selfish,’’ re-called Filho, speaking in his na-tive Portuguese. His father, a Ma-rilac native, followed him toUpper Crust.

A few hours later, Botelhocalled da Silva. He and Filho stillhad jobs if they wanted them, Bo-telho said. The men said they re-turned to work because they hadbills to pay in Boston and fam-ilies in Marilac who needed mon-ey. Besides, they believed their il-legal status made them beholdento an employer who they saidhad repeatedly threatened to callimmigration officials.

So they devised a plan. Da Sil-va and his relatives, including hisuncle Edmar da Silva, beganputting away of thousands of dol-lars that they hoped one daywould finance their own pizzashop in Massachusetts.

‘‘I just dream about leavingUpper Crust and getting a betterplace to work,’’ Marcos Rodriguesda Silva said.

They thought they had founda way out a few months later,when a Brazilian man stopped bythe Brookline restaurant andhanded da Silva the phone num-ber of someone who he saidcould sell them an authenticgreen card, permanent residentidentification that authorizes a

foreigner to live and work in theUnited States. But it was part ofan immigration sting. Da Silvawas arrested in August 2007,along with Botelho and other ille-gal Upper Crust workers whohad tried to buy immigrationdocuments. Da Silva spent eightmonths in prison before beingdeported in 2008.

Da Silva and Filho ‘‘were nev-er threatened or fired, and theycontinued to work for the com-pany until they were arrested,’’Regan said.

After the arrests, Joyce, theoperations manager, said Tobinstold him to meet with a lawyerwho could help get Botelho out ofjail. While the other workers ac-cused of being in the UnitedStates illegally fled or have sincebeen deported, Botelho receiveda voluntary order of departure,according to the Department ofHomeland Security, whichmeans he has a designatedamount of time to leave the Unit-ed States. He is currently appeal-ing to stay in the country longer.

Regan said the deportationshad nothing to do with the res-taurants.

‘‘This case did not involve thecompany,’’ he said. ‘‘A couple ofthe company’s employees werecharged as part of this sting anddeported. [Botelho] was notcharged and thus was not de-ported.’’

. . .

BY 2009, despite a deepen-ing recession, Upper Crustwas on a tear. It had 14

stores, a plan to open three more,and projected annual sales of upto $16 million, Tobins said in aninterview with the Globe at thetime. But the chain’s team ofworkers did not expand as quick-ly. To make up for the shortage ofhelp, cooks were often rotatedbetween stores and worked up to100 hours a week to fill the gaps,according to Greg Goncharov, aformer business manager at twoof the chain’s restaurants.

The stores were adequatelystaffed, Regan said.

‘‘I was so exhausted; I thoughtI wouldn’t make it there andcome back,’’ Luis Lucas da Silvasaid through a translator. TheMarilac native returned to Brazillast fall after working doubleshifts for several years. ‘‘My bodycouldn’t take it anymore. Icouldn’t even take my feet off theground.’’

Eventually, some of the em-ployees summoned the courageto report Upper Crust to labor of-ficials. That set off a firestorm atthe chain.

Federal labor laws requireemployers to pay workers over-time, even if the workers are inthe country illegally. The law isintended to dissuade companiesfrom hiring such workers as away to scrimp on payroll.

The Labor Department began

Harmony gives way to exploitation chargeº UPPER CRUSTContinued from Page A1

Continued on next page

PHOTOS BY DINA RUDICK/GLOBE STAFF

Many families in the small town of Marilac in southeastern Brazil have relied heavily on money sent by illegal immigrants working in Upper Crust stores.

Jose Bento worked behind the counter of the butcher shop he helped save using money heearned while employed at one of the pizza chain’s Massachusetts locations.

‘They tookadvantage ofme, but notonly me—everyone. I felthumiliatedthat I workand work andI was notvalued.’

WASHINGTON‘CHICO’ RODRIGUESDA SILVA

UPPER CRUST THE UNDERSIDE

4

Page 5: Upper Crust

DECEMBER 5 , 2010D E C E M B E R 5 , 2 0 1 0 The Region A17B O S T O N S U N D A Y G L O B E

UPPER CRUST THE UNDERSIDE

By Jenn AbelsonGLOBE STAFF

Jordan Tobins showed up atthe grand opening party forSweet Tomatoes in Newton Cen-tre in 1998, fresh out of collegeand with no pizza-making skills.That didn’t stop him from tryinghis hand at it.

Hedy Jarras, who knew To-bins from the summers they hadboth spent vacationing on CapeCod, hired him, and immediatelythey clicked. The shop’s thin-crust pizza drew rave reviewsand crowds of devotees. Jarrasmade Tobins a manager, andthey began planning more shops.

But Tobins had his own ambi-tions. He left in 2000 to start apizza company, Upper Crust. Onthe way out, Tobins took somecrucial information: Sweet Toma-toes’ business contacts and ex-pansion plans, according to Jar-ras and her former businesspartner, Christopher Owens.

A few months later, the firstUpper Crust restaurant openedon Charles Street in Boston’s Bea-con Hill neighborhood. To Jarras,Owens, and many others atSweet Tomatoes, it looked andtasted like the pizza they made.Not only that, Upper Crust occu-pied a space Jarras had been eye-ing.

While Jarras has not claimedthat Tobins acted illegally, she ob-jects to the way he established hisbusiness.

‘‘He took what I had and ranwith it,’’ Jarras said recently inher first interview on the souredrelationship. ‘‘And it bothers methat he didn’t do it the ethicalway.’’

But that’s not how Tobins re-members it. The 34-year-oldgives credit for his love of pizza-making to Owens’s other restau-rant chain, Hot Tomatoes, saidGeorge Regan, a spokesman forUpper Crust.

‘‘It was there that ChristopherOwens showed Tobins how toroll out pizza dough,’’ Regan said.

There is no question, howev-er, that Tobins was aggressivefrom the start as he learned tothrive in the fiercely competitiveworld of pizza-making. Over theyears, Upper Crust has grown to17 stores, from Newburyport toPlymouth. Its fresh, fragrant, andpricey pies have won acclaim.But Tobins’s former employers,and some of his own employees,take a dimmer view of how thechain was born and came of age.

Tobins’s desire to emulate theSweet Tomatoes model was obvi-ous to Jim Covart, a purchasingagent who buys ingredients forSweet Tomatoes. After Tobinsquit, Covart said, he called withan unusual request.

‘‘He said, ‘We want to becomeyour customer. We are going touse the exact same things [Jar-ras] is using,’ ’’ Covart said.‘‘When I spoke with [Jarras], shetold me that he had taken her

menu.’’Covart declined to bring on

the new client.Upper Crust talked to numer-

ous vendors when it was gettingunderway to inquire about pric-ing on ingredients, Regan said.‘‘There is nothing proprietaryabout the ingredients used inmaking pizza,’’ he said.

Jarras met with a trademarklawyer at the time but was told itcould be tough to prove that To-bins didn’t slightly change herrecipe. So she decided to focus onher own business.

Still, it was hard to ignore thebudding popularity of Tobins’screation. At the Beacon Hillstore, lines of hungry customersspilled into the street. The res-taurant cultivated a hip urbanvibe, down to the bicycles it usedto deliver thin-crust pies. Theshop even caught the attention ofcorporate titan Jack Welch, who

lived in the neighborhood. In hisbest-selling book ‘‘Winning,’’ theformer General Electric chief ex-ecutive gives a priceless shout-out to Upper Crust: ‘‘The pizza isto die for.’’

Welch’s quote became thetagline for an Upper Crust mar-keting blitz that featured thecurly-haired Tobins in chefwhites, surrounded by boxes ofpizza. Encouraged by his bur-geoning fame, Tobins, a Sharonnative, set his sights on a secondstore. In 2002, he opened inBrookline on Harvard Street, an-other location Jarras had consid-ered for Sweet Tomatoes. Thenext year he launched a shop inKey West, Fla., with his father,Barry, and kept looking to addmore restaurants back home.The company later took on newpartners, Josh Huggard andBrendan Higgins, who have mi-nority stakes in the business, and

hired young managers like Pat-rick Joyce.

‘‘I bought into it being a fun,exciting work environment, ayouthful company that was grow-ing,’’ Joyce said. ‘‘I didn’t buy intowhat it became: cutting corners[on labor] to enhance the bottomline.’’

As his business flourished, To-bins relied on many immigrantemployees — almost all of whomarrived illegally from a single vil-lage in Brazil — to fill out his ex-panding kitchen staff.

At first it was a happy shop.But employees began to chafe atnot being paid for overtime, and,when they took the issue to fed-eral labor authorities and won,Tobins was furious.

He was especially tough onworkers who wanted to do whathe did when he started out: buildtheir own businesses on a bor-rowed model.

Edmar da Silva was one withdreams of making his own way.He planned to start a thin-crustpizza shop, called Crispy DoughPizzeria, with other Brazilian em-ployees at Upper Crust.

Tobins had other ideas. InFebruary he sued da Silva, accus-ing his longtime employee ofstealing trade secrets, violatinghis employment contract, andfraudulently using personal in-formation to obtain a credit cardby listing Tobins as a cosigner, ac-cording to a copy of the lawsuitfiled in Suffolk Superior Court.Upper Crust’s employmentagreement included a three-yearprohibition on employees work-ing ‘‘directly or indirectly’’ for abusiness involved in makingpizzas, calzones, or other similarfood products within a 15 mileradius of any Upper Crust loca-tion.

Jarras, of Sweet Tomatoes,heard about the lawsuit but de-cided to steer clear of the legalwrangling.

A few months earlier, she hadreceived a call from Tobins’s law-yer. He demanded that she re-move a copy of Pizza Today, atrade publication, from a rack inher restaurant. In a story in themagazine, Jarras is quoted recall-ing how a former employee andfriend stole her recipe. Tobinswas not mentioned by name, butthe quote apparently got his at-tention.

Ultimately, Tobins and da Sil-va, who declined to comment forthis story, reached a settlementin April. Crispy Dough is nowopen on Tremont Street nearMission Hill.

Jarras, meanwhile, kept hercopy of Pizza Today. The maga-zine story hangs in her Newtonshop, in a red frame that matchesthe color of her pizza sauce.

‘‘It’s my little protest,’’ shesaid.

Jenn Abelson can be reached [email protected].

A driven young man, and the chain he made

ERIK JACOBS FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE/FILE 2009

Jordan Tobins has foundfame and success sincestarting Upper Crust, but hisformer boss, Hedy Jarras(left), says Tobins tookbusiness contacts andexpansion plans. Tobins latersued Edmar da Silva (below),a former worker who openedhis own pizza store.

JOANNE RATHE/GLOBE STAFF/FILE 2004

its investigation in April 2009.Several months later, the gour-met pizza empire was ordered topay nearly $350,000 in backwages to more than 100 workers,most of them immigrants fromMarilac. Tobins said the compa-ny did not have enough cash topay the arrears and was granteda 30-day extension, according toa copy of the compliance reportfiled with the Department of La-bor and obtained by the Globe.

For the workers, matters onlygot worse after the investigation.Upper Crust demanded that theimmigrants surrender the gov-ernment-ordered checks forovertime pay or else lose theirjobs, according to interviewswith five former employees, fourformer managers, and a class ac-tion lawsuit filed in Suffolk Supe-rior Court in July.

‘‘This is not true,’’ Regan said.‘‘Everyone who received an over-time check cashed it.’’

The Labor Department, afterreceiving allegations that work-ers were coerced to return backwages to the company, said thatin September 2009 it told Tobinsand David Marcus, the compa-ny’s chief financial officer, thatsuch payments should be ‘‘finaland unconditional.’’

Instead, Upper Crust begandrastically reducing weekly pay-checks to recoup the federally or-dered payouts. Pinto, for exam-ple, started earning $455 for 80hours, according to copies of hispaychecks and time cards sub-mitted as part of the lawsuit.That is about $5.70 an hour, or$2.30 below minimum wage.Pinto said Upper Crust deductedmore than $8,000 over about sev-en months — the full overtimepayment he received — and thenfired him.

Tobins, in a July e-mail to theGlobe, said Pinto and a secondplaintiff in the lawsuit, CleversonBatista, were not entitled to over-time under the law because theywere managers, not hourly work-ers. He described the two men as‘‘disgruntled ex-employees’’ who‘‘have been trying to figure out away to extort money from ourbusiness.’’

Upper Crust, Joyce said, alsoallegedly devised a plan to keepchecks intended for workers whohad moved back to Brazil. Shan-non Liss-Riordan, one of the law-yers representing the employees,said the workers discussed withthe Labor Department accusa-tions that Upper Crust forged sig-natures on checks issued to em-ployees who were no longer inthe United States.

‘‘It is my understanding thatthey’re looking into it,’’ Liss-Rior-dan said.

Regan emphatically deniedthat the workers’ checks werehandled inappropriately. Anymoney owed to employees whocould not be located was sent tothe Labor Department in No-vember 2009, he said.

The Labor Department’s wageand hour division ‘‘does have an

open, ongoing investigation ofthe Upper Crust chain,’’ said JohnM. Chavez, a spokesman. The de-partment would not disclose de-tails but confirmed it has re-ceived several inquiries fromworkers in Brazil who said theydid not receive checks.

News of the check problemsspread quickly through the chainand back to Marilac. Some for-mer workers in Brazil with rela-tives still working for UpperCrust managed to recover theirback wages, including Jose daSilva and his brother, Dimas.

Others, such as Marcos Ro-drigues da Silva and his brother,Chico, say they did not. UpperCrust provided the Globe withcopies of checks that its attorney,David Berman, said had cleared.The copies included checks is-sued to the da Silva brothers andFilho, all of whom said they nev-er received payments.

Now, the divide betweenhaves and have-nots is testing re-lations in the community.

It is especially hard for someto look past the red brick housethat Botelho, Tobins’s favorite, isconstructing. The huge buildingon Rua Belo Horizonte casts ashadow over da Silva’s modesthome two doors away. Steel re-bars jut into the air, signifyingmore work to come.

Botelho’s aunt, Catia, and hismother still live around the cor-ner. Catia and her brother Edsonsaid they had not heard aboutthe problems at Upper Crust.

But Edson Botelho will saythis much: His nephew ‘‘adores’’Upper Crust, ‘‘and his boss likeshim so much.’’

Marcos Rodrigues da Silvahas a different view of the far-away pizza chain.

‘‘It’s a bad situation,’’ said daSilva, who spends his days cir-cling the town’s cracked streetson a bicycle he bought during hisUpper Crust years.

Sometimes when he’s riding,he glances down at the ‘‘Made inAmerica’’ flag printed on thebike. It reminds him of what helost.

‘‘People feel betrayed,’’ he said.

Jenn Abelson can be reached [email protected].

TAKE A CLOSER LOOKFor video and a photo gallery

with this story, go towww.boston.com/globe

‘Thestakes gothigher,and it gotmorecutthroat.It was unbearable.’PATRICK JOYCEFormer operations managerat Upper Crust

Continued from preceding page

$3992011S60 T6 AWD OR 2011VOLVO XC60 FWD

0% APRORPer monthfor 36 months.$4,293 cashdue at signing.

For 36months

WELL-EQUIPPED WITH: 300 HORSEPOWER, LEATHER SEATS,

SIRIUS,® HD RADIO, BLUETOOTH,® CITY SAFETY

WELL-EQUIPPED WITH: SIRIUS, 17" ALLOY WHEELS, HD RADIO,

BLUETOOTH, CITY SAFETY, IIHS TOP SAFETY PICK

YOUR EASTERN NEW ENGLAND VOLVO RETAILERS ARE:

nevolvo.com

DEDHAMDalzell Volvo(781) 329-1100

HAVERHILLJaffarian Volvo(978) 372-8551

HYANNISTrans-Atlantic Motors(508) 775-4526

Volvo Village of NorwellNORWELL

(781) 829-3100

BRIGHTONBoston Volvo Village(888) 797-9587

SALEMStutz Volvo(978) 744-8555

SOUTHBOROUGHFarrell Volvo(508) 571-2400

WAKEFIELD128 Volvo(781) 224-3700

WELLESLEYLee Volvo(781) 235-8841

WORCESTERGallo Volvo(508) 791-3678

VOLVOThe Official Car ofThe Boston Red Sox

Volvo. for life

volvocars.com/us/safeandsecure *Safe + Secure Coverage Plan excludes tires. ©2010 SIRIUS XM Radio Inc. SIRIUS, XM and all related marks and logos are trademarks of SIRIUS XM Radio Inc. and itssubsidiaries. City Safety is not a substitute for safe driving. For more detailed information on how to safely use this system, please visit www.volvocars.us/XC60CitySafety. S60 starting at MSRP $37,700. XC60 starting at MSRP $32,400. Excludes $850destination charge. 36 months at $28 per month per $1,000 financed. No security deposit required. For the 2011 S60 T6, monthly payment of $399, based on $38,550 MSRP, and the 2011 XC60 3.2 FWD, monthly payment of $399, based on $33,250MSRP, destination charge is included. S60 lease payment per month assumes application of $1,000 Conquest Loyalty Bonus. Customer eligibility requirements must be met for Conquest Loyalty offer. Please see retailer for details. Lessee is responsible forexcess wear and mileage over 10,000 miles/year at $0.18/mile. Take new retail delivery from retailer stock between November 5, 2010, and January 3, 2011. Please visit www.volvocars.com/us/safeandsecure or your localVolvo retailer for details on the Volvo Safe + Secure Coverage Plan and for further details specific to leased vehicles. Cars shown with optional equipment. Advertised lease payment and financing exclude taxes, title andregistration fees and are available for qualified customers through U.S. Bank. Payments may vary, as retailer determines price. Offers available at participating retailers excluding Alaska; see retailer or website for details.Over 130 channels.

THERE’S MORE TO LIFE THAN A VOLVO. There’s spreading enough holiday cheer to last not only the whole year long, butfive whole years. That’s why we’re offering our Safe and Secure Coverage plan with every new Volvo, complimentary.

PAY NOTHING TO REPAIR OR MAINTAIN YOUR VOLVO FOR 5 YEARS WITH OUR SAFE + SECURE

COVERAGE PLAN.* Coverage plan includes brakes, rotors and wiper blades.

D E C E M B E R 5 , 2 0 1 0 The Region A17B O S T O N S U N D A Y G L O B E

UPPER CRUST THE UNDERSIDE

By Jenn AbelsonGLOBE STAFF

Jordan Tobins showed up atthe grand opening party forSweet Tomatoes in Newton Cen-tre in 1998, fresh out of collegeand with no pizza-making skills.That didn’t stop him from tryinghis hand at it.

Hedy Jarras, who knew To-bins from the summers they hadboth spent vacationing on CapeCod, hired him, and immediatelythey clicked. The shop’s thin-crust pizza drew rave reviewsand crowds of devotees. Jarrasmade Tobins a manager, andthey began planning more shops.

But Tobins had his own ambi-tions. He left in 2000 to start apizza company, Upper Crust. Onthe way out, Tobins took somecrucial information: Sweet Toma-toes’ business contacts and ex-pansion plans, according to Jar-ras and her former businesspartner, Christopher Owens.

A few months later, the firstUpper Crust restaurant openedon Charles Street in Boston’s Bea-con Hill neighborhood. To Jarras,Owens, and many others atSweet Tomatoes, it looked andtasted like the pizza they made.Not only that, Upper Crust occu-pied a space Jarras had been eye-ing.

While Jarras has not claimedthat Tobins acted illegally, she ob-jects to the way he established hisbusiness.

‘‘He took what I had and ranwith it,’’ Jarras said recently inher first interview on the souredrelationship. ‘‘And it bothers methat he didn’t do it the ethicalway.’’

But that’s not how Tobins re-members it. The 34-year-oldgives credit for his love of pizza-making to Owens’s other restau-rant chain, Hot Tomatoes, saidGeorge Regan, a spokesman forUpper Crust.

‘‘It was there that ChristopherOwens showed Tobins how toroll out pizza dough,’’ Regan said.

There is no question, howev-er, that Tobins was aggressivefrom the start as he learned tothrive in the fiercely competitiveworld of pizza-making. Over theyears, Upper Crust has grown to17 stores, from Newburyport toPlymouth. Its fresh, fragrant, andpricey pies have won acclaim.But Tobins’s former employers,and some of his own employees,take a dimmer view of how thechain was born and came of age.

Tobins’s desire to emulate theSweet Tomatoes model was obvi-ous to Jim Covart, a purchasingagent who buys ingredients forSweet Tomatoes. After Tobinsquit, Covart said, he called withan unusual request.

‘‘He said, ‘We want to becomeyour customer. We are going touse the exact same things [Jar-ras] is using,’ ’’ Covart said.‘‘When I spoke with [Jarras], shetold me that he had taken her

menu.’’Covart declined to bring on

the new client.Upper Crust talked to numer-

ous vendors when it was gettingunderway to inquire about pric-ing on ingredients, Regan said.‘‘There is nothing proprietaryabout the ingredients used inmaking pizza,’’ he said.

Jarras met with a trademarklawyer at the time but was told itcould be tough to prove that To-bins didn’t slightly change herrecipe. So she decided to focus onher own business.

Still, it was hard to ignore thebudding popularity of Tobins’screation. At the Beacon Hillstore, lines of hungry customersspilled into the street. The res-taurant cultivated a hip urbanvibe, down to the bicycles it usedto deliver thin-crust pies. Theshop even caught the attention ofcorporate titan Jack Welch, who

lived in the neighborhood. In hisbest-selling book ‘‘Winning,’’ theformer General Electric chief ex-ecutive gives a priceless shout-out to Upper Crust: ‘‘The pizza isto die for.’’

Welch’s quote became thetagline for an Upper Crust mar-keting blitz that featured thecurly-haired Tobins in chefwhites, surrounded by boxes ofpizza. Encouraged by his bur-geoning fame, Tobins, a Sharonnative, set his sights on a secondstore. In 2002, he opened inBrookline on Harvard Street, an-other location Jarras had consid-ered for Sweet Tomatoes. Thenext year he launched a shop inKey West, Fla., with his father,Barry, and kept looking to addmore restaurants back home.The company later took on newpartners, Josh Huggard andBrendan Higgins, who have mi-nority stakes in the business, and

hired young managers like Pat-rick Joyce.

‘‘I bought into it being a fun,exciting work environment, ayouthful company that was grow-ing,’’ Joyce said. ‘‘I didn’t buy intowhat it became: cutting corners[on labor] to enhance the bottomline.’’

As his business flourished, To-bins relied on many immigrantemployees — almost all of whomarrived illegally from a single vil-lage in Brazil — to fill out his ex-panding kitchen staff.

At first it was a happy shop.But employees began to chafe atnot being paid for overtime, and,when they took the issue to fed-eral labor authorities and won,Tobins was furious.

He was especially tough onworkers who wanted to do whathe did when he started out: buildtheir own businesses on a bor-rowed model.

Edmar da Silva was one withdreams of making his own way.He planned to start a thin-crustpizza shop, called Crispy DoughPizzeria, with other Brazilian em-ployees at Upper Crust.

Tobins had other ideas. InFebruary he sued da Silva, accus-ing his longtime employee ofstealing trade secrets, violatinghis employment contract, andfraudulently using personal in-formation to obtain a credit cardby listing Tobins as a cosigner, ac-cording to a copy of the lawsuitfiled in Suffolk Superior Court.Upper Crust’s employmentagreement included a three-yearprohibition on employees work-ing ‘‘directly or indirectly’’ for abusiness involved in makingpizzas, calzones, or other similarfood products within a 15 mileradius of any Upper Crust loca-tion.

Jarras, of Sweet Tomatoes,heard about the lawsuit but de-cided to steer clear of the legalwrangling.

A few months earlier, she hadreceived a call from Tobins’s law-yer. He demanded that she re-move a copy of Pizza Today, atrade publication, from a rack inher restaurant. In a story in themagazine, Jarras is quoted recall-ing how a former employee andfriend stole her recipe. Tobinswas not mentioned by name, butthe quote apparently got his at-tention.

Ultimately, Tobins and da Sil-va, who declined to comment forthis story, reached a settlementin April. Crispy Dough is nowopen on Tremont Street nearMission Hill.

Jarras, meanwhile, kept hercopy of Pizza Today. The maga-zine story hangs in her Newtonshop, in a red frame that matchesthe color of her pizza sauce.

‘‘It’s my little protest,’’ shesaid.

Jenn Abelson can be reached [email protected].

A driven young man, and the chain he made

ERIK JACOBS FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE/FILE 2009

Jordan Tobins has foundfame and success sincestarting Upper Crust, but hisformer boss, Hedy Jarras(left), says Tobins tookbusiness contacts andexpansion plans. Tobins latersued Edmar da Silva (below),a former worker who openedhis own pizza store.

JOANNE RATHE/GLOBE STAFF/FILE 2004

its investigation in April 2009.Several months later, the gour-met pizza empire was ordered topay nearly $350,000 in backwages to more than 100 workers,most of them immigrants fromMarilac. Tobins said the compa-ny did not have enough cash topay the arrears and was granteda 30-day extension, according toa copy of the compliance reportfiled with the Department of La-bor and obtained by the Globe.

For the workers, matters onlygot worse after the investigation.Upper Crust demanded that theimmigrants surrender the gov-ernment-ordered checks forovertime pay or else lose theirjobs, according to interviewswith five former employees, fourformer managers, and a class ac-tion lawsuit filed in Suffolk Supe-rior Court in July.

‘‘This is not true,’’ Regan said.‘‘Everyone who received an over-time check cashed it.’’

The Labor Department, afterreceiving allegations that work-ers were coerced to return backwages to the company, said thatin September 2009 it told Tobinsand David Marcus, the compa-ny’s chief financial officer, thatsuch payments should be ‘‘finaland unconditional.’’

Instead, Upper Crust begandrastically reducing weekly pay-checks to recoup the federally or-dered payouts. Pinto, for exam-ple, started earning $455 for 80hours, according to copies of hispaychecks and time cards sub-mitted as part of the lawsuit.That is about $5.70 an hour, or$2.30 below minimum wage.Pinto said Upper Crust deductedmore than $8,000 over about sev-en months — the full overtimepayment he received — and thenfired him.

Tobins, in a July e-mail to theGlobe, said Pinto and a secondplaintiff in the lawsuit, CleversonBatista, were not entitled to over-time under the law because theywere managers, not hourly work-ers. He described the two men as‘‘disgruntled ex-employees’’ who‘‘have been trying to figure out away to extort money from ourbusiness.’’

Upper Crust, Joyce said, alsoallegedly devised a plan to keepchecks intended for workers whohad moved back to Brazil. Shan-non Liss-Riordan, one of the law-yers representing the employees,said the workers discussed withthe Labor Department accusa-tions that Upper Crust forged sig-natures on checks issued to em-ployees who were no longer inthe United States.

‘‘It is my understanding thatthey’re looking into it,’’ Liss-Rior-dan said.

Regan emphatically deniedthat the workers’ checks werehandled inappropriately. Anymoney owed to employees whocould not be located was sent tothe Labor Department in No-vember 2009, he said.

The Labor Department’s wageand hour division ‘‘does have an

open, ongoing investigation ofthe Upper Crust chain,’’ said JohnM. Chavez, a spokesman. The de-partment would not disclose de-tails but confirmed it has re-ceived several inquiries fromworkers in Brazil who said theydid not receive checks.

News of the check problemsspread quickly through the chainand back to Marilac. Some for-mer workers in Brazil with rela-tives still working for UpperCrust managed to recover theirback wages, including Jose daSilva and his brother, Dimas.

Others, such as Marcos Ro-drigues da Silva and his brother,Chico, say they did not. UpperCrust provided the Globe withcopies of checks that its attorney,David Berman, said had cleared.The copies included checks is-sued to the da Silva brothers andFilho, all of whom said they nev-er received payments.

Now, the divide betweenhaves and have-nots is testing re-lations in the community.

It is especially hard for someto look past the red brick housethat Botelho, Tobins’s favorite, isconstructing. The huge buildingon Rua Belo Horizonte casts ashadow over da Silva’s modesthome two doors away. Steel re-bars jut into the air, signifyingmore work to come.

Botelho’s aunt, Catia, and hismother still live around the cor-ner. Catia and her brother Edsonsaid they had not heard aboutthe problems at Upper Crust.

But Edson Botelho will saythis much: His nephew ‘‘adores’’Upper Crust, ‘‘and his boss likeshim so much.’’

Marcos Rodrigues da Silvahas a different view of the far-away pizza chain.

‘‘It’s a bad situation,’’ said daSilva, who spends his days cir-cling the town’s cracked streetson a bicycle he bought during hisUpper Crust years.

Sometimes when he’s riding,he glances down at the ‘‘Made inAmerica’’ flag printed on thebike. It reminds him of what helost.

‘‘People feel betrayed,’’ he said.

Jenn Abelson can be reached [email protected].

TAKE A CLOSER LOOKFor video and a photo gallery

with this story, go towww.boston.com/globe

‘Thestakes gothigher,and it gotmorecutthroat.It was unbearable.’PATRICK JOYCEFormer operations managerat Upper Crust

Continued from preceding page

$3992011S60 T6 AWD OR 2011VOLVO XC60 FWD

0% APRORPer monthfor 36 months.$4,293 cashdue at signing.

For 36months

WELL-EQUIPPED WITH: 300 HORSEPOWER, LEATHER SEATS,

SIRIUS,® HD RADIO, BLUETOOTH,® CITY SAFETY

WELL-EQUIPPED WITH: SIRIUS, 17" ALLOY WHEELS, HD RADIO,

BLUETOOTH, CITY SAFETY, IIHS TOP SAFETY PICK

YOUR EASTERN NEW ENGLAND VOLVO RETAILERS ARE:

nevolvo.com

DEDHAMDalzell Volvo(781) 329-1100

HAVERHILLJaffarian Volvo(978) 372-8551

HYANNISTrans-Atlantic Motors(508) 775-4526

Volvo Village of NorwellNORWELL

(781) 829-3100

BRIGHTONBoston Volvo Village(888) 797-9587

SALEMStutz Volvo(978) 744-8555

SOUTHBOROUGHFarrell Volvo(508) 571-2400

WAKEFIELD128 Volvo(781) 224-3700

WELLESLEYLee Volvo(781) 235-8841

WORCESTERGallo Volvo(508) 791-3678

VOLVOThe Official Car ofThe Boston Red Sox

Volvo. for life

volvocars.com/us/safeandsecure *Safe + Secure Coverage Plan excludes tires. ©2010 SIRIUS XM Radio Inc. SIRIUS, XM and all related marks and logos are trademarks of SIRIUS XM Radio Inc. and itssubsidiaries. City Safety is not a substitute for safe driving. For more detailed information on how to safely use this system, please visit www.volvocars.us/XC60CitySafety. S60 starting at MSRP $37,700. XC60 starting at MSRP $32,400. Excludes $850destination charge. 36 months at $28 per month per $1,000 financed. No security deposit required. For the 2011 S60 T6, monthly payment of $399, based on $38,550 MSRP, and the 2011 XC60 3.2 FWD, monthly payment of $399, based on $33,250MSRP, destination charge is included. S60 lease payment per month assumes application of $1,000 Conquest Loyalty Bonus. Customer eligibility requirements must be met for Conquest Loyalty offer. Please see retailer for details. Lessee is responsible forexcess wear and mileage over 10,000 miles/year at $0.18/mile. Take new retail delivery from retailer stock between November 5, 2010, and January 3, 2011. Please visit www.volvocars.com/us/safeandsecure or your localVolvo retailer for details on the Volvo Safe + Secure Coverage Plan and for further details specific to leased vehicles. Cars shown with optional equipment. Advertised lease payment and financing exclude taxes, title andregistration fees and are available for qualified customers through U.S. Bank. Payments may vary, as retailer determines price. Offers available at participating retailers excluding Alaska; see retailer or website for details.Over 130 channels.

THERE’S MORE TO LIFE THAN A VOLVO. There’s spreading enough holiday cheer to last not only the whole year long, butfive whole years. That’s why we’re offering our Safe and Secure Coverage plan with every new Volvo, complimentary.

PAY NOTHING TO REPAIR OR MAINTAIN YOUR VOLVO FOR 5 YEARS WITH OUR SAFE + SECURE

COVERAGE PLAN.* Coverage plan includes brakes, rotors and wiper blades.

D E C E M B E R 5 , 2 0 1 0 The Region A17B O S T O N S U N D A Y G L O B E

UPPER CRUST THE UNDERSIDE

By Jenn AbelsonGLOBE STAFF

Jordan Tobins showed up atthe grand opening party forSweet Tomatoes in Newton Cen-tre in 1998, fresh out of collegeand with no pizza-making skills.That didn’t stop him from tryinghis hand at it.

Hedy Jarras, who knew To-bins from the summers they hadboth spent vacationing on CapeCod, hired him, and immediatelythey clicked. The shop’s thin-crust pizza drew rave reviewsand crowds of devotees. Jarrasmade Tobins a manager, andthey began planning more shops.

But Tobins had his own ambi-tions. He left in 2000 to start apizza company, Upper Crust. Onthe way out, Tobins took somecrucial information: Sweet Toma-toes’ business contacts and ex-pansion plans, according to Jar-ras and her former businesspartner, Christopher Owens.

A few months later, the firstUpper Crust restaurant openedon Charles Street in Boston’s Bea-con Hill neighborhood. To Jarras,Owens, and many others atSweet Tomatoes, it looked andtasted like the pizza they made.Not only that, Upper Crust occu-pied a space Jarras had been eye-ing.

While Jarras has not claimedthat Tobins acted illegally, she ob-jects to the way he established hisbusiness.

‘‘He took what I had and ranwith it,’’ Jarras said recently inher first interview on the souredrelationship. ‘‘And it bothers methat he didn’t do it the ethicalway.’’

But that’s not how Tobins re-members it. The 34-year-oldgives credit for his love of pizza-making to Owens’s other restau-rant chain, Hot Tomatoes, saidGeorge Regan, a spokesman forUpper Crust.

‘‘It was there that ChristopherOwens showed Tobins how toroll out pizza dough,’’ Regan said.

There is no question, howev-er, that Tobins was aggressivefrom the start as he learned tothrive in the fiercely competitiveworld of pizza-making. Over theyears, Upper Crust has grown to17 stores, from Newburyport toPlymouth. Its fresh, fragrant, andpricey pies have won acclaim.But Tobins’s former employers,and some of his own employees,take a dimmer view of how thechain was born and came of age.

Tobins’s desire to emulate theSweet Tomatoes model was obvi-ous to Jim Covart, a purchasingagent who buys ingredients forSweet Tomatoes. After Tobinsquit, Covart said, he called withan unusual request.

‘‘He said, ‘We want to becomeyour customer. We are going touse the exact same things [Jar-ras] is using,’ ’’ Covart said.‘‘When I spoke with [Jarras], shetold me that he had taken her

menu.’’Covart declined to bring on

the new client.Upper Crust talked to numer-

ous vendors when it was gettingunderway to inquire about pric-ing on ingredients, Regan said.‘‘There is nothing proprietaryabout the ingredients used inmaking pizza,’’ he said.

Jarras met with a trademarklawyer at the time but was told itcould be tough to prove that To-bins didn’t slightly change herrecipe. So she decided to focus onher own business.

Still, it was hard to ignore thebudding popularity of Tobins’screation. At the Beacon Hillstore, lines of hungry customersspilled into the street. The res-taurant cultivated a hip urbanvibe, down to the bicycles it usedto deliver thin-crust pies. Theshop even caught the attention ofcorporate titan Jack Welch, who

lived in the neighborhood. In hisbest-selling book ‘‘Winning,’’ theformer General Electric chief ex-ecutive gives a priceless shout-out to Upper Crust: ‘‘The pizza isto die for.’’

Welch’s quote became thetagline for an Upper Crust mar-keting blitz that featured thecurly-haired Tobins in chefwhites, surrounded by boxes ofpizza. Encouraged by his bur-geoning fame, Tobins, a Sharonnative, set his sights on a secondstore. In 2002, he opened inBrookline on Harvard Street, an-other location Jarras had consid-ered for Sweet Tomatoes. Thenext year he launched a shop inKey West, Fla., with his father,Barry, and kept looking to addmore restaurants back home.The company later took on newpartners, Josh Huggard andBrendan Higgins, who have mi-nority stakes in the business, and

hired young managers like Pat-rick Joyce.

‘‘I bought into it being a fun,exciting work environment, ayouthful company that was grow-ing,’’ Joyce said. ‘‘I didn’t buy intowhat it became: cutting corners[on labor] to enhance the bottomline.’’

As his business flourished, To-bins relied on many immigrantemployees — almost all of whomarrived illegally from a single vil-lage in Brazil — to fill out his ex-panding kitchen staff.

At first it was a happy shop.But employees began to chafe atnot being paid for overtime, and,when they took the issue to fed-eral labor authorities and won,Tobins was furious.

He was especially tough onworkers who wanted to do whathe did when he started out: buildtheir own businesses on a bor-rowed model.

Edmar da Silva was one withdreams of making his own way.He planned to start a thin-crustpizza shop, called Crispy DoughPizzeria, with other Brazilian em-ployees at Upper Crust.

Tobins had other ideas. InFebruary he sued da Silva, accus-ing his longtime employee ofstealing trade secrets, violatinghis employment contract, andfraudulently using personal in-formation to obtain a credit cardby listing Tobins as a cosigner, ac-cording to a copy of the lawsuitfiled in Suffolk Superior Court.Upper Crust’s employmentagreement included a three-yearprohibition on employees work-ing ‘‘directly or indirectly’’ for abusiness involved in makingpizzas, calzones, or other similarfood products within a 15 mileradius of any Upper Crust loca-tion.

Jarras, of Sweet Tomatoes,heard about the lawsuit but de-cided to steer clear of the legalwrangling.

A few months earlier, she hadreceived a call from Tobins’s law-yer. He demanded that she re-move a copy of Pizza Today, atrade publication, from a rack inher restaurant. In a story in themagazine, Jarras is quoted recall-ing how a former employee andfriend stole her recipe. Tobinswas not mentioned by name, butthe quote apparently got his at-tention.

Ultimately, Tobins and da Sil-va, who declined to comment forthis story, reached a settlementin April. Crispy Dough is nowopen on Tremont Street nearMission Hill.

Jarras, meanwhile, kept hercopy of Pizza Today. The maga-zine story hangs in her Newtonshop, in a red frame that matchesthe color of her pizza sauce.

‘‘It’s my little protest,’’ shesaid.

Jenn Abelson can be reached [email protected].

A driven young man, and the chain he made

ERIK JACOBS FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE/FILE 2009

Jordan Tobins has foundfame and success sincestarting Upper Crust, but hisformer boss, Hedy Jarras(left), says Tobins tookbusiness contacts andexpansion plans. Tobins latersued Edmar da Silva (below),a former worker who openedhis own pizza store.

JOANNE RATHE/GLOBE STAFF/FILE 2004

its investigation in April 2009.Several months later, the gour-met pizza empire was ordered topay nearly $350,000 in backwages to more than 100 workers,most of them immigrants fromMarilac. Tobins said the compa-ny did not have enough cash topay the arrears and was granteda 30-day extension, according toa copy of the compliance reportfiled with the Department of La-bor and obtained by the Globe.

For the workers, matters onlygot worse after the investigation.Upper Crust demanded that theimmigrants surrender the gov-ernment-ordered checks forovertime pay or else lose theirjobs, according to interviewswith five former employees, fourformer managers, and a class ac-tion lawsuit filed in Suffolk Supe-rior Court in July.

‘‘This is not true,’’ Regan said.‘‘Everyone who received an over-time check cashed it.’’

The Labor Department, afterreceiving allegations that work-ers were coerced to return backwages to the company, said thatin September 2009 it told Tobinsand David Marcus, the compa-ny’s chief financial officer, thatsuch payments should be ‘‘finaland unconditional.’’

Instead, Upper Crust begandrastically reducing weekly pay-checks to recoup the federally or-dered payouts. Pinto, for exam-ple, started earning $455 for 80hours, according to copies of hispaychecks and time cards sub-mitted as part of the lawsuit.That is about $5.70 an hour, or$2.30 below minimum wage.Pinto said Upper Crust deductedmore than $8,000 over about sev-en months — the full overtimepayment he received — and thenfired him.

Tobins, in a July e-mail to theGlobe, said Pinto and a secondplaintiff in the lawsuit, CleversonBatista, were not entitled to over-time under the law because theywere managers, not hourly work-ers. He described the two men as‘‘disgruntled ex-employees’’ who‘‘have been trying to figure out away to extort money from ourbusiness.’’

Upper Crust, Joyce said, alsoallegedly devised a plan to keepchecks intended for workers whohad moved back to Brazil. Shan-non Liss-Riordan, one of the law-yers representing the employees,said the workers discussed withthe Labor Department accusa-tions that Upper Crust forged sig-natures on checks issued to em-ployees who were no longer inthe United States.

‘‘It is my understanding thatthey’re looking into it,’’ Liss-Rior-dan said.

Regan emphatically deniedthat the workers’ checks werehandled inappropriately. Anymoney owed to employees whocould not be located was sent tothe Labor Department in No-vember 2009, he said.

The Labor Department’s wageand hour division ‘‘does have an

open, ongoing investigation ofthe Upper Crust chain,’’ said JohnM. Chavez, a spokesman. The de-partment would not disclose de-tails but confirmed it has re-ceived several inquiries fromworkers in Brazil who said theydid not receive checks.

News of the check problemsspread quickly through the chainand back to Marilac. Some for-mer workers in Brazil with rela-tives still working for UpperCrust managed to recover theirback wages, including Jose daSilva and his brother, Dimas.

Others, such as Marcos Ro-drigues da Silva and his brother,Chico, say they did not. UpperCrust provided the Globe withcopies of checks that its attorney,David Berman, said had cleared.The copies included checks is-sued to the da Silva brothers andFilho, all of whom said they nev-er received payments.

Now, the divide betweenhaves and have-nots is testing re-lations in the community.

It is especially hard for someto look past the red brick housethat Botelho, Tobins’s favorite, isconstructing. The huge buildingon Rua Belo Horizonte casts ashadow over da Silva’s modesthome two doors away. Steel re-bars jut into the air, signifyingmore work to come.

Botelho’s aunt, Catia, and hismother still live around the cor-ner. Catia and her brother Edsonsaid they had not heard aboutthe problems at Upper Crust.

But Edson Botelho will saythis much: His nephew ‘‘adores’’Upper Crust, ‘‘and his boss likeshim so much.’’

Marcos Rodrigues da Silvahas a different view of the far-away pizza chain.

‘‘It’s a bad situation,’’ said daSilva, who spends his days cir-cling the town’s cracked streetson a bicycle he bought during hisUpper Crust years.

Sometimes when he’s riding,he glances down at the ‘‘Made inAmerica’’ flag printed on thebike. It reminds him of what helost.

‘‘People feel betrayed,’’ he said.

Jenn Abelson can be reached [email protected].

TAKE A CLOSER LOOKFor video and a photo gallery

with this story, go towww.boston.com/globe

‘Thestakes gothigher,and it gotmorecutthroat.It was unbearable.’PATRICK JOYCEFormer operations managerat Upper Crust

Continued from preceding page

$3992011S60 T6 AWD OR 2011VOLVO XC60 FWD

0% APRORPer monthfor 36 months.$4,293 cashdue at signing.

For 36months

WELL-EQUIPPED WITH: 300 HORSEPOWER, LEATHER SEATS,

SIRIUS,® HD RADIO, BLUETOOTH,® CITY SAFETY

WELL-EQUIPPED WITH: SIRIUS, 17" ALLOY WHEELS, HD RADIO,

BLUETOOTH, CITY SAFETY, IIHS TOP SAFETY PICK

YOUR EASTERN NEW ENGLAND VOLVO RETAILERS ARE:

nevolvo.com

DEDHAMDalzell Volvo(781) 329-1100

HAVERHILLJaffarian Volvo(978) 372-8551

HYANNISTrans-Atlantic Motors(508) 775-4526

Volvo Village of NorwellNORWELL

(781) 829-3100

BRIGHTONBoston Volvo Village(888) 797-9587

SALEMStutz Volvo(978) 744-8555

SOUTHBOROUGHFarrell Volvo(508) 571-2400

WAKEFIELD128 Volvo(781) 224-3700

WELLESLEYLee Volvo(781) 235-8841

WORCESTERGallo Volvo(508) 791-3678

VOLVOThe Official Car ofThe Boston Red Sox

Volvo. for life

volvocars.com/us/safeandsecure *Safe + Secure Coverage Plan excludes tires. ©2010 SIRIUS XM Radio Inc. SIRIUS, XM and all related marks and logos are trademarks of SIRIUS XM Radio Inc. and itssubsidiaries. City Safety is not a substitute for safe driving. For more detailed information on how to safely use this system, please visit www.volvocars.us/XC60CitySafety. S60 starting at MSRP $37,700. XC60 starting at MSRP $32,400. Excludes $850destination charge. 36 months at $28 per month per $1,000 financed. No security deposit required. For the 2011 S60 T6, monthly payment of $399, based on $38,550 MSRP, and the 2011 XC60 3.2 FWD, monthly payment of $399, based on $33,250MSRP, destination charge is included. S60 lease payment per month assumes application of $1,000 Conquest Loyalty Bonus. Customer eligibility requirements must be met for Conquest Loyalty offer. Please see retailer for details. Lessee is responsible forexcess wear and mileage over 10,000 miles/year at $0.18/mile. Take new retail delivery from retailer stock between November 5, 2010, and January 3, 2011. Please visit www.volvocars.com/us/safeandsecure or your localVolvo retailer for details on the Volvo Safe + Secure Coverage Plan and for further details specific to leased vehicles. Cars shown with optional equipment. Advertised lease payment and financing exclude taxes, title andregistration fees and are available for qualified customers through U.S. Bank. Payments may vary, as retailer determines price. Offers available at participating retailers excluding Alaska; see retailer or website for details.Over 130 channels.

THERE’S MORE TO LIFE THAN A VOLVO. There’s spreading enough holiday cheer to last not only the whole year long, butfive whole years. That’s why we’re offering our Safe and Secure Coverage plan with every new Volvo, complimentary.

PAY NOTHING TO REPAIR OR MAINTAIN YOUR VOLVO FOR 5 YEARS WITH OUR SAFE + SECURE

COVERAGE PLAN.* Coverage plan includes brakes, rotors and wiper blades.

D E C E M B E R 5 , 2 0 1 0 The Region A17B O S T O N S U N D A Y G L O B E

UPPER CRUST THE UNDERSIDE

By Jenn AbelsonGLOBE STAFF

Jordan Tobins showed up atthe grand opening party forSweet Tomatoes in Newton Cen-tre in 1998, fresh out of collegeand with no pizza-making skills.That didn’t stop him from tryinghis hand at it.

Hedy Jarras, who knew To-bins from the summers they hadboth spent vacationing on CapeCod, hired him, and immediatelythey clicked. The shop’s thin-crust pizza drew rave reviewsand crowds of devotees. Jarrasmade Tobins a manager, andthey began planning more shops.

But Tobins had his own ambi-tions. He left in 2000 to start apizza company, Upper Crust. Onthe way out, Tobins took somecrucial information: Sweet Toma-toes’ business contacts and ex-pansion plans, according to Jar-ras and her former businesspartner, Christopher Owens.

A few months later, the firstUpper Crust restaurant openedon Charles Street in Boston’s Bea-con Hill neighborhood. To Jarras,Owens, and many others atSweet Tomatoes, it looked andtasted like the pizza they made.Not only that, Upper Crust occu-pied a space Jarras had been eye-ing.

While Jarras has not claimedthat Tobins acted illegally, she ob-jects to the way he established hisbusiness.

‘‘He took what I had and ranwith it,’’ Jarras said recently inher first interview on the souredrelationship. ‘‘And it bothers methat he didn’t do it the ethicalway.’’

But that’s not how Tobins re-members it. The 34-year-oldgives credit for his love of pizza-making to Owens’s other restau-rant chain, Hot Tomatoes, saidGeorge Regan, a spokesman forUpper Crust.

‘‘It was there that ChristopherOwens showed Tobins how toroll out pizza dough,’’ Regan said.

There is no question, howev-er, that Tobins was aggressivefrom the start as he learned tothrive in the fiercely competitiveworld of pizza-making. Over theyears, Upper Crust has grown to17 stores, from Newburyport toPlymouth. Its fresh, fragrant, andpricey pies have won acclaim.But Tobins’s former employers,and some of his own employees,take a dimmer view of how thechain was born and came of age.

Tobins’s desire to emulate theSweet Tomatoes model was obvi-ous to Jim Covart, a purchasingagent who buys ingredients forSweet Tomatoes. After Tobinsquit, Covart said, he called withan unusual request.

‘‘He said, ‘We want to becomeyour customer. We are going touse the exact same things [Jar-ras] is using,’ ’’ Covart said.‘‘When I spoke with [Jarras], shetold me that he had taken her

menu.’’Covart declined to bring on

the new client.Upper Crust talked to numer-

ous vendors when it was gettingunderway to inquire about pric-ing on ingredients, Regan said.‘‘There is nothing proprietaryabout the ingredients used inmaking pizza,’’ he said.

Jarras met with a trademarklawyer at the time but was told itcould be tough to prove that To-bins didn’t slightly change herrecipe. So she decided to focus onher own business.

Still, it was hard to ignore thebudding popularity of Tobins’screation. At the Beacon Hillstore, lines of hungry customersspilled into the street. The res-taurant cultivated a hip urbanvibe, down to the bicycles it usedto deliver thin-crust pies. Theshop even caught the attention ofcorporate titan Jack Welch, who

lived in the neighborhood. In hisbest-selling book ‘‘Winning,’’ theformer General Electric chief ex-ecutive gives a priceless shout-out to Upper Crust: ‘‘The pizza isto die for.’’

Welch’s quote became thetagline for an Upper Crust mar-keting blitz that featured thecurly-haired Tobins in chefwhites, surrounded by boxes ofpizza. Encouraged by his bur-geoning fame, Tobins, a Sharonnative, set his sights on a secondstore. In 2002, he opened inBrookline on Harvard Street, an-other location Jarras had consid-ered for Sweet Tomatoes. Thenext year he launched a shop inKey West, Fla., with his father,Barry, and kept looking to addmore restaurants back home.The company later took on newpartners, Josh Huggard andBrendan Higgins, who have mi-nority stakes in the business, and

hired young managers like Pat-rick Joyce.

‘‘I bought into it being a fun,exciting work environment, ayouthful company that was grow-ing,’’ Joyce said. ‘‘I didn’t buy intowhat it became: cutting corners[on labor] to enhance the bottomline.’’

As his business flourished, To-bins relied on many immigrantemployees — almost all of whomarrived illegally from a single vil-lage in Brazil — to fill out his ex-panding kitchen staff.

At first it was a happy shop.But employees began to chafe atnot being paid for overtime, and,when they took the issue to fed-eral labor authorities and won,Tobins was furious.

He was especially tough onworkers who wanted to do whathe did when he started out: buildtheir own businesses on a bor-rowed model.

Edmar da Silva was one withdreams of making his own way.He planned to start a thin-crustpizza shop, called Crispy DoughPizzeria, with other Brazilian em-ployees at Upper Crust.

Tobins had other ideas. InFebruary he sued da Silva, accus-ing his longtime employee ofstealing trade secrets, violatinghis employment contract, andfraudulently using personal in-formation to obtain a credit cardby listing Tobins as a cosigner, ac-cording to a copy of the lawsuitfiled in Suffolk Superior Court.Upper Crust’s employmentagreement included a three-yearprohibition on employees work-ing ‘‘directly or indirectly’’ for abusiness involved in makingpizzas, calzones, or other similarfood products within a 15 mileradius of any Upper Crust loca-tion.

Jarras, of Sweet Tomatoes,heard about the lawsuit but de-cided to steer clear of the legalwrangling.

A few months earlier, she hadreceived a call from Tobins’s law-yer. He demanded that she re-move a copy of Pizza Today, atrade publication, from a rack inher restaurant. In a story in themagazine, Jarras is quoted recall-ing how a former employee andfriend stole her recipe. Tobinswas not mentioned by name, butthe quote apparently got his at-tention.

Ultimately, Tobins and da Sil-va, who declined to comment forthis story, reached a settlementin April. Crispy Dough is nowopen on Tremont Street nearMission Hill.

Jarras, meanwhile, kept hercopy of Pizza Today. The maga-zine story hangs in her Newtonshop, in a red frame that matchesthe color of her pizza sauce.

‘‘It’s my little protest,’’ shesaid.

Jenn Abelson can be reached [email protected].

A driven young man, and the chain he made

ERIK JACOBS FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE/FILE 2009

Jordan Tobins has foundfame and success sincestarting Upper Crust, but hisformer boss, Hedy Jarras(left), says Tobins tookbusiness contacts andexpansion plans. Tobins latersued Edmar da Silva (below),a former worker who openedhis own pizza store.

JOANNE RATHE/GLOBE STAFF/FILE 2004

its investigation in April 2009.Several months later, the gour-met pizza empire was ordered topay nearly $350,000 in backwages to more than 100 workers,most of them immigrants fromMarilac. Tobins said the compa-ny did not have enough cash topay the arrears and was granteda 30-day extension, according toa copy of the compliance reportfiled with the Department of La-bor and obtained by the Globe.

For the workers, matters onlygot worse after the investigation.Upper Crust demanded that theimmigrants surrender the gov-ernment-ordered checks forovertime pay or else lose theirjobs, according to interviewswith five former employees, fourformer managers, and a class ac-tion lawsuit filed in Suffolk Supe-rior Court in July.

‘‘This is not true,’’ Regan said.‘‘Everyone who received an over-time check cashed it.’’

The Labor Department, afterreceiving allegations that work-ers were coerced to return backwages to the company, said thatin September 2009 it told Tobinsand David Marcus, the compa-ny’s chief financial officer, thatsuch payments should be ‘‘finaland unconditional.’’

Instead, Upper Crust begandrastically reducing weekly pay-checks to recoup the federally or-dered payouts. Pinto, for exam-ple, started earning $455 for 80hours, according to copies of hispaychecks and time cards sub-mitted as part of the lawsuit.That is about $5.70 an hour, or$2.30 below minimum wage.Pinto said Upper Crust deductedmore than $8,000 over about sev-en months — the full overtimepayment he received — and thenfired him.

Tobins, in a July e-mail to theGlobe, said Pinto and a secondplaintiff in the lawsuit, CleversonBatista, were not entitled to over-time under the law because theywere managers, not hourly work-ers. He described the two men as‘‘disgruntled ex-employees’’ who‘‘have been trying to figure out away to extort money from ourbusiness.’’

Upper Crust, Joyce said, alsoallegedly devised a plan to keepchecks intended for workers whohad moved back to Brazil. Shan-non Liss-Riordan, one of the law-yers representing the employees,said the workers discussed withthe Labor Department accusa-tions that Upper Crust forged sig-natures on checks issued to em-ployees who were no longer inthe United States.

‘‘It is my understanding thatthey’re looking into it,’’ Liss-Rior-dan said.

Regan emphatically deniedthat the workers’ checks werehandled inappropriately. Anymoney owed to employees whocould not be located was sent tothe Labor Department in No-vember 2009, he said.

The Labor Department’s wageand hour division ‘‘does have an

open, ongoing investigation ofthe Upper Crust chain,’’ said JohnM. Chavez, a spokesman. The de-partment would not disclose de-tails but confirmed it has re-ceived several inquiries fromworkers in Brazil who said theydid not receive checks.

News of the check problemsspread quickly through the chainand back to Marilac. Some for-mer workers in Brazil with rela-tives still working for UpperCrust managed to recover theirback wages, including Jose daSilva and his brother, Dimas.

Others, such as Marcos Ro-drigues da Silva and his brother,Chico, say they did not. UpperCrust provided the Globe withcopies of checks that its attorney,David Berman, said had cleared.The copies included checks is-sued to the da Silva brothers andFilho, all of whom said they nev-er received payments.

Now, the divide betweenhaves and have-nots is testing re-lations in the community.

It is especially hard for someto look past the red brick housethat Botelho, Tobins’s favorite, isconstructing. The huge buildingon Rua Belo Horizonte casts ashadow over da Silva’s modesthome two doors away. Steel re-bars jut into the air, signifyingmore work to come.

Botelho’s aunt, Catia, and hismother still live around the cor-ner. Catia and her brother Edsonsaid they had not heard aboutthe problems at Upper Crust.

But Edson Botelho will saythis much: His nephew ‘‘adores’’Upper Crust, ‘‘and his boss likeshim so much.’’

Marcos Rodrigues da Silvahas a different view of the far-away pizza chain.

‘‘It’s a bad situation,’’ said daSilva, who spends his days cir-cling the town’s cracked streetson a bicycle he bought during hisUpper Crust years.

Sometimes when he’s riding,he glances down at the ‘‘Made inAmerica’’ flag printed on thebike. It reminds him of what helost.

‘‘People feel betrayed,’’ he said.

Jenn Abelson can be reached [email protected].

TAKE A CLOSER LOOKFor video and a photo gallery

with this story, go towww.boston.com/globe

‘Thestakes gothigher,and it gotmorecutthroat.It was unbearable.’PATRICK JOYCEFormer operations managerat Upper Crust

Continued from preceding page

$3992011S60 T6 AWD OR 2011VOLVO XC60 FWD

0% APRORPer monthfor 36 months.$4,293 cashdue at signing.

For 36months

WELL-EQUIPPED WITH: 300 HORSEPOWER, LEATHER SEATS,

SIRIUS,® HD RADIO, BLUETOOTH,® CITY SAFETY

WELL-EQUIPPED WITH: SIRIUS, 17" ALLOY WHEELS, HD RADIO,

BLUETOOTH, CITY SAFETY, IIHS TOP SAFETY PICK

YOUR EASTERN NEW ENGLAND VOLVO RETAILERS ARE:

nevolvo.com

DEDHAMDalzell Volvo(781) 329-1100

HAVERHILLJaffarian Volvo(978) 372-8551

HYANNISTrans-Atlantic Motors(508) 775-4526

Volvo Village of NorwellNORWELL

(781) 829-3100

BRIGHTONBoston Volvo Village(888) 797-9587

SALEMStutz Volvo(978) 744-8555

SOUTHBOROUGHFarrell Volvo(508) 571-2400

WAKEFIELD128 Volvo(781) 224-3700

WELLESLEYLee Volvo(781) 235-8841

WORCESTERGallo Volvo(508) 791-3678

VOLVOThe Official Car ofThe Boston Red Sox

Volvo. for life

volvocars.com/us/safeandsecure *Safe + Secure Coverage Plan excludes tires. ©2010 SIRIUS XM Radio Inc. SIRIUS, XM and all related marks and logos are trademarks of SIRIUS XM Radio Inc. and itssubsidiaries. City Safety is not a substitute for safe driving. For more detailed information on how to safely use this system, please visit www.volvocars.us/XC60CitySafety. S60 starting at MSRP $37,700. XC60 starting at MSRP $32,400. Excludes $850destination charge. 36 months at $28 per month per $1,000 financed. No security deposit required. For the 2011 S60 T6, monthly payment of $399, based on $38,550 MSRP, and the 2011 XC60 3.2 FWD, monthly payment of $399, based on $33,250MSRP, destination charge is included. S60 lease payment per month assumes application of $1,000 Conquest Loyalty Bonus. Customer eligibility requirements must be met for Conquest Loyalty offer. Please see retailer for details. Lessee is responsible forexcess wear and mileage over 10,000 miles/year at $0.18/mile. Take new retail delivery from retailer stock between November 5, 2010, and January 3, 2011. Please visit www.volvocars.com/us/safeandsecure or your localVolvo retailer for details on the Volvo Safe + Secure Coverage Plan and for further details specific to leased vehicles. Cars shown with optional equipment. Advertised lease payment and financing exclude taxes, title andregistration fees and are available for qualified customers through U.S. Bank. Payments may vary, as retailer determines price. Offers available at participating retailers excluding Alaska; see retailer or website for details.Over 130 channels.

THERE’S MORE TO LIFE THAN A VOLVO. There’s spreading enough holiday cheer to last not only the whole year long, butfive whole years. That’s why we’re offering our Safe and Secure Coverage plan with every new Volvo, complimentary.

PAY NOTHING TO REPAIR OR MAINTAIN YOUR VOLVO FOR 5 YEARS WITH OUR SAFE + SECURE

COVERAGE PLAN.* Coverage plan includes brakes, rotors and wiper blades.

5

Page 6: Upper Crust

DECEMBER 5 , 2010

D E C E M B E R 5 , 2 0 1 0 The Region A17B O S T O N S U N D A Y G L O B E

UPPER CRUST THE UNDERSIDE

By Jenn AbelsonGLOBE STAFF

Jordan Tobins showed up atthe grand opening party forSweet Tomatoes in Newton Cen-tre in 1998, fresh out of collegeand with no pizza-making skills.That didn’t stop him from tryinghis hand at it.

Hedy Jarras, who knew To-bins from the summers they hadboth spent vacationing on CapeCod, hired him, and immediatelythey clicked. The shop’s thin-crust pizza drew rave reviewsand crowds of devotees. Jarrasmade Tobins a manager, andthey began planning more shops.

But Tobins had his own ambi-tions. He left in 2000 to start apizza company, Upper Crust. Onthe way out, Tobins took somecrucial information: Sweet Toma-toes’ business contacts and ex-pansion plans, according to Jar-ras and her former businesspartner, Christopher Owens.

A few months later, the firstUpper Crust restaurant openedon Charles Street in Boston’s Bea-con Hill neighborhood. To Jarras,Owens, and many others atSweet Tomatoes, it looked andtasted like the pizza they made.Not only that, Upper Crust occu-pied a space Jarras had been eye-ing.

While Jarras has not claimedthat Tobins acted illegally, she ob-jects to the way he established hisbusiness.

‘‘He took what I had and ranwith it,’’ Jarras said recently inher first interview on the souredrelationship. ‘‘And it bothers methat he didn’t do it the ethicalway.’’

But that’s not how Tobins re-members it. The 34-year-oldgives credit for his love of pizza-making to Owens’s other restau-rant chain, Hot Tomatoes, saidGeorge Regan, a spokesman forUpper Crust.

‘‘It was there that ChristopherOwens showed Tobins how toroll out pizza dough,’’ Regan said.

There is no question, howev-er, that Tobins was aggressivefrom the start as he learned tothrive in the fiercely competitiveworld of pizza-making. Over theyears, Upper Crust has grown to17 stores, from Newburyport toPlymouth. Its fresh, fragrant, andpricey pies have won acclaim.But Tobins’s former employers,and some of his own employees,take a dimmer view of how thechain was born and came of age.

Tobins’s desire to emulate theSweet Tomatoes model was obvi-ous to Jim Covart, a purchasingagent who buys ingredients forSweet Tomatoes. After Tobinsquit, Covart said, he called withan unusual request.

‘‘He said, ‘We want to becomeyour customer. We are going touse the exact same things [Jar-ras] is using,’ ’’ Covart said.‘‘When I spoke with [Jarras], shetold me that he had taken her

menu.’’Covart declined to bring on

the new client.Upper Crust talked to numer-

ous vendors when it was gettingunderway to inquire about pric-ing on ingredients, Regan said.‘‘There is nothing proprietaryabout the ingredients used inmaking pizza,’’ he said.

Jarras met with a trademarklawyer at the time but was told itcould be tough to prove that To-bins didn’t slightly change herrecipe. So she decided to focus onher own business.

Still, it was hard to ignore thebudding popularity of Tobins’screation. At the Beacon Hillstore, lines of hungry customersspilled into the street. The res-taurant cultivated a hip urbanvibe, down to the bicycles it usedto deliver thin-crust pies. Theshop even caught the attention ofcorporate titan Jack Welch, who

lived in the neighborhood. In hisbest-selling book ‘‘Winning,’’ theformer General Electric chief ex-ecutive gives a priceless shout-out to Upper Crust: ‘‘The pizza isto die for.’’

Welch’s quote became thetagline for an Upper Crust mar-keting blitz that featured thecurly-haired Tobins in chefwhites, surrounded by boxes ofpizza. Encouraged by his bur-geoning fame, Tobins, a Sharonnative, set his sights on a secondstore. In 2002, he opened inBrookline on Harvard Street, an-other location Jarras had consid-ered for Sweet Tomatoes. Thenext year he launched a shop inKey West, Fla., with his father,Barry, and kept looking to addmore restaurants back home.The company later took on newpartners, Josh Huggard andBrendan Higgins, who have mi-nority stakes in the business, and

hired young managers like Pat-rick Joyce.

‘‘I bought into it being a fun,exciting work environment, ayouthful company that was grow-ing,’’ Joyce said. ‘‘I didn’t buy intowhat it became: cutting corners[on labor] to enhance the bottomline.’’

As his business flourished, To-bins relied on many immigrantemployees — almost all of whomarrived illegally from a single vil-lage in Brazil — to fill out his ex-panding kitchen staff.

At first it was a happy shop.But employees began to chafe atnot being paid for overtime, and,when they took the issue to fed-eral labor authorities and won,Tobins was furious.

He was especially tough onworkers who wanted to do whathe did when he started out: buildtheir own businesses on a bor-rowed model.

Edmar da Silva was one withdreams of making his own way.He planned to start a thin-crustpizza shop, called Crispy DoughPizzeria, with other Brazilian em-ployees at Upper Crust.

Tobins had other ideas. InFebruary he sued da Silva, accus-ing his longtime employee ofstealing trade secrets, violatinghis employment contract, andfraudulently using personal in-formation to obtain a credit cardby listing Tobins as a cosigner, ac-cording to a copy of the lawsuitfiled in Suffolk Superior Court.Upper Crust’s employmentagreement included a three-yearprohibition on employees work-ing ‘‘directly or indirectly’’ for abusiness involved in makingpizzas, calzones, or other similarfood products within a 15 mileradius of any Upper Crust loca-tion.

Jarras, of Sweet Tomatoes,heard about the lawsuit but de-cided to steer clear of the legalwrangling.

A few months earlier, she hadreceived a call from Tobins’s law-yer. He demanded that she re-move a copy of Pizza Today, atrade publication, from a rack inher restaurant. In a story in themagazine, Jarras is quoted recall-ing how a former employee andfriend stole her recipe. Tobinswas not mentioned by name, butthe quote apparently got his at-tention.

Ultimately, Tobins and da Sil-va, who declined to comment forthis story, reached a settlementin April. Crispy Dough is nowopen on Tremont Street nearMission Hill.

Jarras, meanwhile, kept hercopy of Pizza Today. The maga-zine story hangs in her Newtonshop, in a red frame that matchesthe color of her pizza sauce.

‘‘It’s my little protest,’’ shesaid.

Jenn Abelson can be reached [email protected].

A driven young man, and the chain he made

ERIK JACOBS FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE/FILE 2009

Jordan Tobins has foundfame and success sincestarting Upper Crust, but hisformer boss, Hedy Jarras(left), says Tobins tookbusiness contacts andexpansion plans. Tobins latersued Edmar da Silva (below),a former worker who openedhis own pizza store.

JOANNE RATHE/GLOBE STAFF/FILE 2004

its investigation in April 2009.Several months later, the gour-met pizza empire was ordered topay nearly $350,000 in backwages to more than 100 workers,most of them immigrants fromMarilac. Tobins said the compa-ny did not have enough cash topay the arrears and was granteda 30-day extension, according toa copy of the compliance reportfiled with the Department of La-bor and obtained by the Globe.

For the workers, matters onlygot worse after the investigation.Upper Crust demanded that theimmigrants surrender the gov-ernment-ordered checks forovertime pay or else lose theirjobs, according to interviewswith five former employees, fourformer managers, and a class ac-tion lawsuit filed in Suffolk Supe-rior Court in July.

‘‘This is not true,’’ Regan said.‘‘Everyone who received an over-time check cashed it.’’

The Labor Department, afterreceiving allegations that work-ers were coerced to return backwages to the company, said thatin September 2009 it told Tobinsand David Marcus, the compa-ny’s chief financial officer, thatsuch payments should be ‘‘finaland unconditional.’’

Instead, Upper Crust begandrastically reducing weekly pay-checks to recoup the federally or-dered payouts. Pinto, for exam-ple, started earning $455 for 80hours, according to copies of hispaychecks and time cards sub-mitted as part of the lawsuit.That is about $5.70 an hour, or$2.30 below minimum wage.Pinto said Upper Crust deductedmore than $8,000 over about sev-en months — the full overtimepayment he received — and thenfired him.

Tobins, in a July e-mail to theGlobe, said Pinto and a secondplaintiff in the lawsuit, CleversonBatista, were not entitled to over-time under the law because theywere managers, not hourly work-ers. He described the two men as‘‘disgruntled ex-employees’’ who‘‘have been trying to figure out away to extort money from ourbusiness.’’

Upper Crust, Joyce said, alsoallegedly devised a plan to keepchecks intended for workers whohad moved back to Brazil. Shan-non Liss-Riordan, one of the law-yers representing the employees,said the workers discussed withthe Labor Department accusa-tions that Upper Crust forged sig-natures on checks issued to em-ployees who were no longer inthe United States.

‘‘It is my understanding thatthey’re looking into it,’’ Liss-Rior-dan said.

Regan emphatically deniedthat the workers’ checks werehandled inappropriately. Anymoney owed to employees whocould not be located was sent tothe Labor Department in No-vember 2009, he said.

The Labor Department’s wageand hour division ‘‘does have an

open, ongoing investigation ofthe Upper Crust chain,’’ said JohnM. Chavez, a spokesman. The de-partment would not disclose de-tails but confirmed it has re-ceived several inquiries fromworkers in Brazil who said theydid not receive checks.

News of the check problemsspread quickly through the chainand back to Marilac. Some for-mer workers in Brazil with rela-tives still working for UpperCrust managed to recover theirback wages, including Jose daSilva and his brother, Dimas.

Others, such as Marcos Ro-drigues da Silva and his brother,Chico, say they did not. UpperCrust provided the Globe withcopies of checks that its attorney,David Berman, said had cleared.The copies included checks is-sued to the da Silva brothers andFilho, all of whom said they nev-er received payments.

Now, the divide betweenhaves and have-nots is testing re-lations in the community.

It is especially hard for someto look past the red brick housethat Botelho, Tobins’s favorite, isconstructing. The huge buildingon Rua Belo Horizonte casts ashadow over da Silva’s modesthome two doors away. Steel re-bars jut into the air, signifyingmore work to come.

Botelho’s aunt, Catia, and hismother still live around the cor-ner. Catia and her brother Edsonsaid they had not heard aboutthe problems at Upper Crust.

But Edson Botelho will saythis much: His nephew ‘‘adores’’Upper Crust, ‘‘and his boss likeshim so much.’’

Marcos Rodrigues da Silvahas a different view of the far-away pizza chain.

‘‘It’s a bad situation,’’ said daSilva, who spends his days cir-cling the town’s cracked streetson a bicycle he bought during hisUpper Crust years.

Sometimes when he’s riding,he glances down at the ‘‘Made inAmerica’’ flag printed on thebike. It reminds him of what helost.

‘‘People feel betrayed,’’ he said.

Jenn Abelson can be reached [email protected].

TAKE A CLOSER LOOKFor video and a photo gallery

with this story, go towww.boston.com/globe

‘Thestakes gothigher,and it gotmorecutthroat.It was unbearable.’PATRICK JOYCEFormer operations managerat Upper Crust

Continued from preceding page

$3992011S60 T6 AWD OR 2011VOLVO XC60 FWD

0% APRORPer monthfor 36 months.$4,293 cashdue at signing.

For 36months

WELL-EQUIPPED WITH: 300 HORSEPOWER, LEATHER SEATS,

SIRIUS,® HD RADIO, BLUETOOTH,® CITY SAFETY

WELL-EQUIPPED WITH: SIRIUS, 17" ALLOY WHEELS, HD RADIO,

BLUETOOTH, CITY SAFETY, IIHS TOP SAFETY PICK

YOUR EASTERN NEW ENGLAND VOLVO RETAILERS ARE:

nevolvo.com

DEDHAMDalzell Volvo(781) 329-1100

HAVERHILLJaffarian Volvo(978) 372-8551

HYANNISTrans-Atlantic Motors(508) 775-4526

Volvo Village of NorwellNORWELL

(781) 829-3100

BRIGHTONBoston Volvo Village(888) 797-9587

SALEMStutz Volvo(978) 744-8555

SOUTHBOROUGHFarrell Volvo(508) 571-2400

WAKEFIELD128 Volvo(781) 224-3700

WELLESLEYLee Volvo(781) 235-8841

WORCESTERGallo Volvo(508) 791-3678

VOLVOThe Official Car ofThe Boston Red Sox

Volvo. for life

volvocars.com/us/safeandsecure *Safe + Secure Coverage Plan excludes tires. ©2010 SIRIUS XM Radio Inc. SIRIUS, XM and all related marks and logos are trademarks of SIRIUS XM Radio Inc. and itssubsidiaries. City Safety is not a substitute for safe driving. For more detailed information on how to safely use this system, please visit www.volvocars.us/XC60CitySafety. S60 starting at MSRP $37,700. XC60 starting at MSRP $32,400. Excludes $850destination charge. 36 months at $28 per month per $1,000 financed. No security deposit required. For the 2011 S60 T6, monthly payment of $399, based on $38,550 MSRP, and the 2011 XC60 3.2 FWD, monthly payment of $399, based on $33,250MSRP, destination charge is included. S60 lease payment per month assumes application of $1,000 Conquest Loyalty Bonus. Customer eligibility requirements must be met for Conquest Loyalty offer. Please see retailer for details. Lessee is responsible forexcess wear and mileage over 10,000 miles/year at $0.18/mile. Take new retail delivery from retailer stock between November 5, 2010, and January 3, 2011. Please visit www.volvocars.com/us/safeandsecure or your localVolvo retailer for details on the Volvo Safe + Secure Coverage Plan and for further details specific to leased vehicles. Cars shown with optional equipment. Advertised lease payment and financing exclude taxes, title andregistration fees and are available for qualified customers through U.S. Bank. Payments may vary, as retailer determines price. Offers available at participating retailers excluding Alaska; see retailer or website for details.Over 130 channels.

THERE’S MORE TO LIFE THAN A VOLVO. There’s spreading enough holiday cheer to last not only the whole year long, butfive whole years. That’s why we’re offering our Safe and Secure Coverage plan with every new Volvo, complimentary.

PAY NOTHING TO REPAIR OR MAINTAIN YOUR VOLVO FOR 5 YEARS WITH OUR SAFE + SECURE

COVERAGE PLAN.* Coverage plan includes brakes, rotors and wiper blades.

D E C E M B E R 5 , 2 0 1 0 The Region A17B O S T O N S U N D A Y G L O B E

UPPER CRUST THE UNDERSIDE

By Jenn AbelsonGLOBE STAFF

Jordan Tobins showed up atthe grand opening party forSweet Tomatoes in Newton Cen-tre in 1998, fresh out of collegeand with no pizza-making skills.That didn’t stop him from tryinghis hand at it.

Hedy Jarras, who knew To-bins from the summers they hadboth spent vacationing on CapeCod, hired him, and immediatelythey clicked. The shop’s thin-crust pizza drew rave reviewsand crowds of devotees. Jarrasmade Tobins a manager, andthey began planning more shops.

But Tobins had his own ambi-tions. He left in 2000 to start apizza company, Upper Crust. Onthe way out, Tobins took somecrucial information: Sweet Toma-toes’ business contacts and ex-pansion plans, according to Jar-ras and her former businesspartner, Christopher Owens.

A few months later, the firstUpper Crust restaurant openedon Charles Street in Boston’s Bea-con Hill neighborhood. To Jarras,Owens, and many others atSweet Tomatoes, it looked andtasted like the pizza they made.Not only that, Upper Crust occu-pied a space Jarras had been eye-ing.

While Jarras has not claimedthat Tobins acted illegally, she ob-jects to the way he established hisbusiness.

‘‘He took what I had and ranwith it,’’ Jarras said recently inher first interview on the souredrelationship. ‘‘And it bothers methat he didn’t do it the ethicalway.’’

But that’s not how Tobins re-members it. The 34-year-oldgives credit for his love of pizza-making to Owens’s other restau-rant chain, Hot Tomatoes, saidGeorge Regan, a spokesman forUpper Crust.

‘‘It was there that ChristopherOwens showed Tobins how toroll out pizza dough,’’ Regan said.

There is no question, howev-er, that Tobins was aggressivefrom the start as he learned tothrive in the fiercely competitiveworld of pizza-making. Over theyears, Upper Crust has grown to17 stores, from Newburyport toPlymouth. Its fresh, fragrant, andpricey pies have won acclaim.But Tobins’s former employers,and some of his own employees,take a dimmer view of how thechain was born and came of age.

Tobins’s desire to emulate theSweet Tomatoes model was obvi-ous to Jim Covart, a purchasingagent who buys ingredients forSweet Tomatoes. After Tobinsquit, Covart said, he called withan unusual request.

‘‘He said, ‘We want to becomeyour customer. We are going touse the exact same things [Jar-ras] is using,’ ’’ Covart said.‘‘When I spoke with [Jarras], shetold me that he had taken her

menu.’’Covart declined to bring on

the new client.Upper Crust talked to numer-

ous vendors when it was gettingunderway to inquire about pric-ing on ingredients, Regan said.‘‘There is nothing proprietaryabout the ingredients used inmaking pizza,’’ he said.

Jarras met with a trademarklawyer at the time but was told itcould be tough to prove that To-bins didn’t slightly change herrecipe. So she decided to focus onher own business.

Still, it was hard to ignore thebudding popularity of Tobins’screation. At the Beacon Hillstore, lines of hungry customersspilled into the street. The res-taurant cultivated a hip urbanvibe, down to the bicycles it usedto deliver thin-crust pies. Theshop even caught the attention ofcorporate titan Jack Welch, who

lived in the neighborhood. In hisbest-selling book ‘‘Winning,’’ theformer General Electric chief ex-ecutive gives a priceless shout-out to Upper Crust: ‘‘The pizza isto die for.’’

Welch’s quote became thetagline for an Upper Crust mar-keting blitz that featured thecurly-haired Tobins in chefwhites, surrounded by boxes ofpizza. Encouraged by his bur-geoning fame, Tobins, a Sharonnative, set his sights on a secondstore. In 2002, he opened inBrookline on Harvard Street, an-other location Jarras had consid-ered for Sweet Tomatoes. Thenext year he launched a shop inKey West, Fla., with his father,Barry, and kept looking to addmore restaurants back home.The company later took on newpartners, Josh Huggard andBrendan Higgins, who have mi-nority stakes in the business, and

hired young managers like Pat-rick Joyce.

‘‘I bought into it being a fun,exciting work environment, ayouthful company that was grow-ing,’’ Joyce said. ‘‘I didn’t buy intowhat it became: cutting corners[on labor] to enhance the bottomline.’’

As his business flourished, To-bins relied on many immigrantemployees — almost all of whomarrived illegally from a single vil-lage in Brazil — to fill out his ex-panding kitchen staff.

At first it was a happy shop.But employees began to chafe atnot being paid for overtime, and,when they took the issue to fed-eral labor authorities and won,Tobins was furious.

He was especially tough onworkers who wanted to do whathe did when he started out: buildtheir own businesses on a bor-rowed model.

Edmar da Silva was one withdreams of making his own way.He planned to start a thin-crustpizza shop, called Crispy DoughPizzeria, with other Brazilian em-ployees at Upper Crust.

Tobins had other ideas. InFebruary he sued da Silva, accus-ing his longtime employee ofstealing trade secrets, violatinghis employment contract, andfraudulently using personal in-formation to obtain a credit cardby listing Tobins as a cosigner, ac-cording to a copy of the lawsuitfiled in Suffolk Superior Court.Upper Crust’s employmentagreement included a three-yearprohibition on employees work-ing ‘‘directly or indirectly’’ for abusiness involved in makingpizzas, calzones, or other similarfood products within a 15 mileradius of any Upper Crust loca-tion.

Jarras, of Sweet Tomatoes,heard about the lawsuit but de-cided to steer clear of the legalwrangling.

A few months earlier, she hadreceived a call from Tobins’s law-yer. He demanded that she re-move a copy of Pizza Today, atrade publication, from a rack inher restaurant. In a story in themagazine, Jarras is quoted recall-ing how a former employee andfriend stole her recipe. Tobinswas not mentioned by name, butthe quote apparently got his at-tention.

Ultimately, Tobins and da Sil-va, who declined to comment forthis story, reached a settlementin April. Crispy Dough is nowopen on Tremont Street nearMission Hill.

Jarras, meanwhile, kept hercopy of Pizza Today. The maga-zine story hangs in her Newtonshop, in a red frame that matchesthe color of her pizza sauce.

‘‘It’s my little protest,’’ shesaid.

Jenn Abelson can be reached [email protected].

A driven young man, and the chain he made

ERIK JACOBS FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE/FILE 2009

Jordan Tobins has foundfame and success sincestarting Upper Crust, but hisformer boss, Hedy Jarras(left), says Tobins tookbusiness contacts andexpansion plans. Tobins latersued Edmar da Silva (below),a former worker who openedhis own pizza store.

JOANNE RATHE/GLOBE STAFF/FILE 2004

its investigation in April 2009.Several months later, the gour-met pizza empire was ordered topay nearly $350,000 in backwages to more than 100 workers,most of them immigrants fromMarilac. Tobins said the compa-ny did not have enough cash topay the arrears and was granteda 30-day extension, according toa copy of the compliance reportfiled with the Department of La-bor and obtained by the Globe.

For the workers, matters onlygot worse after the investigation.Upper Crust demanded that theimmigrants surrender the gov-ernment-ordered checks forovertime pay or else lose theirjobs, according to interviewswith five former employees, fourformer managers, and a class ac-tion lawsuit filed in Suffolk Supe-rior Court in July.

‘‘This is not true,’’ Regan said.‘‘Everyone who received an over-time check cashed it.’’

The Labor Department, afterreceiving allegations that work-ers were coerced to return backwages to the company, said thatin September 2009 it told Tobinsand David Marcus, the compa-ny’s chief financial officer, thatsuch payments should be ‘‘finaland unconditional.’’

Instead, Upper Crust begandrastically reducing weekly pay-checks to recoup the federally or-dered payouts. Pinto, for exam-ple, started earning $455 for 80hours, according to copies of hispaychecks and time cards sub-mitted as part of the lawsuit.That is about $5.70 an hour, or$2.30 below minimum wage.Pinto said Upper Crust deductedmore than $8,000 over about sev-en months — the full overtimepayment he received — and thenfired him.

Tobins, in a July e-mail to theGlobe, said Pinto and a secondplaintiff in the lawsuit, CleversonBatista, were not entitled to over-time under the law because theywere managers, not hourly work-ers. He described the two men as‘‘disgruntled ex-employees’’ who‘‘have been trying to figure out away to extort money from ourbusiness.’’

Upper Crust, Joyce said, alsoallegedly devised a plan to keepchecks intended for workers whohad moved back to Brazil. Shan-non Liss-Riordan, one of the law-yers representing the employees,said the workers discussed withthe Labor Department accusa-tions that Upper Crust forged sig-natures on checks issued to em-ployees who were no longer inthe United States.

‘‘It is my understanding thatthey’re looking into it,’’ Liss-Rior-dan said.

Regan emphatically deniedthat the workers’ checks werehandled inappropriately. Anymoney owed to employees whocould not be located was sent tothe Labor Department in No-vember 2009, he said.

The Labor Department’s wageand hour division ‘‘does have an

open, ongoing investigation ofthe Upper Crust chain,’’ said JohnM. Chavez, a spokesman. The de-partment would not disclose de-tails but confirmed it has re-ceived several inquiries fromworkers in Brazil who said theydid not receive checks.

News of the check problemsspread quickly through the chainand back to Marilac. Some for-mer workers in Brazil with rela-tives still working for UpperCrust managed to recover theirback wages, including Jose daSilva and his brother, Dimas.

Others, such as Marcos Ro-drigues da Silva and his brother,Chico, say they did not. UpperCrust provided the Globe withcopies of checks that its attorney,David Berman, said had cleared.The copies included checks is-sued to the da Silva brothers andFilho, all of whom said they nev-er received payments.

Now, the divide betweenhaves and have-nots is testing re-lations in the community.

It is especially hard for someto look past the red brick housethat Botelho, Tobins’s favorite, isconstructing. The huge buildingon Rua Belo Horizonte casts ashadow over da Silva’s modesthome two doors away. Steel re-bars jut into the air, signifyingmore work to come.

Botelho’s aunt, Catia, and hismother still live around the cor-ner. Catia and her brother Edsonsaid they had not heard aboutthe problems at Upper Crust.

But Edson Botelho will saythis much: His nephew ‘‘adores’’Upper Crust, ‘‘and his boss likeshim so much.’’

Marcos Rodrigues da Silvahas a different view of the far-away pizza chain.

‘‘It’s a bad situation,’’ said daSilva, who spends his days cir-cling the town’s cracked streetson a bicycle he bought during hisUpper Crust years.

Sometimes when he’s riding,he glances down at the ‘‘Made inAmerica’’ flag printed on thebike. It reminds him of what helost.

‘‘People feel betrayed,’’ he said.

Jenn Abelson can be reached [email protected].

TAKE A CLOSER LOOKFor video and a photo gallery

with this story, go towww.boston.com/globe

‘Thestakes gothigher,and it gotmorecutthroat.It was unbearable.’PATRICK JOYCEFormer operations managerat Upper Crust

Continued from preceding page

$3992011S60 T6 AWD OR 2011VOLVO XC60 FWD

0% APRORPer monthfor 36 months.$4,293 cashdue at signing.

For 36months

WELL-EQUIPPED WITH: 300 HORSEPOWER, LEATHER SEATS,

SIRIUS,® HD RADIO, BLUETOOTH,® CITY SAFETY

WELL-EQUIPPED WITH: SIRIUS, 17" ALLOY WHEELS, HD RADIO,

BLUETOOTH, CITY SAFETY, IIHS TOP SAFETY PICK

YOUR EASTERN NEW ENGLAND VOLVO RETAILERS ARE:

nevolvo.com

DEDHAMDalzell Volvo(781) 329-1100

HAVERHILLJaffarian Volvo(978) 372-8551

HYANNISTrans-Atlantic Motors(508) 775-4526

Volvo Village of NorwellNORWELL

(781) 829-3100

BRIGHTONBoston Volvo Village(888) 797-9587

SALEMStutz Volvo(978) 744-8555

SOUTHBOROUGHFarrell Volvo(508) 571-2400

WAKEFIELD128 Volvo(781) 224-3700

WELLESLEYLee Volvo(781) 235-8841

WORCESTERGallo Volvo(508) 791-3678

VOLVOThe Official Car ofThe Boston Red Sox

Volvo. for life

volvocars.com/us/safeandsecure *Safe + Secure Coverage Plan excludes tires. ©2010 SIRIUS XM Radio Inc. SIRIUS, XM and all related marks and logos are trademarks of SIRIUS XM Radio Inc. and itssubsidiaries. City Safety is not a substitute for safe driving. For more detailed information on how to safely use this system, please visit www.volvocars.us/XC60CitySafety. S60 starting at MSRP $37,700. XC60 starting at MSRP $32,400. Excludes $850destination charge. 36 months at $28 per month per $1,000 financed. No security deposit required. For the 2011 S60 T6, monthly payment of $399, based on $38,550 MSRP, and the 2011 XC60 3.2 FWD, monthly payment of $399, based on $33,250MSRP, destination charge is included. S60 lease payment per month assumes application of $1,000 Conquest Loyalty Bonus. Customer eligibility requirements must be met for Conquest Loyalty offer. Please see retailer for details. Lessee is responsible forexcess wear and mileage over 10,000 miles/year at $0.18/mile. Take new retail delivery from retailer stock between November 5, 2010, and January 3, 2011. Please visit www.volvocars.com/us/safeandsecure or your localVolvo retailer for details on the Volvo Safe + Secure Coverage Plan and for further details specific to leased vehicles. Cars shown with optional equipment. Advertised lease payment and financing exclude taxes, title andregistration fees and are available for qualified customers through U.S. Bank. Payments may vary, as retailer determines price. Offers available at participating retailers excluding Alaska; see retailer or website for details.Over 130 channels.

THERE’S MORE TO LIFE THAN A VOLVO. There’s spreading enough holiday cheer to last not only the whole year long, butfive whole years. That’s why we’re offering our Safe and Secure Coverage plan with every new Volvo, complimentary.

PAY NOTHING TO REPAIR OR MAINTAIN YOUR VOLVO FOR 5 YEARS WITH OUR SAFE + SECURE

COVERAGE PLAN.* Coverage plan includes brakes, rotors and wiper blades.

D E C E M B E R 5 , 2 0 1 0 The Region A17B O S T O N S U N D A Y G L O B E

UPPER CRUST THE UNDERSIDE

By Jenn AbelsonGLOBE STAFF

Jordan Tobins showed up atthe grand opening party forSweet Tomatoes in Newton Cen-tre in 1998, fresh out of collegeand with no pizza-making skills.That didn’t stop him from tryinghis hand at it.

Hedy Jarras, who knew To-bins from the summers they hadboth spent vacationing on CapeCod, hired him, and immediatelythey clicked. The shop’s thin-crust pizza drew rave reviewsand crowds of devotees. Jarrasmade Tobins a manager, andthey began planning more shops.

But Tobins had his own ambi-tions. He left in 2000 to start apizza company, Upper Crust. Onthe way out, Tobins took somecrucial information: Sweet Toma-toes’ business contacts and ex-pansion plans, according to Jar-ras and her former businesspartner, Christopher Owens.

A few months later, the firstUpper Crust restaurant openedon Charles Street in Boston’s Bea-con Hill neighborhood. To Jarras,Owens, and many others atSweet Tomatoes, it looked andtasted like the pizza they made.Not only that, Upper Crust occu-pied a space Jarras had been eye-ing.

While Jarras has not claimedthat Tobins acted illegally, she ob-jects to the way he established hisbusiness.

‘‘He took what I had and ranwith it,’’ Jarras said recently inher first interview on the souredrelationship. ‘‘And it bothers methat he didn’t do it the ethicalway.’’

But that’s not how Tobins re-members it. The 34-year-oldgives credit for his love of pizza-making to Owens’s other restau-rant chain, Hot Tomatoes, saidGeorge Regan, a spokesman forUpper Crust.

‘‘It was there that ChristopherOwens showed Tobins how toroll out pizza dough,’’ Regan said.

There is no question, howev-er, that Tobins was aggressivefrom the start as he learned tothrive in the fiercely competitiveworld of pizza-making. Over theyears, Upper Crust has grown to17 stores, from Newburyport toPlymouth. Its fresh, fragrant, andpricey pies have won acclaim.But Tobins’s former employers,and some of his own employees,take a dimmer view of how thechain was born and came of age.

Tobins’s desire to emulate theSweet Tomatoes model was obvi-ous to Jim Covart, a purchasingagent who buys ingredients forSweet Tomatoes. After Tobinsquit, Covart said, he called withan unusual request.

‘‘He said, ‘We want to becomeyour customer. We are going touse the exact same things [Jar-ras] is using,’ ’’ Covart said.‘‘When I spoke with [Jarras], shetold me that he had taken her

menu.’’Covart declined to bring on

the new client.Upper Crust talked to numer-

ous vendors when it was gettingunderway to inquire about pric-ing on ingredients, Regan said.‘‘There is nothing proprietaryabout the ingredients used inmaking pizza,’’ he said.

Jarras met with a trademarklawyer at the time but was told itcould be tough to prove that To-bins didn’t slightly change herrecipe. So she decided to focus onher own business.

Still, it was hard to ignore thebudding popularity of Tobins’screation. At the Beacon Hillstore, lines of hungry customersspilled into the street. The res-taurant cultivated a hip urbanvibe, down to the bicycles it usedto deliver thin-crust pies. Theshop even caught the attention ofcorporate titan Jack Welch, who

lived in the neighborhood. In hisbest-selling book ‘‘Winning,’’ theformer General Electric chief ex-ecutive gives a priceless shout-out to Upper Crust: ‘‘The pizza isto die for.’’

Welch’s quote became thetagline for an Upper Crust mar-keting blitz that featured thecurly-haired Tobins in chefwhites, surrounded by boxes ofpizza. Encouraged by his bur-geoning fame, Tobins, a Sharonnative, set his sights on a secondstore. In 2002, he opened inBrookline on Harvard Street, an-other location Jarras had consid-ered for Sweet Tomatoes. Thenext year he launched a shop inKey West, Fla., with his father,Barry, and kept looking to addmore restaurants back home.The company later took on newpartners, Josh Huggard andBrendan Higgins, who have mi-nority stakes in the business, and

hired young managers like Pat-rick Joyce.

‘‘I bought into it being a fun,exciting work environment, ayouthful company that was grow-ing,’’ Joyce said. ‘‘I didn’t buy intowhat it became: cutting corners[on labor] to enhance the bottomline.’’

As his business flourished, To-bins relied on many immigrantemployees — almost all of whomarrived illegally from a single vil-lage in Brazil — to fill out his ex-panding kitchen staff.

At first it was a happy shop.But employees began to chafe atnot being paid for overtime, and,when they took the issue to fed-eral labor authorities and won,Tobins was furious.

He was especially tough onworkers who wanted to do whathe did when he started out: buildtheir own businesses on a bor-rowed model.

Edmar da Silva was one withdreams of making his own way.He planned to start a thin-crustpizza shop, called Crispy DoughPizzeria, with other Brazilian em-ployees at Upper Crust.

Tobins had other ideas. InFebruary he sued da Silva, accus-ing his longtime employee ofstealing trade secrets, violatinghis employment contract, andfraudulently using personal in-formation to obtain a credit cardby listing Tobins as a cosigner, ac-cording to a copy of the lawsuitfiled in Suffolk Superior Court.Upper Crust’s employmentagreement included a three-yearprohibition on employees work-ing ‘‘directly or indirectly’’ for abusiness involved in makingpizzas, calzones, or other similarfood products within a 15 mileradius of any Upper Crust loca-tion.

Jarras, of Sweet Tomatoes,heard about the lawsuit but de-cided to steer clear of the legalwrangling.

A few months earlier, she hadreceived a call from Tobins’s law-yer. He demanded that she re-move a copy of Pizza Today, atrade publication, from a rack inher restaurant. In a story in themagazine, Jarras is quoted recall-ing how a former employee andfriend stole her recipe. Tobinswas not mentioned by name, butthe quote apparently got his at-tention.

Ultimately, Tobins and da Sil-va, who declined to comment forthis story, reached a settlementin April. Crispy Dough is nowopen on Tremont Street nearMission Hill.

Jarras, meanwhile, kept hercopy of Pizza Today. The maga-zine story hangs in her Newtonshop, in a red frame that matchesthe color of her pizza sauce.

‘‘It’s my little protest,’’ shesaid.

Jenn Abelson can be reached [email protected].

A driven young man, and the chain he made

ERIK JACOBS FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE/FILE 2009

Jordan Tobins has foundfame and success sincestarting Upper Crust, but hisformer boss, Hedy Jarras(left), says Tobins tookbusiness contacts andexpansion plans. Tobins latersued Edmar da Silva (below),a former worker who openedhis own pizza store.

JOANNE RATHE/GLOBE STAFF/FILE 2004

its investigation in April 2009.Several months later, the gour-met pizza empire was ordered topay nearly $350,000 in backwages to more than 100 workers,most of them immigrants fromMarilac. Tobins said the compa-ny did not have enough cash topay the arrears and was granteda 30-day extension, according toa copy of the compliance reportfiled with the Department of La-bor and obtained by the Globe.

For the workers, matters onlygot worse after the investigation.Upper Crust demanded that theimmigrants surrender the gov-ernment-ordered checks forovertime pay or else lose theirjobs, according to interviewswith five former employees, fourformer managers, and a class ac-tion lawsuit filed in Suffolk Supe-rior Court in July.

‘‘This is not true,’’ Regan said.‘‘Everyone who received an over-time check cashed it.’’

The Labor Department, afterreceiving allegations that work-ers were coerced to return backwages to the company, said thatin September 2009 it told Tobinsand David Marcus, the compa-ny’s chief financial officer, thatsuch payments should be ‘‘finaland unconditional.’’

Instead, Upper Crust begandrastically reducing weekly pay-checks to recoup the federally or-dered payouts. Pinto, for exam-ple, started earning $455 for 80hours, according to copies of hispaychecks and time cards sub-mitted as part of the lawsuit.That is about $5.70 an hour, or$2.30 below minimum wage.Pinto said Upper Crust deductedmore than $8,000 over about sev-en months — the full overtimepayment he received — and thenfired him.

Tobins, in a July e-mail to theGlobe, said Pinto and a secondplaintiff in the lawsuit, CleversonBatista, were not entitled to over-time under the law because theywere managers, not hourly work-ers. He described the two men as‘‘disgruntled ex-employees’’ who‘‘have been trying to figure out away to extort money from ourbusiness.’’

Upper Crust, Joyce said, alsoallegedly devised a plan to keepchecks intended for workers whohad moved back to Brazil. Shan-non Liss-Riordan, one of the law-yers representing the employees,said the workers discussed withthe Labor Department accusa-tions that Upper Crust forged sig-natures on checks issued to em-ployees who were no longer inthe United States.

‘‘It is my understanding thatthey’re looking into it,’’ Liss-Rior-dan said.

Regan emphatically deniedthat the workers’ checks werehandled inappropriately. Anymoney owed to employees whocould not be located was sent tothe Labor Department in No-vember 2009, he said.

The Labor Department’s wageand hour division ‘‘does have an

open, ongoing investigation ofthe Upper Crust chain,’’ said JohnM. Chavez, a spokesman. The de-partment would not disclose de-tails but confirmed it has re-ceived several inquiries fromworkers in Brazil who said theydid not receive checks.

News of the check problemsspread quickly through the chainand back to Marilac. Some for-mer workers in Brazil with rela-tives still working for UpperCrust managed to recover theirback wages, including Jose daSilva and his brother, Dimas.

Others, such as Marcos Ro-drigues da Silva and his brother,Chico, say they did not. UpperCrust provided the Globe withcopies of checks that its attorney,David Berman, said had cleared.The copies included checks is-sued to the da Silva brothers andFilho, all of whom said they nev-er received payments.

Now, the divide betweenhaves and have-nots is testing re-lations in the community.

It is especially hard for someto look past the red brick housethat Botelho, Tobins’s favorite, isconstructing. The huge buildingon Rua Belo Horizonte casts ashadow over da Silva’s modesthome two doors away. Steel re-bars jut into the air, signifyingmore work to come.

Botelho’s aunt, Catia, and hismother still live around the cor-ner. Catia and her brother Edsonsaid they had not heard aboutthe problems at Upper Crust.

But Edson Botelho will saythis much: His nephew ‘‘adores’’Upper Crust, ‘‘and his boss likeshim so much.’’

Marcos Rodrigues da Silvahas a different view of the far-away pizza chain.

‘‘It’s a bad situation,’’ said daSilva, who spends his days cir-cling the town’s cracked streetson a bicycle he bought during hisUpper Crust years.

Sometimes when he’s riding,he glances down at the ‘‘Made inAmerica’’ flag printed on thebike. It reminds him of what helost.

‘‘People feel betrayed,’’ he said.

Jenn Abelson can be reached [email protected].

TAKE A CLOSER LOOKFor video and a photo gallery

with this story, go towww.boston.com/globe

‘Thestakes gothigher,and it gotmorecutthroat.It was unbearable.’PATRICK JOYCEFormer operations managerat Upper Crust

Continued from preceding page

$3992011S60 T6 AWD OR 2011VOLVO XC60 FWD

0% APRORPer monthfor 36 months.$4,293 cashdue at signing.

For 36months

WELL-EQUIPPED WITH: 300 HORSEPOWER, LEATHER SEATS,

SIRIUS,® HD RADIO, BLUETOOTH,® CITY SAFETY

WELL-EQUIPPED WITH: SIRIUS, 17" ALLOY WHEELS, HD RADIO,

BLUETOOTH, CITY SAFETY, IIHS TOP SAFETY PICK

YOUR EASTERN NEW ENGLAND VOLVO RETAILERS ARE:

nevolvo.com

DEDHAMDalzell Volvo(781) 329-1100

HAVERHILLJaffarian Volvo(978) 372-8551

HYANNISTrans-Atlantic Motors(508) 775-4526

Volvo Village of NorwellNORWELL

(781) 829-3100

BRIGHTONBoston Volvo Village(888) 797-9587

SALEMStutz Volvo(978) 744-8555

SOUTHBOROUGHFarrell Volvo(508) 571-2400

WAKEFIELD128 Volvo(781) 224-3700

WELLESLEYLee Volvo(781) 235-8841

WORCESTERGallo Volvo(508) 791-3678

VOLVOThe Official Car ofThe Boston Red Sox

Volvo. for life

volvocars.com/us/safeandsecure *Safe + Secure Coverage Plan excludes tires. ©2010 SIRIUS XM Radio Inc. SIRIUS, XM and all related marks and logos are trademarks of SIRIUS XM Radio Inc. and itssubsidiaries. City Safety is not a substitute for safe driving. For more detailed information on how to safely use this system, please visit www.volvocars.us/XC60CitySafety. S60 starting at MSRP $37,700. XC60 starting at MSRP $32,400. Excludes $850destination charge. 36 months at $28 per month per $1,000 financed. No security deposit required. For the 2011 S60 T6, monthly payment of $399, based on $38,550 MSRP, and the 2011 XC60 3.2 FWD, monthly payment of $399, based on $33,250MSRP, destination charge is included. S60 lease payment per month assumes application of $1,000 Conquest Loyalty Bonus. Customer eligibility requirements must be met for Conquest Loyalty offer. Please see retailer for details. Lessee is responsible forexcess wear and mileage over 10,000 miles/year at $0.18/mile. Take new retail delivery from retailer stock between November 5, 2010, and January 3, 2011. Please visit www.volvocars.com/us/safeandsecure or your localVolvo retailer for details on the Volvo Safe + Secure Coverage Plan and for further details specific to leased vehicles. Cars shown with optional equipment. Advertised lease payment and financing exclude taxes, title andregistration fees and are available for qualified customers through U.S. Bank. Payments may vary, as retailer determines price. Offers available at participating retailers excluding Alaska; see retailer or website for details.Over 130 channels.

THERE’S MORE TO LIFE THAN A VOLVO. There’s spreading enough holiday cheer to last not only the whole year long, butfive whole years. That’s why we’re offering our Safe and Secure Coverage plan with every new Volvo, complimentary.

PAY NOTHING TO REPAIR OR MAINTAIN YOUR VOLVO FOR 5 YEARS WITH OUR SAFE + SECURE

COVERAGE PLAN.* Coverage plan includes brakes, rotors and wiper blades.

D E C E M B E R 5 , 2 0 1 0 The Region A17B O S T O N S U N D A Y G L O B E

UPPER CRUST THE UNDERSIDE

By Jenn AbelsonGLOBE STAFF

Jordan Tobins showed up atthe grand opening party forSweet Tomatoes in Newton Cen-tre in 1998, fresh out of collegeand with no pizza-making skills.That didn’t stop him from tryinghis hand at it.

Hedy Jarras, who knew To-bins from the summers they hadboth spent vacationing on CapeCod, hired him, and immediatelythey clicked. The shop’s thin-crust pizza drew rave reviewsand crowds of devotees. Jarrasmade Tobins a manager, andthey began planning more shops.

But Tobins had his own ambi-tions. He left in 2000 to start apizza company, Upper Crust. Onthe way out, Tobins took somecrucial information: Sweet Toma-toes’ business contacts and ex-pansion plans, according to Jar-ras and her former businesspartner, Christopher Owens.

A few months later, the firstUpper Crust restaurant openedon Charles Street in Boston’s Bea-con Hill neighborhood. To Jarras,Owens, and many others atSweet Tomatoes, it looked andtasted like the pizza they made.Not only that, Upper Crust occu-pied a space Jarras had been eye-ing.

While Jarras has not claimedthat Tobins acted illegally, she ob-jects to the way he established hisbusiness.

‘‘He took what I had and ranwith it,’’ Jarras said recently inher first interview on the souredrelationship. ‘‘And it bothers methat he didn’t do it the ethicalway.’’

But that’s not how Tobins re-members it. The 34-year-oldgives credit for his love of pizza-making to Owens’s other restau-rant chain, Hot Tomatoes, saidGeorge Regan, a spokesman forUpper Crust.

‘‘It was there that ChristopherOwens showed Tobins how toroll out pizza dough,’’ Regan said.

There is no question, howev-er, that Tobins was aggressivefrom the start as he learned tothrive in the fiercely competitiveworld of pizza-making. Over theyears, Upper Crust has grown to17 stores, from Newburyport toPlymouth. Its fresh, fragrant, andpricey pies have won acclaim.But Tobins’s former employers,and some of his own employees,take a dimmer view of how thechain was born and came of age.

Tobins’s desire to emulate theSweet Tomatoes model was obvi-ous to Jim Covart, a purchasingagent who buys ingredients forSweet Tomatoes. After Tobinsquit, Covart said, he called withan unusual request.

‘‘He said, ‘We want to becomeyour customer. We are going touse the exact same things [Jar-ras] is using,’ ’’ Covart said.‘‘When I spoke with [Jarras], shetold me that he had taken her

menu.’’Covart declined to bring on

the new client.Upper Crust talked to numer-

ous vendors when it was gettingunderway to inquire about pric-ing on ingredients, Regan said.‘‘There is nothing proprietaryabout the ingredients used inmaking pizza,’’ he said.

Jarras met with a trademarklawyer at the time but was told itcould be tough to prove that To-bins didn’t slightly change herrecipe. So she decided to focus onher own business.

Still, it was hard to ignore thebudding popularity of Tobins’screation. At the Beacon Hillstore, lines of hungry customersspilled into the street. The res-taurant cultivated a hip urbanvibe, down to the bicycles it usedto deliver thin-crust pies. Theshop even caught the attention ofcorporate titan Jack Welch, who

lived in the neighborhood. In hisbest-selling book ‘‘Winning,’’ theformer General Electric chief ex-ecutive gives a priceless shout-out to Upper Crust: ‘‘The pizza isto die for.’’

Welch’s quote became thetagline for an Upper Crust mar-keting blitz that featured thecurly-haired Tobins in chefwhites, surrounded by boxes ofpizza. Encouraged by his bur-geoning fame, Tobins, a Sharonnative, set his sights on a secondstore. In 2002, he opened inBrookline on Harvard Street, an-other location Jarras had consid-ered for Sweet Tomatoes. Thenext year he launched a shop inKey West, Fla., with his father,Barry, and kept looking to addmore restaurants back home.The company later took on newpartners, Josh Huggard andBrendan Higgins, who have mi-nority stakes in the business, and

hired young managers like Pat-rick Joyce.

‘‘I bought into it being a fun,exciting work environment, ayouthful company that was grow-ing,’’ Joyce said. ‘‘I didn’t buy intowhat it became: cutting corners[on labor] to enhance the bottomline.’’

As his business flourished, To-bins relied on many immigrantemployees — almost all of whomarrived illegally from a single vil-lage in Brazil — to fill out his ex-panding kitchen staff.

At first it was a happy shop.But employees began to chafe atnot being paid for overtime, and,when they took the issue to fed-eral labor authorities and won,Tobins was furious.

He was especially tough onworkers who wanted to do whathe did when he started out: buildtheir own businesses on a bor-rowed model.

Edmar da Silva was one withdreams of making his own way.He planned to start a thin-crustpizza shop, called Crispy DoughPizzeria, with other Brazilian em-ployees at Upper Crust.

Tobins had other ideas. InFebruary he sued da Silva, accus-ing his longtime employee ofstealing trade secrets, violatinghis employment contract, andfraudulently using personal in-formation to obtain a credit cardby listing Tobins as a cosigner, ac-cording to a copy of the lawsuitfiled in Suffolk Superior Court.Upper Crust’s employmentagreement included a three-yearprohibition on employees work-ing ‘‘directly or indirectly’’ for abusiness involved in makingpizzas, calzones, or other similarfood products within a 15 mileradius of any Upper Crust loca-tion.

Jarras, of Sweet Tomatoes,heard about the lawsuit but de-cided to steer clear of the legalwrangling.

A few months earlier, she hadreceived a call from Tobins’s law-yer. He demanded that she re-move a copy of Pizza Today, atrade publication, from a rack inher restaurant. In a story in themagazine, Jarras is quoted recall-ing how a former employee andfriend stole her recipe. Tobinswas not mentioned by name, butthe quote apparently got his at-tention.

Ultimately, Tobins and da Sil-va, who declined to comment forthis story, reached a settlementin April. Crispy Dough is nowopen on Tremont Street nearMission Hill.

Jarras, meanwhile, kept hercopy of Pizza Today. The maga-zine story hangs in her Newtonshop, in a red frame that matchesthe color of her pizza sauce.

‘‘It’s my little protest,’’ shesaid.

Jenn Abelson can be reached [email protected].

A driven young man, and the chain he made

ERIK JACOBS FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE/FILE 2009

Jordan Tobins has foundfame and success sincestarting Upper Crust, but hisformer boss, Hedy Jarras(left), says Tobins tookbusiness contacts andexpansion plans. Tobins latersued Edmar da Silva (below),a former worker who openedhis own pizza store.

JOANNE RATHE/GLOBE STAFF/FILE 2004

its investigation in April 2009.Several months later, the gour-met pizza empire was ordered topay nearly $350,000 in backwages to more than 100 workers,most of them immigrants fromMarilac. Tobins said the compa-ny did not have enough cash topay the arrears and was granteda 30-day extension, according toa copy of the compliance reportfiled with the Department of La-bor and obtained by the Globe.

For the workers, matters onlygot worse after the investigation.Upper Crust demanded that theimmigrants surrender the gov-ernment-ordered checks forovertime pay or else lose theirjobs, according to interviewswith five former employees, fourformer managers, and a class ac-tion lawsuit filed in Suffolk Supe-rior Court in July.

‘‘This is not true,’’ Regan said.‘‘Everyone who received an over-time check cashed it.’’

The Labor Department, afterreceiving allegations that work-ers were coerced to return backwages to the company, said thatin September 2009 it told Tobinsand David Marcus, the compa-ny’s chief financial officer, thatsuch payments should be ‘‘finaland unconditional.’’

Instead, Upper Crust begandrastically reducing weekly pay-checks to recoup the federally or-dered payouts. Pinto, for exam-ple, started earning $455 for 80hours, according to copies of hispaychecks and time cards sub-mitted as part of the lawsuit.That is about $5.70 an hour, or$2.30 below minimum wage.Pinto said Upper Crust deductedmore than $8,000 over about sev-en months — the full overtimepayment he received — and thenfired him.

Tobins, in a July e-mail to theGlobe, said Pinto and a secondplaintiff in the lawsuit, CleversonBatista, were not entitled to over-time under the law because theywere managers, not hourly work-ers. He described the two men as‘‘disgruntled ex-employees’’ who‘‘have been trying to figure out away to extort money from ourbusiness.’’

Upper Crust, Joyce said, alsoallegedly devised a plan to keepchecks intended for workers whohad moved back to Brazil. Shan-non Liss-Riordan, one of the law-yers representing the employees,said the workers discussed withthe Labor Department accusa-tions that Upper Crust forged sig-natures on checks issued to em-ployees who were no longer inthe United States.

‘‘It is my understanding thatthey’re looking into it,’’ Liss-Rior-dan said.

Regan emphatically deniedthat the workers’ checks werehandled inappropriately. Anymoney owed to employees whocould not be located was sent tothe Labor Department in No-vember 2009, he said.

The Labor Department’s wageand hour division ‘‘does have an

open, ongoing investigation ofthe Upper Crust chain,’’ said JohnM. Chavez, a spokesman. The de-partment would not disclose de-tails but confirmed it has re-ceived several inquiries fromworkers in Brazil who said theydid not receive checks.

News of the check problemsspread quickly through the chainand back to Marilac. Some for-mer workers in Brazil with rela-tives still working for UpperCrust managed to recover theirback wages, including Jose daSilva and his brother, Dimas.

Others, such as Marcos Ro-drigues da Silva and his brother,Chico, say they did not. UpperCrust provided the Globe withcopies of checks that its attorney,David Berman, said had cleared.The copies included checks is-sued to the da Silva brothers andFilho, all of whom said they nev-er received payments.

Now, the divide betweenhaves and have-nots is testing re-lations in the community.

It is especially hard for someto look past the red brick housethat Botelho, Tobins’s favorite, isconstructing. The huge buildingon Rua Belo Horizonte casts ashadow over da Silva’s modesthome two doors away. Steel re-bars jut into the air, signifyingmore work to come.

Botelho’s aunt, Catia, and hismother still live around the cor-ner. Catia and her brother Edsonsaid they had not heard aboutthe problems at Upper Crust.

But Edson Botelho will saythis much: His nephew ‘‘adores’’Upper Crust, ‘‘and his boss likeshim so much.’’

Marcos Rodrigues da Silvahas a different view of the far-away pizza chain.

‘‘It’s a bad situation,’’ said daSilva, who spends his days cir-cling the town’s cracked streetson a bicycle he bought during hisUpper Crust years.

Sometimes when he’s riding,he glances down at the ‘‘Made inAmerica’’ flag printed on thebike. It reminds him of what helost.

‘‘People feel betrayed,’’ he said.

Jenn Abelson can be reached [email protected].

TAKE A CLOSER LOOKFor video and a photo gallery

with this story, go towww.boston.com/globe

‘Thestakes gothigher,and it gotmorecutthroat.It was unbearable.’PATRICK JOYCEFormer operations managerat Upper Crust

Continued from preceding page

$3992011S60 T6 AWD OR 2011VOLVO XC60 FWD

0% APRORPer monthfor 36 months.$4,293 cashdue at signing.

For 36months

WELL-EQUIPPED WITH: 300 HORSEPOWER, LEATHER SEATS,

SIRIUS,® HD RADIO, BLUETOOTH,® CITY SAFETY

WELL-EQUIPPED WITH: SIRIUS, 17" ALLOY WHEELS, HD RADIO,

BLUETOOTH, CITY SAFETY, IIHS TOP SAFETY PICK

YOUR EASTERN NEW ENGLAND VOLVO RETAILERS ARE:

nevolvo.com

DEDHAMDalzell Volvo(781) 329-1100

HAVERHILLJaffarian Volvo(978) 372-8551

HYANNISTrans-Atlantic Motors(508) 775-4526

Volvo Village of NorwellNORWELL

(781) 829-3100

BRIGHTONBoston Volvo Village(888) 797-9587

SALEMStutz Volvo(978) 744-8555

SOUTHBOROUGHFarrell Volvo(508) 571-2400

WAKEFIELD128 Volvo(781) 224-3700

WELLESLEYLee Volvo(781) 235-8841

WORCESTERGallo Volvo(508) 791-3678

VOLVOThe Official Car ofThe Boston Red Sox

Volvo. for life

volvocars.com/us/safeandsecure *Safe + Secure Coverage Plan excludes tires. ©2010 SIRIUS XM Radio Inc. SIRIUS, XM and all related marks and logos are trademarks of SIRIUS XM Radio Inc. and itssubsidiaries. City Safety is not a substitute for safe driving. For more detailed information on how to safely use this system, please visit www.volvocars.us/XC60CitySafety. S60 starting at MSRP $37,700. XC60 starting at MSRP $32,400. Excludes $850destination charge. 36 months at $28 per month per $1,000 financed. No security deposit required. For the 2011 S60 T6, monthly payment of $399, based on $38,550 MSRP, and the 2011 XC60 3.2 FWD, monthly payment of $399, based on $33,250MSRP, destination charge is included. S60 lease payment per month assumes application of $1,000 Conquest Loyalty Bonus. Customer eligibility requirements must be met for Conquest Loyalty offer. Please see retailer for details. Lessee is responsible forexcess wear and mileage over 10,000 miles/year at $0.18/mile. Take new retail delivery from retailer stock between November 5, 2010, and January 3, 2011. Please visit www.volvocars.com/us/safeandsecure or your localVolvo retailer for details on the Volvo Safe + Secure Coverage Plan and for further details specific to leased vehicles. Cars shown with optional equipment. Advertised lease payment and financing exclude taxes, title andregistration fees and are available for qualified customers through U.S. Bank. Payments may vary, as retailer determines price. Offers available at participating retailers excluding Alaska; see retailer or website for details.Over 130 channels.

THERE’S MORE TO LIFE THAN A VOLVO. There’s spreading enough holiday cheer to last not only the whole year long, butfive whole years. That’s why we’re offering our Safe and Secure Coverage plan with every new Volvo, complimentary.

PAY NOTHING TO REPAIR OR MAINTAIN YOUR VOLVO FOR 5 YEARS WITH OUR SAFE + SECURE

COVERAGE PLAN.* Coverage plan includes brakes, rotors and wiper blades.

D E C E M B E R 5 , 2 0 1 0 The Region A17B O S T O N S U N D A Y G L O B E

UPPER CRUST THE UNDERSIDE

By Jenn AbelsonGLOBE STAFF

Jordan Tobins showed up atthe grand opening party forSweet Tomatoes in Newton Cen-tre in 1998, fresh out of collegeand with no pizza-making skills.That didn’t stop him from tryinghis hand at it.

Hedy Jarras, who knew To-bins from the summers they hadboth spent vacationing on CapeCod, hired him, and immediatelythey clicked. The shop’s thin-crust pizza drew rave reviewsand crowds of devotees. Jarrasmade Tobins a manager, andthey began planning more shops.

But Tobins had his own ambi-tions. He left in 2000 to start apizza company, Upper Crust. Onthe way out, Tobins took somecrucial information: Sweet Toma-toes’ business contacts and ex-pansion plans, according to Jar-ras and her former businesspartner, Christopher Owens.

A few months later, the firstUpper Crust restaurant openedon Charles Street in Boston’s Bea-con Hill neighborhood. To Jarras,Owens, and many others atSweet Tomatoes, it looked andtasted like the pizza they made.Not only that, Upper Crust occu-pied a space Jarras had been eye-ing.

While Jarras has not claimedthat Tobins acted illegally, she ob-jects to the way he established hisbusiness.

‘‘He took what I had and ranwith it,’’ Jarras said recently inher first interview on the souredrelationship. ‘‘And it bothers methat he didn’t do it the ethicalway.’’

But that’s not how Tobins re-members it. The 34-year-oldgives credit for his love of pizza-making to Owens’s other restau-rant chain, Hot Tomatoes, saidGeorge Regan, a spokesman forUpper Crust.

‘‘It was there that ChristopherOwens showed Tobins how toroll out pizza dough,’’ Regan said.

There is no question, howev-er, that Tobins was aggressivefrom the start as he learned tothrive in the fiercely competitiveworld of pizza-making. Over theyears, Upper Crust has grown to17 stores, from Newburyport toPlymouth. Its fresh, fragrant, andpricey pies have won acclaim.But Tobins’s former employers,and some of his own employees,take a dimmer view of how thechain was born and came of age.

Tobins’s desire to emulate theSweet Tomatoes model was obvi-ous to Jim Covart, a purchasingagent who buys ingredients forSweet Tomatoes. After Tobinsquit, Covart said, he called withan unusual request.

‘‘He said, ‘We want to becomeyour customer. We are going touse the exact same things [Jar-ras] is using,’ ’’ Covart said.‘‘When I spoke with [Jarras], shetold me that he had taken her

menu.’’Covart declined to bring on

the new client.Upper Crust talked to numer-

ous vendors when it was gettingunderway to inquire about pric-ing on ingredients, Regan said.‘‘There is nothing proprietaryabout the ingredients used inmaking pizza,’’ he said.

Jarras met with a trademarklawyer at the time but was told itcould be tough to prove that To-bins didn’t slightly change herrecipe. So she decided to focus onher own business.

Still, it was hard to ignore thebudding popularity of Tobins’screation. At the Beacon Hillstore, lines of hungry customersspilled into the street. The res-taurant cultivated a hip urbanvibe, down to the bicycles it usedto deliver thin-crust pies. Theshop even caught the attention ofcorporate titan Jack Welch, who

lived in the neighborhood. In hisbest-selling book ‘‘Winning,’’ theformer General Electric chief ex-ecutive gives a priceless shout-out to Upper Crust: ‘‘The pizza isto die for.’’

Welch’s quote became thetagline for an Upper Crust mar-keting blitz that featured thecurly-haired Tobins in chefwhites, surrounded by boxes ofpizza. Encouraged by his bur-geoning fame, Tobins, a Sharonnative, set his sights on a secondstore. In 2002, he opened inBrookline on Harvard Street, an-other location Jarras had consid-ered for Sweet Tomatoes. Thenext year he launched a shop inKey West, Fla., with his father,Barry, and kept looking to addmore restaurants back home.The company later took on newpartners, Josh Huggard andBrendan Higgins, who have mi-nority stakes in the business, and

hired young managers like Pat-rick Joyce.

‘‘I bought into it being a fun,exciting work environment, ayouthful company that was grow-ing,’’ Joyce said. ‘‘I didn’t buy intowhat it became: cutting corners[on labor] to enhance the bottomline.’’

As his business flourished, To-bins relied on many immigrantemployees — almost all of whomarrived illegally from a single vil-lage in Brazil — to fill out his ex-panding kitchen staff.

At first it was a happy shop.But employees began to chafe atnot being paid for overtime, and,when they took the issue to fed-eral labor authorities and won,Tobins was furious.

He was especially tough onworkers who wanted to do whathe did when he started out: buildtheir own businesses on a bor-rowed model.

Edmar da Silva was one withdreams of making his own way.He planned to start a thin-crustpizza shop, called Crispy DoughPizzeria, with other Brazilian em-ployees at Upper Crust.

Tobins had other ideas. InFebruary he sued da Silva, accus-ing his longtime employee ofstealing trade secrets, violatinghis employment contract, andfraudulently using personal in-formation to obtain a credit cardby listing Tobins as a cosigner, ac-cording to a copy of the lawsuitfiled in Suffolk Superior Court.Upper Crust’s employmentagreement included a three-yearprohibition on employees work-ing ‘‘directly or indirectly’’ for abusiness involved in makingpizzas, calzones, or other similarfood products within a 15 mileradius of any Upper Crust loca-tion.

Jarras, of Sweet Tomatoes,heard about the lawsuit but de-cided to steer clear of the legalwrangling.

A few months earlier, she hadreceived a call from Tobins’s law-yer. He demanded that she re-move a copy of Pizza Today, atrade publication, from a rack inher restaurant. In a story in themagazine, Jarras is quoted recall-ing how a former employee andfriend stole her recipe. Tobinswas not mentioned by name, butthe quote apparently got his at-tention.

Ultimately, Tobins and da Sil-va, who declined to comment forthis story, reached a settlementin April. Crispy Dough is nowopen on Tremont Street nearMission Hill.

Jarras, meanwhile, kept hercopy of Pizza Today. The maga-zine story hangs in her Newtonshop, in a red frame that matchesthe color of her pizza sauce.

‘‘It’s my little protest,’’ shesaid.

Jenn Abelson can be reached [email protected].

A driven young man, and the chain he made

ERIK JACOBS FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE/FILE 2009

Jordan Tobins has foundfame and success sincestarting Upper Crust, but hisformer boss, Hedy Jarras(left), says Tobins tookbusiness contacts andexpansion plans. Tobins latersued Edmar da Silva (below),a former worker who openedhis own pizza store.

JOANNE RATHE/GLOBE STAFF/FILE 2004

its investigation in April 2009.Several months later, the gour-met pizza empire was ordered topay nearly $350,000 in backwages to more than 100 workers,most of them immigrants fromMarilac. Tobins said the compa-ny did not have enough cash topay the arrears and was granteda 30-day extension, according toa copy of the compliance reportfiled with the Department of La-bor and obtained by the Globe.

For the workers, matters onlygot worse after the investigation.Upper Crust demanded that theimmigrants surrender the gov-ernment-ordered checks forovertime pay or else lose theirjobs, according to interviewswith five former employees, fourformer managers, and a class ac-tion lawsuit filed in Suffolk Supe-rior Court in July.

‘‘This is not true,’’ Regan said.‘‘Everyone who received an over-time check cashed it.’’

The Labor Department, afterreceiving allegations that work-ers were coerced to return backwages to the company, said thatin September 2009 it told Tobinsand David Marcus, the compa-ny’s chief financial officer, thatsuch payments should be ‘‘finaland unconditional.’’

Instead, Upper Crust begandrastically reducing weekly pay-checks to recoup the federally or-dered payouts. Pinto, for exam-ple, started earning $455 for 80hours, according to copies of hispaychecks and time cards sub-mitted as part of the lawsuit.That is about $5.70 an hour, or$2.30 below minimum wage.Pinto said Upper Crust deductedmore than $8,000 over about sev-en months — the full overtimepayment he received — and thenfired him.

Tobins, in a July e-mail to theGlobe, said Pinto and a secondplaintiff in the lawsuit, CleversonBatista, were not entitled to over-time under the law because theywere managers, not hourly work-ers. He described the two men as‘‘disgruntled ex-employees’’ who‘‘have been trying to figure out away to extort money from ourbusiness.’’

Upper Crust, Joyce said, alsoallegedly devised a plan to keepchecks intended for workers whohad moved back to Brazil. Shan-non Liss-Riordan, one of the law-yers representing the employees,said the workers discussed withthe Labor Department accusa-tions that Upper Crust forged sig-natures on checks issued to em-ployees who were no longer inthe United States.

‘‘It is my understanding thatthey’re looking into it,’’ Liss-Rior-dan said.

Regan emphatically deniedthat the workers’ checks werehandled inappropriately. Anymoney owed to employees whocould not be located was sent tothe Labor Department in No-vember 2009, he said.

The Labor Department’s wageand hour division ‘‘does have an

open, ongoing investigation ofthe Upper Crust chain,’’ said JohnM. Chavez, a spokesman. The de-partment would not disclose de-tails but confirmed it has re-ceived several inquiries fromworkers in Brazil who said theydid not receive checks.

News of the check problemsspread quickly through the chainand back to Marilac. Some for-mer workers in Brazil with rela-tives still working for UpperCrust managed to recover theirback wages, including Jose daSilva and his brother, Dimas.

Others, such as Marcos Ro-drigues da Silva and his brother,Chico, say they did not. UpperCrust provided the Globe withcopies of checks that its attorney,David Berman, said had cleared.The copies included checks is-sued to the da Silva brothers andFilho, all of whom said they nev-er received payments.

Now, the divide betweenhaves and have-nots is testing re-lations in the community.

It is especially hard for someto look past the red brick housethat Botelho, Tobins’s favorite, isconstructing. The huge buildingon Rua Belo Horizonte casts ashadow over da Silva’s modesthome two doors away. Steel re-bars jut into the air, signifyingmore work to come.

Botelho’s aunt, Catia, and hismother still live around the cor-ner. Catia and her brother Edsonsaid they had not heard aboutthe problems at Upper Crust.

But Edson Botelho will saythis much: His nephew ‘‘adores’’Upper Crust, ‘‘and his boss likeshim so much.’’

Marcos Rodrigues da Silvahas a different view of the far-away pizza chain.

‘‘It’s a bad situation,’’ said daSilva, who spends his days cir-cling the town’s cracked streetson a bicycle he bought during hisUpper Crust years.

Sometimes when he’s riding,he glances down at the ‘‘Made inAmerica’’ flag printed on thebike. It reminds him of what helost.

‘‘People feel betrayed,’’ he said.

Jenn Abelson can be reached [email protected].

TAKE A CLOSER LOOKFor video and a photo gallery

with this story, go towww.boston.com/globe

‘Thestakes gothigher,and it gotmorecutthroat.It was unbearable.’PATRICK JOYCEFormer operations managerat Upper Crust

Continued from preceding page

$3992011S60 T6 AWD OR 2011VOLVO XC60 FWD

0% APRORPer monthfor 36 months.$4,293 cashdue at signing.

For 36months

WELL-EQUIPPED WITH: 300 HORSEPOWER, LEATHER SEATS,

SIRIUS,® HD RADIO, BLUETOOTH,® CITY SAFETY

WELL-EQUIPPED WITH: SIRIUS, 17" ALLOY WHEELS, HD RADIO,

BLUETOOTH, CITY SAFETY, IIHS TOP SAFETY PICK

YOUR EASTERN NEW ENGLAND VOLVO RETAILERS ARE:

nevolvo.com

DEDHAMDalzell Volvo(781) 329-1100

HAVERHILLJaffarian Volvo(978) 372-8551

HYANNISTrans-Atlantic Motors(508) 775-4526

Volvo Village of NorwellNORWELL

(781) 829-3100

BRIGHTONBoston Volvo Village(888) 797-9587

SALEMStutz Volvo(978) 744-8555

SOUTHBOROUGHFarrell Volvo(508) 571-2400

WAKEFIELD128 Volvo(781) 224-3700

WELLESLEYLee Volvo(781) 235-8841

WORCESTERGallo Volvo(508) 791-3678

VOLVOThe Official Car ofThe Boston Red Sox

Volvo. for life

volvocars.com/us/safeandsecure *Safe + Secure Coverage Plan excludes tires. ©2010 SIRIUS XM Radio Inc. SIRIUS, XM and all related marks and logos are trademarks of SIRIUS XM Radio Inc. and itssubsidiaries. City Safety is not a substitute for safe driving. For more detailed information on how to safely use this system, please visit www.volvocars.us/XC60CitySafety. S60 starting at MSRP $37,700. XC60 starting at MSRP $32,400. Excludes $850destination charge. 36 months at $28 per month per $1,000 financed. No security deposit required. For the 2011 S60 T6, monthly payment of $399, based on $38,550 MSRP, and the 2011 XC60 3.2 FWD, monthly payment of $399, based on $33,250MSRP, destination charge is included. S60 lease payment per month assumes application of $1,000 Conquest Loyalty Bonus. Customer eligibility requirements must be met for Conquest Loyalty offer. Please see retailer for details. Lessee is responsible forexcess wear and mileage over 10,000 miles/year at $0.18/mile. Take new retail delivery from retailer stock between November 5, 2010, and January 3, 2011. Please visit www.volvocars.com/us/safeandsecure or your localVolvo retailer for details on the Volvo Safe + Secure Coverage Plan and for further details specific to leased vehicles. Cars shown with optional equipment. Advertised lease payment and financing exclude taxes, title andregistration fees and are available for qualified customers through U.S. Bank. Payments may vary, as retailer determines price. Offers available at participating retailers excluding Alaska; see retailer or website for details.Over 130 channels.

THERE’S MORE TO LIFE THAN A VOLVO. There’s spreading enough holiday cheer to last not only the whole year long, butfive whole years. That’s why we’re offering our Safe and Secure Coverage plan with every new Volvo, complimentary.

PAY NOTHING TO REPAIR OR MAINTAIN YOUR VOLVO FOR 5 YEARS WITH OUR SAFE + SECURE

COVERAGE PLAN.* Coverage plan includes brakes, rotors and wiper blades.

D E C E M B E R 5 , 2 0 1 0 The Region A17B O S T O N S U N D A Y G L O B E

UPPER CRUST THE UNDERSIDE

By Jenn AbelsonGLOBE STAFF

Jordan Tobins showed up atthe grand opening party forSweet Tomatoes in Newton Cen-tre in 1998, fresh out of collegeand with no pizza-making skills.That didn’t stop him from tryinghis hand at it.

Hedy Jarras, who knew To-bins from the summers they hadboth spent vacationing on CapeCod, hired him, and immediatelythey clicked. The shop’s thin-crust pizza drew rave reviewsand crowds of devotees. Jarrasmade Tobins a manager, andthey began planning more shops.

But Tobins had his own ambi-tions. He left in 2000 to start apizza company, Upper Crust. Onthe way out, Tobins took somecrucial information: Sweet Toma-toes’ business contacts and ex-pansion plans, according to Jar-ras and her former businesspartner, Christopher Owens.

A few months later, the firstUpper Crust restaurant openedon Charles Street in Boston’s Bea-con Hill neighborhood. To Jarras,Owens, and many others atSweet Tomatoes, it looked andtasted like the pizza they made.Not only that, Upper Crust occu-pied a space Jarras had been eye-ing.

While Jarras has not claimedthat Tobins acted illegally, she ob-jects to the way he established hisbusiness.

‘‘He took what I had and ranwith it,’’ Jarras said recently inher first interview on the souredrelationship. ‘‘And it bothers methat he didn’t do it the ethicalway.’’

But that’s not how Tobins re-members it. The 34-year-oldgives credit for his love of pizza-making to Owens’s other restau-rant chain, Hot Tomatoes, saidGeorge Regan, a spokesman forUpper Crust.

‘‘It was there that ChristopherOwens showed Tobins how toroll out pizza dough,’’ Regan said.

There is no question, howev-er, that Tobins was aggressivefrom the start as he learned tothrive in the fiercely competitiveworld of pizza-making. Over theyears, Upper Crust has grown to17 stores, from Newburyport toPlymouth. Its fresh, fragrant, andpricey pies have won acclaim.But Tobins’s former employers,and some of his own employees,take a dimmer view of how thechain was born and came of age.

Tobins’s desire to emulate theSweet Tomatoes model was obvi-ous to Jim Covart, a purchasingagent who buys ingredients forSweet Tomatoes. After Tobinsquit, Covart said, he called withan unusual request.

‘‘He said, ‘We want to becomeyour customer. We are going touse the exact same things [Jar-ras] is using,’ ’’ Covart said.‘‘When I spoke with [Jarras], shetold me that he had taken her

menu.’’Covart declined to bring on

the new client.Upper Crust talked to numer-

ous vendors when it was gettingunderway to inquire about pric-ing on ingredients, Regan said.‘‘There is nothing proprietaryabout the ingredients used inmaking pizza,’’ he said.

Jarras met with a trademarklawyer at the time but was told itcould be tough to prove that To-bins didn’t slightly change herrecipe. So she decided to focus onher own business.

Still, it was hard to ignore thebudding popularity of Tobins’screation. At the Beacon Hillstore, lines of hungry customersspilled into the street. The res-taurant cultivated a hip urbanvibe, down to the bicycles it usedto deliver thin-crust pies. Theshop even caught the attention ofcorporate titan Jack Welch, who

lived in the neighborhood. In hisbest-selling book ‘‘Winning,’’ theformer General Electric chief ex-ecutive gives a priceless shout-out to Upper Crust: ‘‘The pizza isto die for.’’

Welch’s quote became thetagline for an Upper Crust mar-keting blitz that featured thecurly-haired Tobins in chefwhites, surrounded by boxes ofpizza. Encouraged by his bur-geoning fame, Tobins, a Sharonnative, set his sights on a secondstore. In 2002, he opened inBrookline on Harvard Street, an-other location Jarras had consid-ered for Sweet Tomatoes. Thenext year he launched a shop inKey West, Fla., with his father,Barry, and kept looking to addmore restaurants back home.The company later took on newpartners, Josh Huggard andBrendan Higgins, who have mi-nority stakes in the business, and

hired young managers like Pat-rick Joyce.

‘‘I bought into it being a fun,exciting work environment, ayouthful company that was grow-ing,’’ Joyce said. ‘‘I didn’t buy intowhat it became: cutting corners[on labor] to enhance the bottomline.’’

As his business flourished, To-bins relied on many immigrantemployees — almost all of whomarrived illegally from a single vil-lage in Brazil — to fill out his ex-panding kitchen staff.

At first it was a happy shop.But employees began to chafe atnot being paid for overtime, and,when they took the issue to fed-eral labor authorities and won,Tobins was furious.

He was especially tough onworkers who wanted to do whathe did when he started out: buildtheir own businesses on a bor-rowed model.

Edmar da Silva was one withdreams of making his own way.He planned to start a thin-crustpizza shop, called Crispy DoughPizzeria, with other Brazilian em-ployees at Upper Crust.

Tobins had other ideas. InFebruary he sued da Silva, accus-ing his longtime employee ofstealing trade secrets, violatinghis employment contract, andfraudulently using personal in-formation to obtain a credit cardby listing Tobins as a cosigner, ac-cording to a copy of the lawsuitfiled in Suffolk Superior Court.Upper Crust’s employmentagreement included a three-yearprohibition on employees work-ing ‘‘directly or indirectly’’ for abusiness involved in makingpizzas, calzones, or other similarfood products within a 15 mileradius of any Upper Crust loca-tion.

Jarras, of Sweet Tomatoes,heard about the lawsuit but de-cided to steer clear of the legalwrangling.

A few months earlier, she hadreceived a call from Tobins’s law-yer. He demanded that she re-move a copy of Pizza Today, atrade publication, from a rack inher restaurant. In a story in themagazine, Jarras is quoted recall-ing how a former employee andfriend stole her recipe. Tobinswas not mentioned by name, butthe quote apparently got his at-tention.

Ultimately, Tobins and da Sil-va, who declined to comment forthis story, reached a settlementin April. Crispy Dough is nowopen on Tremont Street nearMission Hill.

Jarras, meanwhile, kept hercopy of Pizza Today. The maga-zine story hangs in her Newtonshop, in a red frame that matchesthe color of her pizza sauce.

‘‘It’s my little protest,’’ shesaid.

Jenn Abelson can be reached [email protected].

A driven young man, and the chain he made

ERIK JACOBS FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE/FILE 2009

Jordan Tobins has foundfame and success sincestarting Upper Crust, but hisformer boss, Hedy Jarras(left), says Tobins tookbusiness contacts andexpansion plans. Tobins latersued Edmar da Silva (below),a former worker who openedhis own pizza store.

JOANNE RATHE/GLOBE STAFF/FILE 2004

its investigation in April 2009.Several months later, the gour-met pizza empire was ordered topay nearly $350,000 in backwages to more than 100 workers,most of them immigrants fromMarilac. Tobins said the compa-ny did not have enough cash topay the arrears and was granteda 30-day extension, according toa copy of the compliance reportfiled with the Department of La-bor and obtained by the Globe.

For the workers, matters onlygot worse after the investigation.Upper Crust demanded that theimmigrants surrender the gov-ernment-ordered checks forovertime pay or else lose theirjobs, according to interviewswith five former employees, fourformer managers, and a class ac-tion lawsuit filed in Suffolk Supe-rior Court in July.

‘‘This is not true,’’ Regan said.‘‘Everyone who received an over-time check cashed it.’’

The Labor Department, afterreceiving allegations that work-ers were coerced to return backwages to the company, said thatin September 2009 it told Tobinsand David Marcus, the compa-ny’s chief financial officer, thatsuch payments should be ‘‘finaland unconditional.’’

Instead, Upper Crust begandrastically reducing weekly pay-checks to recoup the federally or-dered payouts. Pinto, for exam-ple, started earning $455 for 80hours, according to copies of hispaychecks and time cards sub-mitted as part of the lawsuit.That is about $5.70 an hour, or$2.30 below minimum wage.Pinto said Upper Crust deductedmore than $8,000 over about sev-en months — the full overtimepayment he received — and thenfired him.

Tobins, in a July e-mail to theGlobe, said Pinto and a secondplaintiff in the lawsuit, CleversonBatista, were not entitled to over-time under the law because theywere managers, not hourly work-ers. He described the two men as‘‘disgruntled ex-employees’’ who‘‘have been trying to figure out away to extort money from ourbusiness.’’

Upper Crust, Joyce said, alsoallegedly devised a plan to keepchecks intended for workers whohad moved back to Brazil. Shan-non Liss-Riordan, one of the law-yers representing the employees,said the workers discussed withthe Labor Department accusa-tions that Upper Crust forged sig-natures on checks issued to em-ployees who were no longer inthe United States.

‘‘It is my understanding thatthey’re looking into it,’’ Liss-Rior-dan said.

Regan emphatically deniedthat the workers’ checks werehandled inappropriately. Anymoney owed to employees whocould not be located was sent tothe Labor Department in No-vember 2009, he said.

The Labor Department’s wageand hour division ‘‘does have an

open, ongoing investigation ofthe Upper Crust chain,’’ said JohnM. Chavez, a spokesman. The de-partment would not disclose de-tails but confirmed it has re-ceived several inquiries fromworkers in Brazil who said theydid not receive checks.

News of the check problemsspread quickly through the chainand back to Marilac. Some for-mer workers in Brazil with rela-tives still working for UpperCrust managed to recover theirback wages, including Jose daSilva and his brother, Dimas.

Others, such as Marcos Ro-drigues da Silva and his brother,Chico, say they did not. UpperCrust provided the Globe withcopies of checks that its attorney,David Berman, said had cleared.The copies included checks is-sued to the da Silva brothers andFilho, all of whom said they nev-er received payments.

Now, the divide betweenhaves and have-nots is testing re-lations in the community.

It is especially hard for someto look past the red brick housethat Botelho, Tobins’s favorite, isconstructing. The huge buildingon Rua Belo Horizonte casts ashadow over da Silva’s modesthome two doors away. Steel re-bars jut into the air, signifyingmore work to come.

Botelho’s aunt, Catia, and hismother still live around the cor-ner. Catia and her brother Edsonsaid they had not heard aboutthe problems at Upper Crust.

But Edson Botelho will saythis much: His nephew ‘‘adores’’Upper Crust, ‘‘and his boss likeshim so much.’’

Marcos Rodrigues da Silvahas a different view of the far-away pizza chain.

‘‘It’s a bad situation,’’ said daSilva, who spends his days cir-cling the town’s cracked streetson a bicycle he bought during hisUpper Crust years.

Sometimes when he’s riding,he glances down at the ‘‘Made inAmerica’’ flag printed on thebike. It reminds him of what helost.

‘‘People feel betrayed,’’ he said.

Jenn Abelson can be reached [email protected].

TAKE A CLOSER LOOKFor video and a photo gallery

with this story, go towww.boston.com/globe

‘Thestakes gothigher,and it gotmorecutthroat.It was unbearable.’PATRICK JOYCEFormer operations managerat Upper Crust

Continued from preceding page

$3992011S60 T6 AWD OR 2011VOLVO XC60 FWD

0% APRORPer monthfor 36 months.$4,293 cashdue at signing.

For 36months

WELL-EQUIPPED WITH: 300 HORSEPOWER, LEATHER SEATS,

SIRIUS,® HD RADIO, BLUETOOTH,® CITY SAFETY

WELL-EQUIPPED WITH: SIRIUS, 17" ALLOY WHEELS, HD RADIO,

BLUETOOTH, CITY SAFETY, IIHS TOP SAFETY PICK

YOUR EASTERN NEW ENGLAND VOLVO RETAILERS ARE:

nevolvo.com

DEDHAMDalzell Volvo(781) 329-1100

HAVERHILLJaffarian Volvo(978) 372-8551

HYANNISTrans-Atlantic Motors(508) 775-4526

Volvo Village of NorwellNORWELL

(781) 829-3100

BRIGHTONBoston Volvo Village(888) 797-9587

SALEMStutz Volvo(978) 744-8555

SOUTHBOROUGHFarrell Volvo(508) 571-2400

WAKEFIELD128 Volvo(781) 224-3700

WELLESLEYLee Volvo(781) 235-8841

WORCESTERGallo Volvo(508) 791-3678

VOLVOThe Official Car ofThe Boston Red Sox

Volvo. for life

volvocars.com/us/safeandsecure *Safe + Secure Coverage Plan excludes tires. ©2010 SIRIUS XM Radio Inc. SIRIUS, XM and all related marks and logos are trademarks of SIRIUS XM Radio Inc. and itssubsidiaries. City Safety is not a substitute for safe driving. For more detailed information on how to safely use this system, please visit www.volvocars.us/XC60CitySafety. S60 starting at MSRP $37,700. XC60 starting at MSRP $32,400. Excludes $850destination charge. 36 months at $28 per month per $1,000 financed. No security deposit required. For the 2011 S60 T6, monthly payment of $399, based on $38,550 MSRP, and the 2011 XC60 3.2 FWD, monthly payment of $399, based on $33,250MSRP, destination charge is included. S60 lease payment per month assumes application of $1,000 Conquest Loyalty Bonus. Customer eligibility requirements must be met for Conquest Loyalty offer. Please see retailer for details. Lessee is responsible forexcess wear and mileage over 10,000 miles/year at $0.18/mile. Take new retail delivery from retailer stock between November 5, 2010, and January 3, 2011. Please visit www.volvocars.com/us/safeandsecure or your localVolvo retailer for details on the Volvo Safe + Secure Coverage Plan and for further details specific to leased vehicles. Cars shown with optional equipment. Advertised lease payment and financing exclude taxes, title andregistration fees and are available for qualified customers through U.S. Bank. Payments may vary, as retailer determines price. Offers available at participating retailers excluding Alaska; see retailer or website for details.Over 130 channels.

THERE’S MORE TO LIFE THAN A VOLVO. There’s spreading enough holiday cheer to last not only the whole year long, butfive whole years. That’s why we’re offering our Safe and Secure Coverage plan with every new Volvo, complimentary.

PAY NOTHING TO REPAIR OR MAINTAIN YOUR VOLVO FOR 5 YEARS WITH OUR SAFE + SECURE

COVERAGE PLAN.* Coverage plan includes brakes, rotors and wiper blades.

D E C E M B E R 5 , 2 0 1 0 The Region A17B O S T O N S U N D A Y G L O B E

UPPER CRUST THE UNDERSIDE

By Jenn AbelsonGLOBE STAFF

Jordan Tobins showed up atthe grand opening party forSweet Tomatoes in Newton Cen-tre in 1998, fresh out of collegeand with no pizza-making skills.That didn’t stop him from tryinghis hand at it.

Hedy Jarras, who knew To-bins from the summers they hadboth spent vacationing on CapeCod, hired him, and immediatelythey clicked. The shop’s thin-crust pizza drew rave reviewsand crowds of devotees. Jarrasmade Tobins a manager, andthey began planning more shops.

But Tobins had his own ambi-tions. He left in 2000 to start apizza company, Upper Crust. Onthe way out, Tobins took somecrucial information: Sweet Toma-toes’ business contacts and ex-pansion plans, according to Jar-ras and her former businesspartner, Christopher Owens.

A few months later, the firstUpper Crust restaurant openedon Charles Street in Boston’s Bea-con Hill neighborhood. To Jarras,Owens, and many others atSweet Tomatoes, it looked andtasted like the pizza they made.Not only that, Upper Crust occu-pied a space Jarras had been eye-ing.

While Jarras has not claimedthat Tobins acted illegally, she ob-jects to the way he established hisbusiness.

‘‘He took what I had and ranwith it,’’ Jarras said recently inher first interview on the souredrelationship. ‘‘And it bothers methat he didn’t do it the ethicalway.’’

But that’s not how Tobins re-members it. The 34-year-oldgives credit for his love of pizza-making to Owens’s other restau-rant chain, Hot Tomatoes, saidGeorge Regan, a spokesman forUpper Crust.

‘‘It was there that ChristopherOwens showed Tobins how toroll out pizza dough,’’ Regan said.

There is no question, howev-er, that Tobins was aggressivefrom the start as he learned tothrive in the fiercely competitiveworld of pizza-making. Over theyears, Upper Crust has grown to17 stores, from Newburyport toPlymouth. Its fresh, fragrant, andpricey pies have won acclaim.But Tobins’s former employers,and some of his own employees,take a dimmer view of how thechain was born and came of age.

Tobins’s desire to emulate theSweet Tomatoes model was obvi-ous to Jim Covart, a purchasingagent who buys ingredients forSweet Tomatoes. After Tobinsquit, Covart said, he called withan unusual request.

‘‘He said, ‘We want to becomeyour customer. We are going touse the exact same things [Jar-ras] is using,’ ’’ Covart said.‘‘When I spoke with [Jarras], shetold me that he had taken her

menu.’’Covart declined to bring on

the new client.Upper Crust talked to numer-

ous vendors when it was gettingunderway to inquire about pric-ing on ingredients, Regan said.‘‘There is nothing proprietaryabout the ingredients used inmaking pizza,’’ he said.

Jarras met with a trademarklawyer at the time but was told itcould be tough to prove that To-bins didn’t slightly change herrecipe. So she decided to focus onher own business.

Still, it was hard to ignore thebudding popularity of Tobins’screation. At the Beacon Hillstore, lines of hungry customersspilled into the street. The res-taurant cultivated a hip urbanvibe, down to the bicycles it usedto deliver thin-crust pies. Theshop even caught the attention ofcorporate titan Jack Welch, who

lived in the neighborhood. In hisbest-selling book ‘‘Winning,’’ theformer General Electric chief ex-ecutive gives a priceless shout-out to Upper Crust: ‘‘The pizza isto die for.’’

Welch’s quote became thetagline for an Upper Crust mar-keting blitz that featured thecurly-haired Tobins in chefwhites, surrounded by boxes ofpizza. Encouraged by his bur-geoning fame, Tobins, a Sharonnative, set his sights on a secondstore. In 2002, he opened inBrookline on Harvard Street, an-other location Jarras had consid-ered for Sweet Tomatoes. Thenext year he launched a shop inKey West, Fla., with his father,Barry, and kept looking to addmore restaurants back home.The company later took on newpartners, Josh Huggard andBrendan Higgins, who have mi-nority stakes in the business, and

hired young managers like Pat-rick Joyce.

‘‘I bought into it being a fun,exciting work environment, ayouthful company that was grow-ing,’’ Joyce said. ‘‘I didn’t buy intowhat it became: cutting corners[on labor] to enhance the bottomline.’’

As his business flourished, To-bins relied on many immigrantemployees — almost all of whomarrived illegally from a single vil-lage in Brazil — to fill out his ex-panding kitchen staff.

At first it was a happy shop.But employees began to chafe atnot being paid for overtime, and,when they took the issue to fed-eral labor authorities and won,Tobins was furious.

He was especially tough onworkers who wanted to do whathe did when he started out: buildtheir own businesses on a bor-rowed model.

Edmar da Silva was one withdreams of making his own way.He planned to start a thin-crustpizza shop, called Crispy DoughPizzeria, with other Brazilian em-ployees at Upper Crust.

Tobins had other ideas. InFebruary he sued da Silva, accus-ing his longtime employee ofstealing trade secrets, violatinghis employment contract, andfraudulently using personal in-formation to obtain a credit cardby listing Tobins as a cosigner, ac-cording to a copy of the lawsuitfiled in Suffolk Superior Court.Upper Crust’s employmentagreement included a three-yearprohibition on employees work-ing ‘‘directly or indirectly’’ for abusiness involved in makingpizzas, calzones, or other similarfood products within a 15 mileradius of any Upper Crust loca-tion.

Jarras, of Sweet Tomatoes,heard about the lawsuit but de-cided to steer clear of the legalwrangling.

A few months earlier, she hadreceived a call from Tobins’s law-yer. He demanded that she re-move a copy of Pizza Today, atrade publication, from a rack inher restaurant. In a story in themagazine, Jarras is quoted recall-ing how a former employee andfriend stole her recipe. Tobinswas not mentioned by name, butthe quote apparently got his at-tention.

Ultimately, Tobins and da Sil-va, who declined to comment forthis story, reached a settlementin April. Crispy Dough is nowopen on Tremont Street nearMission Hill.

Jarras, meanwhile, kept hercopy of Pizza Today. The maga-zine story hangs in her Newtonshop, in a red frame that matchesthe color of her pizza sauce.

‘‘It’s my little protest,’’ shesaid.

Jenn Abelson can be reached [email protected].

A driven young man, and the chain he made

ERIK JACOBS FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE/FILE 2009

Jordan Tobins has foundfame and success sincestarting Upper Crust, but hisformer boss, Hedy Jarras(left), says Tobins tookbusiness contacts andexpansion plans. Tobins latersued Edmar da Silva (below),a former worker who openedhis own pizza store.

JOANNE RATHE/GLOBE STAFF/FILE 2004

its investigation in April 2009.Several months later, the gour-met pizza empire was ordered topay nearly $350,000 in backwages to more than 100 workers,most of them immigrants fromMarilac. Tobins said the compa-ny did not have enough cash topay the arrears and was granteda 30-day extension, according toa copy of the compliance reportfiled with the Department of La-bor and obtained by the Globe.

For the workers, matters onlygot worse after the investigation.Upper Crust demanded that theimmigrants surrender the gov-ernment-ordered checks forovertime pay or else lose theirjobs, according to interviewswith five former employees, fourformer managers, and a class ac-tion lawsuit filed in Suffolk Supe-rior Court in July.

‘‘This is not true,’’ Regan said.‘‘Everyone who received an over-time check cashed it.’’

The Labor Department, afterreceiving allegations that work-ers were coerced to return backwages to the company, said thatin September 2009 it told Tobinsand David Marcus, the compa-ny’s chief financial officer, thatsuch payments should be ‘‘finaland unconditional.’’

Instead, Upper Crust begandrastically reducing weekly pay-checks to recoup the federally or-dered payouts. Pinto, for exam-ple, started earning $455 for 80hours, according to copies of hispaychecks and time cards sub-mitted as part of the lawsuit.That is about $5.70 an hour, or$2.30 below minimum wage.Pinto said Upper Crust deductedmore than $8,000 over about sev-en months — the full overtimepayment he received — and thenfired him.

Tobins, in a July e-mail to theGlobe, said Pinto and a secondplaintiff in the lawsuit, CleversonBatista, were not entitled to over-time under the law because theywere managers, not hourly work-ers. He described the two men as‘‘disgruntled ex-employees’’ who‘‘have been trying to figure out away to extort money from ourbusiness.’’

Upper Crust, Joyce said, alsoallegedly devised a plan to keepchecks intended for workers whohad moved back to Brazil. Shan-non Liss-Riordan, one of the law-yers representing the employees,said the workers discussed withthe Labor Department accusa-tions that Upper Crust forged sig-natures on checks issued to em-ployees who were no longer inthe United States.

‘‘It is my understanding thatthey’re looking into it,’’ Liss-Rior-dan said.

Regan emphatically deniedthat the workers’ checks werehandled inappropriately. Anymoney owed to employees whocould not be located was sent tothe Labor Department in No-vember 2009, he said.

The Labor Department’s wageand hour division ‘‘does have an

open, ongoing investigation ofthe Upper Crust chain,’’ said JohnM. Chavez, a spokesman. The de-partment would not disclose de-tails but confirmed it has re-ceived several inquiries fromworkers in Brazil who said theydid not receive checks.

News of the check problemsspread quickly through the chainand back to Marilac. Some for-mer workers in Brazil with rela-tives still working for UpperCrust managed to recover theirback wages, including Jose daSilva and his brother, Dimas.

Others, such as Marcos Ro-drigues da Silva and his brother,Chico, say they did not. UpperCrust provided the Globe withcopies of checks that its attorney,David Berman, said had cleared.The copies included checks is-sued to the da Silva brothers andFilho, all of whom said they nev-er received payments.

Now, the divide betweenhaves and have-nots is testing re-lations in the community.

It is especially hard for someto look past the red brick housethat Botelho, Tobins’s favorite, isconstructing. The huge buildingon Rua Belo Horizonte casts ashadow over da Silva’s modesthome two doors away. Steel re-bars jut into the air, signifyingmore work to come.

Botelho’s aunt, Catia, and hismother still live around the cor-ner. Catia and her brother Edsonsaid they had not heard aboutthe problems at Upper Crust.

But Edson Botelho will saythis much: His nephew ‘‘adores’’Upper Crust, ‘‘and his boss likeshim so much.’’

Marcos Rodrigues da Silvahas a different view of the far-away pizza chain.

‘‘It’s a bad situation,’’ said daSilva, who spends his days cir-cling the town’s cracked streetson a bicycle he bought during hisUpper Crust years.

Sometimes when he’s riding,he glances down at the ‘‘Made inAmerica’’ flag printed on thebike. It reminds him of what helost.

‘‘People feel betrayed,’’ he said.

Jenn Abelson can be reached [email protected].

TAKE A CLOSER LOOKFor video and a photo gallery

with this story, go towww.boston.com/globe

‘Thestakes gothigher,and it gotmorecutthroat.It was unbearable.’PATRICK JOYCEFormer operations managerat Upper Crust

Continued from preceding page

$3992011S60 T6 AWD OR 2011VOLVO XC60 FWD

0% APRORPer monthfor 36 months.$4,293 cashdue at signing.

For 36months

WELL-EQUIPPED WITH: 300 HORSEPOWER, LEATHER SEATS,

SIRIUS,® HD RADIO, BLUETOOTH,® CITY SAFETY

WELL-EQUIPPED WITH: SIRIUS, 17" ALLOY WHEELS, HD RADIO,

BLUETOOTH, CITY SAFETY, IIHS TOP SAFETY PICK

YOUR EASTERN NEW ENGLAND VOLVO RETAILERS ARE:

nevolvo.com

DEDHAMDalzell Volvo(781) 329-1100

HAVERHILLJaffarian Volvo(978) 372-8551

HYANNISTrans-Atlantic Motors(508) 775-4526

Volvo Village of NorwellNORWELL

(781) 829-3100

BRIGHTONBoston Volvo Village(888) 797-9587

SALEMStutz Volvo(978) 744-8555

SOUTHBOROUGHFarrell Volvo(508) 571-2400

WAKEFIELD128 Volvo(781) 224-3700

WELLESLEYLee Volvo(781) 235-8841

WORCESTERGallo Volvo(508) 791-3678

VOLVOThe Official Car ofThe Boston Red Sox

Volvo. for life

volvocars.com/us/safeandsecure *Safe + Secure Coverage Plan excludes tires. ©2010 SIRIUS XM Radio Inc. SIRIUS, XM and all related marks and logos are trademarks of SIRIUS XM Radio Inc. and itssubsidiaries. City Safety is not a substitute for safe driving. For more detailed information on how to safely use this system, please visit www.volvocars.us/XC60CitySafety. S60 starting at MSRP $37,700. XC60 starting at MSRP $32,400. Excludes $850destination charge. 36 months at $28 per month per $1,000 financed. No security deposit required. For the 2011 S60 T6, monthly payment of $399, based on $38,550 MSRP, and the 2011 XC60 3.2 FWD, monthly payment of $399, based on $33,250MSRP, destination charge is included. S60 lease payment per month assumes application of $1,000 Conquest Loyalty Bonus. Customer eligibility requirements must be met for Conquest Loyalty offer. Please see retailer for details. Lessee is responsible forexcess wear and mileage over 10,000 miles/year at $0.18/mile. Take new retail delivery from retailer stock between November 5, 2010, and January 3, 2011. Please visit www.volvocars.com/us/safeandsecure or your localVolvo retailer for details on the Volvo Safe + Secure Coverage Plan and for further details specific to leased vehicles. Cars shown with optional equipment. Advertised lease payment and financing exclude taxes, title andregistration fees and are available for qualified customers through U.S. Bank. Payments may vary, as retailer determines price. Offers available at participating retailers excluding Alaska; see retailer or website for details.Over 130 channels.

THERE’S MORE TO LIFE THAN A VOLVO. There’s spreading enough holiday cheer to last not only the whole year long, butfive whole years. That’s why we’re offering our Safe and Secure Coverage plan with every new Volvo, complimentary.

PAY NOTHING TO REPAIR OR MAINTAIN YOUR VOLVO FOR 5 YEARS WITH OUR SAFE + SECURE

COVERAGE PLAN.* Coverage plan includes brakes, rotors and wiper blades.

D E C E M B E R 5 , 2 0 1 0 The Region A17B O S T O N S U N D A Y G L O B E

UPPER CRUST THE UNDERSIDE

By Jenn AbelsonGLOBE STAFF

Jordan Tobins showed up atthe grand opening party forSweet Tomatoes in Newton Cen-tre in 1998, fresh out of collegeand with no pizza-making skills.That didn’t stop him from tryinghis hand at it.

Hedy Jarras, who knew To-bins from the summers they hadboth spent vacationing on CapeCod, hired him, and immediatelythey clicked. The shop’s thin-crust pizza drew rave reviewsand crowds of devotees. Jarrasmade Tobins a manager, andthey began planning more shops.

But Tobins had his own ambi-tions. He left in 2000 to start apizza company, Upper Crust. Onthe way out, Tobins took somecrucial information: Sweet Toma-toes’ business contacts and ex-pansion plans, according to Jar-ras and her former businesspartner, Christopher Owens.

A few months later, the firstUpper Crust restaurant openedon Charles Street in Boston’s Bea-con Hill neighborhood. To Jarras,Owens, and many others atSweet Tomatoes, it looked andtasted like the pizza they made.Not only that, Upper Crust occu-pied a space Jarras had been eye-ing.

While Jarras has not claimedthat Tobins acted illegally, she ob-jects to the way he established hisbusiness.

‘‘He took what I had and ranwith it,’’ Jarras said recently inher first interview on the souredrelationship. ‘‘And it bothers methat he didn’t do it the ethicalway.’’

But that’s not how Tobins re-members it. The 34-year-oldgives credit for his love of pizza-making to Owens’s other restau-rant chain, Hot Tomatoes, saidGeorge Regan, a spokesman forUpper Crust.

‘‘It was there that ChristopherOwens showed Tobins how toroll out pizza dough,’’ Regan said.

There is no question, howev-er, that Tobins was aggressivefrom the start as he learned tothrive in the fiercely competitiveworld of pizza-making. Over theyears, Upper Crust has grown to17 stores, from Newburyport toPlymouth. Its fresh, fragrant, andpricey pies have won acclaim.But Tobins’s former employers,and some of his own employees,take a dimmer view of how thechain was born and came of age.

Tobins’s desire to emulate theSweet Tomatoes model was obvi-ous to Jim Covart, a purchasingagent who buys ingredients forSweet Tomatoes. After Tobinsquit, Covart said, he called withan unusual request.

‘‘He said, ‘We want to becomeyour customer. We are going touse the exact same things [Jar-ras] is using,’ ’’ Covart said.‘‘When I spoke with [Jarras], shetold me that he had taken her

menu.’’Covart declined to bring on

the new client.Upper Crust talked to numer-

ous vendors when it was gettingunderway to inquire about pric-ing on ingredients, Regan said.‘‘There is nothing proprietaryabout the ingredients used inmaking pizza,’’ he said.

Jarras met with a trademarklawyer at the time but was told itcould be tough to prove that To-bins didn’t slightly change herrecipe. So she decided to focus onher own business.

Still, it was hard to ignore thebudding popularity of Tobins’screation. At the Beacon Hillstore, lines of hungry customersspilled into the street. The res-taurant cultivated a hip urbanvibe, down to the bicycles it usedto deliver thin-crust pies. Theshop even caught the attention ofcorporate titan Jack Welch, who

lived in the neighborhood. In hisbest-selling book ‘‘Winning,’’ theformer General Electric chief ex-ecutive gives a priceless shout-out to Upper Crust: ‘‘The pizza isto die for.’’

Welch’s quote became thetagline for an Upper Crust mar-keting blitz that featured thecurly-haired Tobins in chefwhites, surrounded by boxes ofpizza. Encouraged by his bur-geoning fame, Tobins, a Sharonnative, set his sights on a secondstore. In 2002, he opened inBrookline on Harvard Street, an-other location Jarras had consid-ered for Sweet Tomatoes. Thenext year he launched a shop inKey West, Fla., with his father,Barry, and kept looking to addmore restaurants back home.The company later took on newpartners, Josh Huggard andBrendan Higgins, who have mi-nority stakes in the business, and

hired young managers like Pat-rick Joyce.

‘‘I bought into it being a fun,exciting work environment, ayouthful company that was grow-ing,’’ Joyce said. ‘‘I didn’t buy intowhat it became: cutting corners[on labor] to enhance the bottomline.’’

As his business flourished, To-bins relied on many immigrantemployees — almost all of whomarrived illegally from a single vil-lage in Brazil — to fill out his ex-panding kitchen staff.

At first it was a happy shop.But employees began to chafe atnot being paid for overtime, and,when they took the issue to fed-eral labor authorities and won,Tobins was furious.

He was especially tough onworkers who wanted to do whathe did when he started out: buildtheir own businesses on a bor-rowed model.

Edmar da Silva was one withdreams of making his own way.He planned to start a thin-crustpizza shop, called Crispy DoughPizzeria, with other Brazilian em-ployees at Upper Crust.

Tobins had other ideas. InFebruary he sued da Silva, accus-ing his longtime employee ofstealing trade secrets, violatinghis employment contract, andfraudulently using personal in-formation to obtain a credit cardby listing Tobins as a cosigner, ac-cording to a copy of the lawsuitfiled in Suffolk Superior Court.Upper Crust’s employmentagreement included a three-yearprohibition on employees work-ing ‘‘directly or indirectly’’ for abusiness involved in makingpizzas, calzones, or other similarfood products within a 15 mileradius of any Upper Crust loca-tion.

Jarras, of Sweet Tomatoes,heard about the lawsuit but de-cided to steer clear of the legalwrangling.

A few months earlier, she hadreceived a call from Tobins’s law-yer. He demanded that she re-move a copy of Pizza Today, atrade publication, from a rack inher restaurant. In a story in themagazine, Jarras is quoted recall-ing how a former employee andfriend stole her recipe. Tobinswas not mentioned by name, butthe quote apparently got his at-tention.

Ultimately, Tobins and da Sil-va, who declined to comment forthis story, reached a settlementin April. Crispy Dough is nowopen on Tremont Street nearMission Hill.

Jarras, meanwhile, kept hercopy of Pizza Today. The maga-zine story hangs in her Newtonshop, in a red frame that matchesthe color of her pizza sauce.

‘‘It’s my little protest,’’ shesaid.

Jenn Abelson can be reached [email protected].

A driven young man, and the chain he made

ERIK JACOBS FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE/FILE 2009

Jordan Tobins has foundfame and success sincestarting Upper Crust, but hisformer boss, Hedy Jarras(left), says Tobins tookbusiness contacts andexpansion plans. Tobins latersued Edmar da Silva (below),a former worker who openedhis own pizza store.

JOANNE RATHE/GLOBE STAFF/FILE 2004

its investigation in April 2009.Several months later, the gour-met pizza empire was ordered topay nearly $350,000 in backwages to more than 100 workers,most of them immigrants fromMarilac. Tobins said the compa-ny did not have enough cash topay the arrears and was granteda 30-day extension, according toa copy of the compliance reportfiled with the Department of La-bor and obtained by the Globe.

For the workers, matters onlygot worse after the investigation.Upper Crust demanded that theimmigrants surrender the gov-ernment-ordered checks forovertime pay or else lose theirjobs, according to interviewswith five former employees, fourformer managers, and a class ac-tion lawsuit filed in Suffolk Supe-rior Court in July.

‘‘This is not true,’’ Regan said.‘‘Everyone who received an over-time check cashed it.’’

The Labor Department, afterreceiving allegations that work-ers were coerced to return backwages to the company, said thatin September 2009 it told Tobinsand David Marcus, the compa-ny’s chief financial officer, thatsuch payments should be ‘‘finaland unconditional.’’

Instead, Upper Crust begandrastically reducing weekly pay-checks to recoup the federally or-dered payouts. Pinto, for exam-ple, started earning $455 for 80hours, according to copies of hispaychecks and time cards sub-mitted as part of the lawsuit.That is about $5.70 an hour, or$2.30 below minimum wage.Pinto said Upper Crust deductedmore than $8,000 over about sev-en months — the full overtimepayment he received — and thenfired him.

Tobins, in a July e-mail to theGlobe, said Pinto and a secondplaintiff in the lawsuit, CleversonBatista, were not entitled to over-time under the law because theywere managers, not hourly work-ers. He described the two men as‘‘disgruntled ex-employees’’ who‘‘have been trying to figure out away to extort money from ourbusiness.’’

Upper Crust, Joyce said, alsoallegedly devised a plan to keepchecks intended for workers whohad moved back to Brazil. Shan-non Liss-Riordan, one of the law-yers representing the employees,said the workers discussed withthe Labor Department accusa-tions that Upper Crust forged sig-natures on checks issued to em-ployees who were no longer inthe United States.

‘‘It is my understanding thatthey’re looking into it,’’ Liss-Rior-dan said.

Regan emphatically deniedthat the workers’ checks werehandled inappropriately. Anymoney owed to employees whocould not be located was sent tothe Labor Department in No-vember 2009, he said.

The Labor Department’s wageand hour division ‘‘does have an

open, ongoing investigation ofthe Upper Crust chain,’’ said JohnM. Chavez, a spokesman. The de-partment would not disclose de-tails but confirmed it has re-ceived several inquiries fromworkers in Brazil who said theydid not receive checks.

News of the check problemsspread quickly through the chainand back to Marilac. Some for-mer workers in Brazil with rela-tives still working for UpperCrust managed to recover theirback wages, including Jose daSilva and his brother, Dimas.

Others, such as Marcos Ro-drigues da Silva and his brother,Chico, say they did not. UpperCrust provided the Globe withcopies of checks that its attorney,David Berman, said had cleared.The copies included checks is-sued to the da Silva brothers andFilho, all of whom said they nev-er received payments.

Now, the divide betweenhaves and have-nots is testing re-lations in the community.

It is especially hard for someto look past the red brick housethat Botelho, Tobins’s favorite, isconstructing. The huge buildingon Rua Belo Horizonte casts ashadow over da Silva’s modesthome two doors away. Steel re-bars jut into the air, signifyingmore work to come.

Botelho’s aunt, Catia, and hismother still live around the cor-ner. Catia and her brother Edsonsaid they had not heard aboutthe problems at Upper Crust.

But Edson Botelho will saythis much: His nephew ‘‘adores’’Upper Crust, ‘‘and his boss likeshim so much.’’

Marcos Rodrigues da Silvahas a different view of the far-away pizza chain.

‘‘It’s a bad situation,’’ said daSilva, who spends his days cir-cling the town’s cracked streetson a bicycle he bought during hisUpper Crust years.

Sometimes when he’s riding,he glances down at the ‘‘Made inAmerica’’ flag printed on thebike. It reminds him of what helost.

‘‘People feel betrayed,’’ he said.

Jenn Abelson can be reached [email protected].

TAKE A CLOSER LOOKFor video and a photo gallery

with this story, go towww.boston.com/globe

‘Thestakes gothigher,and it gotmorecutthroat.It was unbearable.’PATRICK JOYCEFormer operations managerat Upper Crust

Continued from preceding page

$3992011S60 T6 AWD OR 2011VOLVO XC60 FWD

0% APRORPer monthfor 36 months.$4,293 cashdue at signing.

For 36months

WELL-EQUIPPED WITH: 300 HORSEPOWER, LEATHER SEATS,

SIRIUS,® HD RADIO, BLUETOOTH,® CITY SAFETY

WELL-EQUIPPED WITH: SIRIUS, 17" ALLOY WHEELS, HD RADIO,

BLUETOOTH, CITY SAFETY, IIHS TOP SAFETY PICK

YOUR EASTERN NEW ENGLAND VOLVO RETAILERS ARE:

nevolvo.com

DEDHAMDalzell Volvo(781) 329-1100

HAVERHILLJaffarian Volvo(978) 372-8551

HYANNISTrans-Atlantic Motors(508) 775-4526

Volvo Village of NorwellNORWELL

(781) 829-3100

BRIGHTONBoston Volvo Village(888) 797-9587

SALEMStutz Volvo(978) 744-8555

SOUTHBOROUGHFarrell Volvo(508) 571-2400

WAKEFIELD128 Volvo(781) 224-3700

WELLESLEYLee Volvo(781) 235-8841

WORCESTERGallo Volvo(508) 791-3678

VOLVOThe Official Car ofThe Boston Red Sox

Volvo. for life

volvocars.com/us/safeandsecure *Safe + Secure Coverage Plan excludes tires. ©2010 SIRIUS XM Radio Inc. SIRIUS, XM and all related marks and logos are trademarks of SIRIUS XM Radio Inc. and itssubsidiaries. City Safety is not a substitute for safe driving. For more detailed information on how to safely use this system, please visit www.volvocars.us/XC60CitySafety. S60 starting at MSRP $37,700. XC60 starting at MSRP $32,400. Excludes $850destination charge. 36 months at $28 per month per $1,000 financed. No security deposit required. For the 2011 S60 T6, monthly payment of $399, based on $38,550 MSRP, and the 2011 XC60 3.2 FWD, monthly payment of $399, based on $33,250MSRP, destination charge is included. S60 lease payment per month assumes application of $1,000 Conquest Loyalty Bonus. Customer eligibility requirements must be met for Conquest Loyalty offer. Please see retailer for details. Lessee is responsible forexcess wear and mileage over 10,000 miles/year at $0.18/mile. Take new retail delivery from retailer stock between November 5, 2010, and January 3, 2011. Please visit www.volvocars.com/us/safeandsecure or your localVolvo retailer for details on the Volvo Safe + Secure Coverage Plan and for further details specific to leased vehicles. Cars shown with optional equipment. Advertised lease payment and financing exclude taxes, title andregistration fees and are available for qualified customers through U.S. Bank. Payments may vary, as retailer determines price. Offers available at participating retailers excluding Alaska; see retailer or website for details.Over 130 channels.

THERE’S MORE TO LIFE THAN A VOLVO. There’s spreading enough holiday cheer to last not only the whole year long, butfive whole years. That’s why we’re offering our Safe and Secure Coverage plan with every new Volvo, complimentary.

PAY NOTHING TO REPAIR OR MAINTAIN YOUR VOLVO FOR 5 YEARS WITH OUR SAFE + SECURE

COVERAGE PLAN.* Coverage plan includes brakes, rotors and wiper blades.

6

Page 7: Upper Crust

DECEMBER 5 , 2010

D E C E M B E R 5 , 2 0 1 0 The Region A17B O S T O N S U N D A Y G L O B E

UPPER CRUST THE UNDERSIDE

By Jenn AbelsonGLOBE STAFF

Jordan Tobins showed up atthe grand opening party forSweet Tomatoes in Newton Cen-tre in 1998, fresh out of collegeand with no pizza-making skills.That didn’t stop him from tryinghis hand at it.

Hedy Jarras, who knew To-bins from the summers they hadboth spent vacationing on CapeCod, hired him, and immediatelythey clicked. The shop’s thin-crust pizza drew rave reviewsand crowds of devotees. Jarrasmade Tobins a manager, andthey began planning more shops.

But Tobins had his own ambi-tions. He left in 2000 to start apizza company, Upper Crust. Onthe way out, Tobins took somecrucial information: Sweet Toma-toes’ business contacts and ex-pansion plans, according to Jar-ras and her former businesspartner, Christopher Owens.

A few months later, the firstUpper Crust restaurant openedon Charles Street in Boston’s Bea-con Hill neighborhood. To Jarras,Owens, and many others atSweet Tomatoes, it looked andtasted like the pizza they made.Not only that, Upper Crust occu-pied a space Jarras had been eye-ing.

While Jarras has not claimedthat Tobins acted illegally, she ob-jects to the way he established hisbusiness.

‘‘He took what I had and ranwith it,’’ Jarras said recently inher first interview on the souredrelationship. ‘‘And it bothers methat he didn’t do it the ethicalway.’’

But that’s not how Tobins re-members it. The 34-year-oldgives credit for his love of pizza-making to Owens’s other restau-rant chain, Hot Tomatoes, saidGeorge Regan, a spokesman forUpper Crust.

‘‘It was there that ChristopherOwens showed Tobins how toroll out pizza dough,’’ Regan said.

There is no question, howev-er, that Tobins was aggressivefrom the start as he learned tothrive in the fiercely competitiveworld of pizza-making. Over theyears, Upper Crust has grown to17 stores, from Newburyport toPlymouth. Its fresh, fragrant, andpricey pies have won acclaim.But Tobins’s former employers,and some of his own employees,take a dimmer view of how thechain was born and came of age.

Tobins’s desire to emulate theSweet Tomatoes model was obvi-ous to Jim Covart, a purchasingagent who buys ingredients forSweet Tomatoes. After Tobinsquit, Covart said, he called withan unusual request.

‘‘He said, ‘We want to becomeyour customer. We are going touse the exact same things [Jar-ras] is using,’ ’’ Covart said.‘‘When I spoke with [Jarras], shetold me that he had taken her

menu.’’Covart declined to bring on

the new client.Upper Crust talked to numer-

ous vendors when it was gettingunderway to inquire about pric-ing on ingredients, Regan said.‘‘There is nothing proprietaryabout the ingredients used inmaking pizza,’’ he said.

Jarras met with a trademarklawyer at the time but was told itcould be tough to prove that To-bins didn’t slightly change herrecipe. So she decided to focus onher own business.

Still, it was hard to ignore thebudding popularity of Tobins’screation. At the Beacon Hillstore, lines of hungry customersspilled into the street. The res-taurant cultivated a hip urbanvibe, down to the bicycles it usedto deliver thin-crust pies. Theshop even caught the attention ofcorporate titan Jack Welch, who

lived in the neighborhood. In hisbest-selling book ‘‘Winning,’’ theformer General Electric chief ex-ecutive gives a priceless shout-out to Upper Crust: ‘‘The pizza isto die for.’’

Welch’s quote became thetagline for an Upper Crust mar-keting blitz that featured thecurly-haired Tobins in chefwhites, surrounded by boxes ofpizza. Encouraged by his bur-geoning fame, Tobins, a Sharonnative, set his sights on a secondstore. In 2002, he opened inBrookline on Harvard Street, an-other location Jarras had consid-ered for Sweet Tomatoes. Thenext year he launched a shop inKey West, Fla., with his father,Barry, and kept looking to addmore restaurants back home.The company later took on newpartners, Josh Huggard andBrendan Higgins, who have mi-nority stakes in the business, and

hired young managers like Pat-rick Joyce.

‘‘I bought into it being a fun,exciting work environment, ayouthful company that was grow-ing,’’ Joyce said. ‘‘I didn’t buy intowhat it became: cutting corners[on labor] to enhance the bottomline.’’

As his business flourished, To-bins relied on many immigrantemployees — almost all of whomarrived illegally from a single vil-lage in Brazil — to fill out his ex-panding kitchen staff.

At first it was a happy shop.But employees began to chafe atnot being paid for overtime, and,when they took the issue to fed-eral labor authorities and won,Tobins was furious.

He was especially tough onworkers who wanted to do whathe did when he started out: buildtheir own businesses on a bor-rowed model.

Edmar da Silva was one withdreams of making his own way.He planned to start a thin-crustpizza shop, called Crispy DoughPizzeria, with other Brazilian em-ployees at Upper Crust.

Tobins had other ideas. InFebruary he sued da Silva, accus-ing his longtime employee ofstealing trade secrets, violatinghis employment contract, andfraudulently using personal in-formation to obtain a credit cardby listing Tobins as a cosigner, ac-cording to a copy of the lawsuitfiled in Suffolk Superior Court.Upper Crust’s employmentagreement included a three-yearprohibition on employees work-ing ‘‘directly or indirectly’’ for abusiness involved in makingpizzas, calzones, or other similarfood products within a 15 mileradius of any Upper Crust loca-tion.

Jarras, of Sweet Tomatoes,heard about the lawsuit but de-cided to steer clear of the legalwrangling.

A few months earlier, she hadreceived a call from Tobins’s law-yer. He demanded that she re-move a copy of Pizza Today, atrade publication, from a rack inher restaurant. In a story in themagazine, Jarras is quoted recall-ing how a former employee andfriend stole her recipe. Tobinswas not mentioned by name, butthe quote apparently got his at-tention.

Ultimately, Tobins and da Sil-va, who declined to comment forthis story, reached a settlementin April. Crispy Dough is nowopen on Tremont Street nearMission Hill.

Jarras, meanwhile, kept hercopy of Pizza Today. The maga-zine story hangs in her Newtonshop, in a red frame that matchesthe color of her pizza sauce.

‘‘It’s my little protest,’’ shesaid.

Jenn Abelson can be reached [email protected].

A driven young man, and the chain he made

ERIK JACOBS FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE/FILE 2009

Jordan Tobins has foundfame and success sincestarting Upper Crust, but hisformer boss, Hedy Jarras(left), says Tobins tookbusiness contacts andexpansion plans. Tobins latersued Edmar da Silva (below),a former worker who openedhis own pizza store.

JOANNE RATHE/GLOBE STAFF/FILE 2004

its investigation in April 2009.Several months later, the gour-met pizza empire was ordered topay nearly $350,000 in backwages to more than 100 workers,most of them immigrants fromMarilac. Tobins said the compa-ny did not have enough cash topay the arrears and was granteda 30-day extension, according toa copy of the compliance reportfiled with the Department of La-bor and obtained by the Globe.

For the workers, matters onlygot worse after the investigation.Upper Crust demanded that theimmigrants surrender the gov-ernment-ordered checks forovertime pay or else lose theirjobs, according to interviewswith five former employees, fourformer managers, and a class ac-tion lawsuit filed in Suffolk Supe-rior Court in July.

‘‘This is not true,’’ Regan said.‘‘Everyone who received an over-time check cashed it.’’

The Labor Department, afterreceiving allegations that work-ers were coerced to return backwages to the company, said thatin September 2009 it told Tobinsand David Marcus, the compa-ny’s chief financial officer, thatsuch payments should be ‘‘finaland unconditional.’’

Instead, Upper Crust begandrastically reducing weekly pay-checks to recoup the federally or-dered payouts. Pinto, for exam-ple, started earning $455 for 80hours, according to copies of hispaychecks and time cards sub-mitted as part of the lawsuit.That is about $5.70 an hour, or$2.30 below minimum wage.Pinto said Upper Crust deductedmore than $8,000 over about sev-en months — the full overtimepayment he received — and thenfired him.

Tobins, in a July e-mail to theGlobe, said Pinto and a secondplaintiff in the lawsuit, CleversonBatista, were not entitled to over-time under the law because theywere managers, not hourly work-ers. He described the two men as‘‘disgruntled ex-employees’’ who‘‘have been trying to figure out away to extort money from ourbusiness.’’

Upper Crust, Joyce said, alsoallegedly devised a plan to keepchecks intended for workers whohad moved back to Brazil. Shan-non Liss-Riordan, one of the law-yers representing the employees,said the workers discussed withthe Labor Department accusa-tions that Upper Crust forged sig-natures on checks issued to em-ployees who were no longer inthe United States.

‘‘It is my understanding thatthey’re looking into it,’’ Liss-Rior-dan said.

Regan emphatically deniedthat the workers’ checks werehandled inappropriately. Anymoney owed to employees whocould not be located was sent tothe Labor Department in No-vember 2009, he said.

The Labor Department’s wageand hour division ‘‘does have an

open, ongoing investigation ofthe Upper Crust chain,’’ said JohnM. Chavez, a spokesman. The de-partment would not disclose de-tails but confirmed it has re-ceived several inquiries fromworkers in Brazil who said theydid not receive checks.

News of the check problemsspread quickly through the chainand back to Marilac. Some for-mer workers in Brazil with rela-tives still working for UpperCrust managed to recover theirback wages, including Jose daSilva and his brother, Dimas.

Others, such as Marcos Ro-drigues da Silva and his brother,Chico, say they did not. UpperCrust provided the Globe withcopies of checks that its attorney,David Berman, said had cleared.The copies included checks is-sued to the da Silva brothers andFilho, all of whom said they nev-er received payments.

Now, the divide betweenhaves and have-nots is testing re-lations in the community.

It is especially hard for someto look past the red brick housethat Botelho, Tobins’s favorite, isconstructing. The huge buildingon Rua Belo Horizonte casts ashadow over da Silva’s modesthome two doors away. Steel re-bars jut into the air, signifyingmore work to come.

Botelho’s aunt, Catia, and hismother still live around the cor-ner. Catia and her brother Edsonsaid they had not heard aboutthe problems at Upper Crust.

But Edson Botelho will saythis much: His nephew ‘‘adores’’Upper Crust, ‘‘and his boss likeshim so much.’’

Marcos Rodrigues da Silvahas a different view of the far-away pizza chain.

‘‘It’s a bad situation,’’ said daSilva, who spends his days cir-cling the town’s cracked streetson a bicycle he bought during hisUpper Crust years.

Sometimes when he’s riding,he glances down at the ‘‘Made inAmerica’’ flag printed on thebike. It reminds him of what helost.

‘‘People feel betrayed,’’ he said.

Jenn Abelson can be reached [email protected].

TAKE A CLOSER LOOKFor video and a photo gallery

with this story, go towww.boston.com/globe

‘Thestakes gothigher,and it gotmorecutthroat.It was unbearable.’PATRICK JOYCEFormer operations managerat Upper Crust

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Page 8: Upper Crust

DECEMBER 10 , 2010

F R I D A Y , D E C E M B E R 1 0 , 2 0 1 0 B5T H E B O S T O N G L O B E

Here is today’s $625 millionquestion: Did Carl Shapiro’shuge settlement with the fed-eral government make thingsright?

Shapiro, one of Boston’struly great philanthropists,and his family agreed to write acheck for that staggering sum

this week. They are returning so many mil-lions that had supposedly been earned frominvestments made by Bernard Madoff, whoactually swindled the money from otherclients.

Whether $625 million is the right amount,and is this the fair way to settle the matter, arehard questions to answer for two reasons.First, many details about Madoff and theShapiro investments remain unknown. Sec-ond, any story about vast amounts of publiccharity and stolen money mixed together isbound to make your moral compass spin.

The most important thing we still don’tknow: How much of the Shapiro fortune wasmoney that Madoff pilfered in the infamousPonzi scheme that blew up in 2008? The $625million payment is merely a negotiated settle-ment of a legal dispute.

Here’s how they reached that number:Irving Picard, a trustee who represents theinterests of Madoff victims, had argued theShapiros took a little more than $1 billion outof their Madoff account during the last sixyears of the scam. Shapiro countered hisfamily had kicked in another $500 million toMadoff that Picard hadn’t counted. Thatnetted out to about $550 million. Anotherparty to the dispute, the Justice Department,received $75 million, bringing the total to$625 million.

One important footnote: Picard made itclear he would not pursue money alreadydonated to nonprofit institutions, a sum thatruns into the many of millions in the case ofthe Shapiros.

As neat as figures sound, a settlementbased on the movement of money over the sixyears prior to Madoff’s arrest leaves a lot offinancial history untouched. Shapiro, now 97,first made a fortune selling his Kay Windsordress business in 1971 for $21 million andgave a good deal of the money to Madoff. Overdecades, those accounts grew much larger, atleast on paper. Picard stops following the trailbackward at 2002.

Shapiro says he was hoodwinked by Ma-doff all along, and no one investigating thecase has alleged otherwise. But I have a hardtime reconciling the idea that a smart busi-nessman with relentless focus on detail couldbe completely snowed by his friend for solong.

All along the way, some of Greater Boston’smost famous hospitals, museums, and univer-sities have had their hands in Shapiro’s pock-ets, and the city is undoubtedly a better placefor it.

On a quick drive yesterday, I passed Sha-piro buildings at Brigham and Women’s Hos-pital and Beth Israel Deaconess MedicalCenter. I stopped off at the Museum of FineArts to see its spectacular new wing, built inpart with millions from the Shapiros. I droveto Boston Medical Center, where the nearlycomplete nine-story Shapiro ambulatorycenter will open in the spring.

That’s only a sampling. Don’t ask mewhose money really paid for it all. I don’tknow.

The $625 million settlement isn’t perfect.But it’s a worthy act by a family that spentmuch of its fortune — presumed or otherwise— to help others. The Shapiros stand apartfrom investment advisers who recklessly senttheir clients’ money to Madoff and now hideunder rocks when called on to takeresponsibility.

Steven Syre is a Globe columnist. He can bereached at [email protected].

PONZI FALLOUTRead previous coverage of the Bernard

Madoff scandal at www.boston.com/business.

In settlement,Shapiros arestill giving

Steven SyreBOSTON CAPITAL

Business

By Beth HealyGLOBE STAFF

Seeking to close an ugly chapter,State Street Corp. yesterday said itwould sell $11 billion in problem in-vestments and take a $350 millionloss on the securities, mostly mort-gage-related assets it acquired duringthe subprime lending boom.

State Street executives previouslyhad assured investors that the assetswould regain their full value overtime. Yesterday’s announcement sur-prised investors, who drove StateStreet’s stock down by as much as 5percent early in the day. The sharesclosed at $45.74, down 1 percent.

A week after announcing a majorlayoff and $625 million in cost cuts,State Street said it was looking to‘‘strategically reposition’’ its invest-ment portfolio, in order to improve its

capital cushion and reduce its expo-sure to riskier asset classes.

Most of the investments it is sellingare leftovers from the mid-2000s,when large investors loaded up onmortgage and other asset-backed se-curities and then suffered giant losseswhen the housing market blew up in2008. State Street held onto the secu-rities through the downturn. But withinterest rates rising, further batteringthe prices of many bonds, the Bostonfinancial services giant decided to cut

its losses.Nancy Bush, a banking analyst,

said it appears State Street wanted toend the pain and take a cleaner bal-ance sheet into 2011. But investorswere more weary than relieved yester-day, she said: ‘‘I just want to see thisstuff stop. I want to see the blowups inthe bond portfolio stop.’’

State Street’s core businesses arehandling administrative and account-ing services for mutual funds and

State St. to shed $11b of bad assetsBank will cut riskbut lose $350m

STATE STREET, Page B7

By Hiawatha BrayGLOBE STAFF

While the coordinated hacking ofcompanies that have cut ties to Wiki-Leaks has done relatively little dam-age to their businesses so far, it hasnonetheless shown how easily sophis-ticated attackers can pierce at least theouter layer of online security defensesat major Internet operations.

Internet hackers sympathetic toWikiLeaks founder Julian Assangelaunched focused attacks on the web-sites of credit card companies Visa

and MasterCard and the online pay-ment processor PayPal.com.

An Internet activist group thatcalls itself Anonymous launched theattack on PayPal Wednesday afterposting an online manifesto that de-clared, ‘‘PayPal is the enemy.’’

The attack on PayPal could have

been the most serious, since onlineshoppers need access to the site tomake payments to Internet retailers.

In a statement issued yesterday, aPayPal spokeswoman said ‘‘these at-tacks have at times slowed the websiteitself down, but have not significantly

The cyberspace battlefield

BERNADETT SZABO/REUTERS

Supporters of Julian Assange during a protest yesterday in front of the British embassy in Budapest.

Hackers’ attacks alarmWebDamage slight, butanalysts see need fortighter safeguards

PayPal and Visa were targeted; an Amazon.com attack was abandoned.

WIKILEAKS, Page B10

By Steven ErlangerNEW YORK TIMES

PARIS — For many Europeans,Washington’s fierce reaction to theflood of secret diplomatic cables re-leased by WikiLeaks displays imperialarrogance and hypocrisy, indicating apost-9/11 obsession with secrecy thatcontradicts American principles.

The Obama administration hasdone nothing in the courts to blockthe publication of any of the leakeddocuments, or even, as of yet, tried toindict the WikiLeaks founder, JulianAssange, for any crime.

American officials and politicians,however, have been widely con-demned in the European news mediafor calling the leaks everything from‘‘terrorism’’ (Representative Peter T.King, Republican of New York) to ‘‘anattack against the international com-munity’’ (Secretary of State HillaryRodham Clinton).

Secretary of Defense Robert M.Gates called the arrest of Assange in aseparate rape case ‘‘good news,’’ whileSarah Palin called for him to be hunt-ed as an ‘‘anti-American operativewith blood on his hands.’’

For Seumas Milne of The Guardianin London, which like The New YorkTimes has published the latest Wiki-Leaks trove, the official US reaction ‘‘istipping over toward derangement.’’Most of the leaks are of low-level dip-lomatic cables, he noted, while con-cluding: ‘‘Not much truck with free-dom of information, then, in the landof the free.’’

John Naughton, writing in thesame British paper, deplored the at-tack on the openness of the Internetand the pressure on companies such

In Europe,sharp criticismof US reactiontoWikiLeaks

EUROPE, Page B10

By Robert WeismanGLOBE STAFF

Consumer advocates and com-peting hospitals yesterday said theywill closely monitor Steward HealthCare Systems LLC’s proposed acqui-sition of Merrimack Valley Hospital,of Haverhill, and Nashoba ValleyMedical Center, of Ayer, for an undis-closed sum.

‘‘We will focus on what thismeans for the communities and thehealth care they receive,’’ said AmyWhitcomb Slemmer, executive di-

rector of Health Care for All, aBoston consumer advocacy group.‘‘We want to listen carefully to thepatient experience to make surethere are no barriers to care and theservices people depend on.’’

Donald K. Stern, a Boston lawyerwho represents Merrimack Valleyrival Lawrence General Hospital andother hospitals, called on the attor-ney general’s office to assess the pur-chase deal as part of its oversight ofSteward.

That continuing review was acondition of Attorney General Mar-tha Coakley’s recommendation inOctober that Steward, a Bostonholding company formed by New

Rivals, consumer groupswatching hospital deals

THE NEWCARITASRead previous coverage of the

sale of Caritas Christi Health Care atwww.boston.com/caritas. STEWARD, Page B7

By Jenn AbelsonGLOBE STAFF

The Upper Crust pizza chain iscoming under scrutiny by the Massa-chusetts attorney general’s office forpotential violations of the state’s mini-mum-wage and other workplace laws,according to an official briefed on thematter.

This inquiry comes days after theGlobe reported allegations from for-mer Upper Crust employees that the

Boston pizzeria exploited Brazilianimmigrant workers as it rapidly ex-panded over the past decade. Formeremployees have accused Upper Crustand owner Jordan Tobins of takingback thousands of dollars in overtimepayments that were ordered by theDepartment of Labor and failing topay minimum wage.

‘‘We have nothing to hide. We wel-come any investigation,’’ said George

Upper Crustsaid to faceprobe by AG

DINA RUDICK/GLOBE STAFF

The Upper Crust location inBrookline is one of 17 stores.

UNDER THE CRUSTRead previous Globe coverage of

The Upper Crust Pizzeria atwww.boston.com/business. UPPER CRUST, Page B7

J O H N T R AV O LTAP R O F E S S I O N A L P I L O T

8

Page 9: Upper Crust

DECEMBER 10 , 2010

F R I D A Y , D E C E M B E R 1 0 , 2 0 1 0 B7T H E B O S T O N G L O B E

By Pallavi GogoiASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK — Complaints againstbanks are soaring, suggesting that newlaws and regulations put in place sincethe financial crisis two years ago are notdampening Americans’ anger over over-draft fees and foreclosure practices theyview as unfair.

If the trend continues, analysts say, itwill set banks on a collision course withtheir customers and lead to tougherrules that will hurt their earnings.

The Office of the Comptroller of theCurrency estimates that complaintsfrom customers of the 1,500 banks itregulates will hit 80,000 this year. Thatwould be the highest level in the 15 yearsit has recorded them and more thandouble the 2008 total. The Better Busi-ness Bureau and state attorneys generalalso report big increases.

Regulators say the surge has putthem on high alert. Both the Federal Re-serve and the Federal Deposit InsuranceCorporation have issued new guidelinesand regulators have hired additionalstaff as they seek to resolve each com-plaint. The Fed sought to head off onearea of large complaints in November2009 by prohibiting banks from charg-ing overdraft fees on ATM withdrawals

without customers’ consent.Elizabeth Warren, the Harvard pro-

fessor chosen by President Obama to setup the Consumer Financial ProtectionBureau, said she is frustrated with howbanks find ways to skirt bans on certainpractices.

‘‘We need fundamental change thatwill address the real, underlying issues,’’she said in a Dec. 2 speech to the Con-sumer Federation of America. Consumersafety must trump ‘‘deceptive and dan-gerous innovations,’’ she said.

Officials at Bank of America Corp.,JPMorgan Chase & Co., Wells Fargo &Co., and Citigroup Inc. said they are lis-tening to their customers and hiringstaff to deal with problem areas likemortgages. ‘‘Customer relationships are

the backbone of banking, and banks areconstantly striving to meet customer de-mands,’’ said Peter Garuccio, a spokes-man for the American Bankers Associa-tion.

Complaints about mortgages andforeclosures surged to the top spot thisyear. The comptroller estimates thenumber of grievances it will receiveabout home loans will almost double to36,000, from 19,669 last year. That’s notsurprising: Banks are fighting lawsuitsover these issues and are being investi-gated by all 50 state attorneys general onhow they conduct foreclosures.

For years, most complaints were overcredit cards. Last year, Congress passedlegislation that prohibited card compa-nies from arbitrarily changing rates andlimited fees. The changes are having aneffect: Although credit cards are still thesecond-highest complaint category, theynow make up just 22 percent of all com-plaints, down from 37 percent in 2009.

Despite new laws, complaints against banks upPresidentialadviserElizabeth

Warren says that changesare needed to preventbanks from skirting newfederal legislation.

CONSUMERSAFETY URGED

Analysts predicttrend could hurtlenders over time

By Andrew VanacoreASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK — Computermaker Dell Inc. is close to acquir-ing data storage provider Com-pellent Technologies Inc. forabout $876 million, the companysaid yesterday.

The deal would extend a re-cent string of deals in the datastorage industry as tech firms po-sition themselves to help bigcompanies and governmentagencies deal with ever-increas-ing amounts of digital informa-tion.

Dell fell short in its effort toexpand in the storage business

earlier this year when it lost thebidding for 3Par Inc. to rivalHewlett-Packard Co., which end-ed up paying $2.35 billion.

Now, Round Rock, Texas-based Dell said it has a tentativeagreement to buy 3Par competi-tor Compellent, which is based inEden Prairie, Minn., for $27.50per share. The company cau-tioned that a deal may still nothappen.

But investors appear to haveanticipated a takeover offer —and perhaps a fatter premium.Dell’s offer represents an 18.2percent discount to Compellent’sclosing price on Wednesday.

COMPELLENT TECHNOLOGIES INC. VIA BLOOMBERG NEWS

Dell’s purchase of Compellent Technologies would extend arecent string of deals in the data storage industry.

Dell close to $876mdeal for Compellent

York buyout firm Cerberus Capi-tal Management, be allowed totake over nonprofit Caritas Chris-ti Health Care last month andconvert it to a for-profit business.

The six-hospital chain ownsSt. Elizabeth’s Medical Center inBrighton, Carney Hospital inDorchester, and four other Cath-olic community hospitals in East-ern Massachusetts.

‘‘We trust that the attorneygeneral will take a hard look ateach step along the way to assurethat [Steward’s] activities don’tundercut competitors,’’ Sternsaid. For example, competinghospitals worry that Steward,drawing on Cerberus money,might try to expand by poachingdoctors from other hospitals.

Steward, under the aggressiveleadership of chief executiveRalph de la Torre, will be a strongdriver of change for Massachu-setts health care, said Steven J.Tringale, managing director ofHinkley Allen & Tringale, ahealth care consulting firm inBoston.

As hospitals shift from a fee-for-service to a performance-based pay system that rewardsdoctors and hospitals with bettermedical outcomes and lowercosts, Steward can take advan-tage of its critical mass and its ac-cess to funding to upgrade datasystems that help physiciansmonitor health care outcomesbefore other hospitals do, Trin-gale said.

‘‘Steward is going to apply alittle extra competitive pressureto the marketplace,’’ Tringalesaid. ‘‘The pressures were alreadythere, but Steward is changingthe acceleration curve. Whetherthey’re nonprofits or whetherthey’re for-profits, other playerswill have to respond.’’

The acquisition of the Merri-mack Valley and Nashoba Valleyhospitals will require approval bythe state Public Health Council,

which is being asked to grantnew hospital licenses to Steward.Spokesman Chris Murphy saidSteward filed its application yes-terday.

Julia Hurley, a spokeswomanfor the state Department of Pub-lic Health, said the agency wouldreview the submission.

Executives from Harvard-affil-iated Boston teaching hospitalsoffered contrasting views on howSteward’s growing hospital sys-tem could affect health care inMassachusetts.

The tentative agreement toacquire Merrimack Valley andNashoba Valley is not likely to al-ter the competitive landscape,said Paul F. Levy, president ofBeth Israel Deaconess MedicalCenter, which has a clinical affili-ation with Lawrence GeneralHospital.

‘‘There is nothing to suggestthat there will be a major changein the services provided by thetwo hospitals or their position inthe community,’’ Levy wrote in ane-mail yesterday.

But Peter K. Markell, vicepresident of finance at PartnersHealthCare System Inc., the Bos-ton parent of Massachusetts Gen-eral Hospital and Brigham andWomen’s Hospital, said Stewardcould offer more competition fordowntown teaching hospitals ifde la Torre is successful in stem-ming the leakage of patientsfrom Eastern Massachusettscommunities to Boston.

Markell said that Mass. Gen-eral and Brigham and Women’sare also community hospitals forresidents in and around Boston.

If the Steward network drawsaway routine health care serv-ices, it could drive up the cost ofthe more complex medical careoffered at Partners hospitals, hewarned.

‘‘Any competition is always athreat,’’ Markell said.

Robert Weisman can be reachedat [email protected].

Caritas’s new ownerdraws more scrutinyº STEWARDContinued from Page B5

hedge funds, as well as managing$1.9 trillion for pensions andother large investment funds. Inrecent years, though, the compa-ny became more aggressive withinvestments it carries on its bal-ance sheet, in order to producehigher returns on that money.That foray, initially aimed at add-ing incrementally to profits, be-came a costly gambit.

In early 2009, State Street hadmore than $6 billion in unreal-ized losses on securities in its in-vestment portfolio. Those poten-tial losses have shrunksignificantly, because rather than

unloading them at fire-saleprices, the firm held the securi-ties and waited for the markets tocome back. But the improvementmay have run its course, analystssaid, after a lengthy bond rally.

State Street says it’s focusingon higher-quality fixed-incomeinvestments, those with AAA andAA ratings by bond agencies.

In 2004, chief executive Ron-ald Logue had pushed StateStreet to take on more risk togenerate greater returns. Butthose risks did not pay off. Lastyear, State Street took a $3.7 bil-lion charge to cover bad invest-ments and set aside hundreds ofmillions of dollars to settle law-

suits brought by customers wholost money in bond funds hurt byrisky positions.

Gerard Cassidy, an analystwith RBC Capital Markets inPortland, Maine, said yesterday’smove was good news for StateStreet investors because execu-tives are reducing the company’srisk.

Cassidy also expects fewernegative surprises under StateStreet’s new chief executive, JayHooley, who took over in March.‘‘Jay Hooley is putting his finger-prints on this company as beingmore conservative,’’ Cassidy said.

Hooley is overseeing somemajor year-end overhauls, in-

cluding last week’s stunningnews that State Street will let go1,400 people over the next year,400 of them in the Boston area.The next day, about one-third ofthose people were escorted fromtheir offices.

The company will take a $165million restructuring charge inthe fourth quarter for the layoffs,along with the $350 millioncharge for the asset sale. StateStreet said that, excluding thecharges, it still expects to earnslightly more than $3.32 pershare in 2010.

Beth Healy can be reached [email protected].

State Street will shed troubled assetsº STATE STREETContinued from Page B5

Regan, a spokesman for UpperCrust.

‘‘The violations in this caseare particularly egregious, andwe are pleased to see anotheragency looking into this as well,’’said Shannon Liss-Riordan, oneof the lawyers representing for-mer workers who filed a lawsuitin July against Upper Crust.

The official briefed on thematter requested anonymity be-cause the inquiry is not public.

Upper Crust, founded in2001, is being examined by atleast three state and federalagencies: the state attorney gen-eral’s office, the Department ofLabor, and the MassachusettsCommission Against Discrimina-tion.

Over the past 10 years, dozensof men have left the impover-ished village of Marilac in south-eastern Brazil and risked theirsafety in treacherous, illegal bor-der crossings to make their wayto Boston. They have come withdreams of making a better life byworking at an Upper Crust shopand sending money to their fam-ilies in Brazil to buy homes, buildbusinesses, and pay bills.

Marilac provided a steadysupply of cheap, dedicated laborfor Upper Crust, and the arrange-ment worked — until ambitiontore it apart.

As the chain swiftly expandedto 17 stores, the immigrants took

on longer hours — often exceed-ing 80 hours per week — withoutovertime pay. The Brazilian em-ployees, who usually worked ascooks and delivery drivers, saidthey were also denied raises andbonuses that had once made thejobs more palatable.

One former Brazilian worker,Marcia Almeida Sousa, thoughtthe company went too far aftershe was involved in a car acci-dent while delivering pizza. Thecrash left her with a cervicalspine ligament injury and cervi-cal sprain.

Four days after the October2008 accident, Tobins asked Sou-sa to meet with him and his at-torney. They wanted her to sign apaper stating she was not work-ing when she was hurt, accord-ing to a copy of a complaint Sou-sa filed with the MassachusettsCommission Against Discrimina-tion. She refused and filed aclaim for workers’ compensa-tion.

Upper Crust managers andemployees began to harass her,and in March 2009, she wasfired, the complaint alleged.

‘‘They never asked me ‘Areyou OK,’ ’’ Sousa wrote in an e-mail to the Globe. ‘‘They didn’tlike that I had workers’ compen-sation.’’

Barbara Green, a spokeswom-an for the Massachusetts Com-mission Against Discrimination,said, ‘‘This complaint is still be-ing actively investigated.’’

Upper Crust ‘‘is vigorously de-fending itself against the allega-tions,’’ Regan said. Sousa re-ceived worker’s compensation,he said, but did not get unem-ployment benefits because sheleft of her own accord.

Sousa and other immigrantemployees eventually took theircomplaints about working condi-tions to the US Department ofLabor. It launched an investiga-tion last year and ordered UpperCrust to pay nearly $350,000 toabout 120 employees for uncom-pensated overtime.

But Upper Crust demandedthe immigrants surrender thegovernment-ordered checks orlose their jobs, according to in-terviews with nine former em-ployees. Two former cooks, in alawsuit filed in Suffolk SuperiorCourt, have accused the Bostonpizzeria of taking back thou-sands of dollars in overtime pay-ments by slashing their wages.

One of the plaintiffs, ValdeirPereira Pinto, started earning$455 for working 80 hours aweek, according to copies of hispaychecks and timecards sub-mitted as part of the lawsuit.That is about $5.70 an hour, or$2.30 below minimum wage.Pinto said Upper Crust deductedmore than $8,000 over severalmonths — the full overtime pay-ment he received — and thenfired him.

Upper Crust has denied theseallegations.

‘‘This is not true,’’ Regan said.‘‘Everyone who received an over-time check cashed it.’’

Tobins, in an e-mail this sum-mer, said Pinto and a secondplaintiff in the lawsuit, CleversonBatista, were not entitled to over-time under the law because theywere managers, not hourly work-ers. He described the men as‘‘disgruntled ex-employees.’’

After Upper Crust began re-ducing wages last fall, Carla Pan-tuosco, who served as a managerat the shop on CommonwealthAvenue in Boston, said she re-ceived weekly complaints aboutpaycheck issues from the Brazil-ian kitchen workers.

‘‘Every week it would be thisnew problem. Everybody in thefront of the house was paid. Itwas always the back of thehouse,’’ said Pantuosco, who leftshortly after Pinto was fired.‘‘The kitchen staff got frustrated.It wasn’t a good situation. Icouldn’t stand it.’’

The Department of Labor hasan ‘‘open, ongoing investigation’’of the Upper Crust chain, butspokesman John M. Chavezwould not disclose details.

Ross Feinstein, a spokesmanfor Immigration and CustomsEnforcement, said the depart-ment ‘‘neither confirms nor de-nies the existence of an ongoinginvestigation’’ of Upper Crust.

Jenn Abelson can be reached [email protected].

AG reportedly to launch probe of pizza chainº UPPER CRUSTContinued from Page B5

WENDY MAEDA/GLOBE STAFF

ATTENTIVE AUDIENCE—Governor Deval Patrick addressed more than 6,500 attendees at the Boston Convention &Exhibition Center in South Boston yesterday during the Massachusetts Conference for Women. The daylong event includedworkshops, seminars, and speeches by notable women, including Gloria Steinem and Victoria Reggie Kennedy.

9

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DECEMBER 22 , 2010

W E D N E S D A Y , D E C E M B E R 2 2 , 2 0 1 0 B7T H E B O S T O N G L O B E

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By Katie Johnston ChaseGLOBE STAFF

Winter storms in Europe are causingmore disruptions at Logan InternationalAirport, with flight cancellations spreadingbeyond London to Frankfurt and Dublin,and some travelers learning they won’t beable to get to their destinations until afterChristmas.

Heyd Firth, stuck in Boston, found a wayto get home to England before Christmas,but not without other complications. AfterVirgin Atlantic Airways said it couldn’t gether to London until Sunday, she shelled outmore than $4,000 apiece for two business-class tickets on British Airways to arrive inLondon on Christmas Eve.

Firth, 80, and her brother came to Bos-ton for her aunt’s 90th birthday party andwere due to fly out of Logan last Sunday.

Firth is glad she’ll be with her childrenand grandchildren on Christmas, but get-ting the tickets caused other problems. Thehuge purchase raised suspicions, she said,and ‘‘The bank has now stopped my creditcard.’’

Yesterday, American Airlines, BritishAirways, and Virgin Atlantic together cutnine inbound and outbound flights be-tween Logan and Heathrow Airport in Lon-don, which is operating only about a thirdof its scheduled flights through tomorrow.Lufthansa scrapped an inbound and out-bound flight between Boston and FrankfurtAirport; and Aer Lingus canceled an in-bound and outbound flight between Loganand Dublin Airport, which was shut down.

British Airways flights between Heath-

Holidaytravel plansgroundedby stormDisruptions spread,stalling flights intoGermany, Ireland

TRAVEL, Page B11

By Jenn AbelsonGLOBE STAFF

A former operations manager at UpperCrust has filed a lawsuit that accuses theBoston-based pizza chain of retaliatingagainst him after he reported the companyto the US Department of Labor for allegedlyviolating wage and hour laws.

Patrick Joyce claims Upper Crust’s owner,Jordan Tobins, falsely accused him of rob-bing the Commonwealth Avenue store,docked his final pay-check by hundreds ofdollars, and threat-ened to kill him, ac-cording to a copy of acomplaint filed in USDistrict Court inBoston.

Joyce worked atUpper Crust for sevenyears. He is seekingabout $150,000 indamages, said his law-yer, Elayne N. Alanis.

‘‘Initially, it was a business with good in-tentions,’’ Joyce said. ‘‘I think greed andarrogance got in the way. [Tobins] wasblinded by his own arrogance. As the com-pany grew and his stardom grew, he felt hecould do whatever he wanted.’’

George Regan, a spokesman for Upper

Upper Crustretaliated inpay dispute,2d suit says

Patrick Joyceseeks damages.

UPPER CRUST, Page B9

By Hiawatha BrayGLOBE STAFF

The Federal Communications Com-mission yesterday approved new regu-lations designed to prevent Internetservice providers from blocking or in-terfering with online content theysend to homes and businesses. The 3-to-2 vote by commissioners highlight-

ed deep divisions over the question ofwhether government should regulatethe Internet.

Reaction to the vote was just as di-vided. Internet activists complainedthat the new regulations aren’t strictenough to ensure ‘‘Net neutrality,’’ theprinciple of guaranteed equal access toall Internet content. US Representa-tive Ed Markey, Democrat of Malden, aleading Net neutrality backer, said thenew rules ‘‘could have been better.’’ Op-ponents of online regulation de-nounced the entire process as an un-warranted expansion of government

power.The FCC rules prohibit broadband

companies from secretly restricting In-ternet services, and require that theymake public information about howtheir networks function. The regula-tions also forbid service providersfrom blocking any kind of lawful on-line traffic, and ban the providers fromengaging in ‘‘unreasonable discrimina-tion’’ that would result in some Inter-net content being given favorabletreatment, including faster downloadspeeds.

The regulations cover both landline

Internet services and the wireless datanetworks offered by cellphone compa-nies. The rules are less strict for wire-less services, however, because theyhave much less data capacity and canhandle less traffic than landline serv-ices, such as those offered by cablecompanies. Wireless companies willhave greater freedom to bar servicesthat might place too much stress ontheir systems.

FCC chairman Julius Genachowskisaid the regulations ‘‘would preservebasic Internet values. For the first

FCC OK’s Internet service rulesNet neutralitybackers, foes nothappy with results

FCC, Page B11

By Todd WallackGLOBE STAFF

The state approved $6million in tax in-centives for Smith &Wesson HoldingCorp. yesterday tohelp the gun makerexpand its Springfield

headquarters and manufacturingplant.

The company said earlier thismonth it would add 225 jobs at itsmassive 50-acre Roosevelt Avenuefacility in Springfield, where it plansto shift production of its Thompson/Center Arms line of hunting riflesfrom New Hampshire. The Spring-field plant already employs roughly900 workers.

‘‘This is a big, big expansion forWestern Massachusetts,’’ said GregBialecki, the state’s secretary forhousing and economic development.

Smith & Wesson, one of theworld’s best-known producers ofguns and handcuffs, acquired Thom-son/Center for $102 million fouryears ago. Declining sales promptedthe company to trim its workforce inNew Hampshire last year, and toshift the manufacturing to Mas-sachusetts. The company, which lostmoney last quarter, said it expects tostart moving the production linenext month and finish around July,at a cost of about $6 million.

Founded in 1852 by HoraceSmith and Daniel B. Wesson, Smith& Wesson makes a variety of rifles,shotguns, pistols, and equipment forhunting, law enforcement, military,and other uses. Executives predictedit would generate between $405million and $425 million in sales inthe fiscal year ending in April, lessthan expected after a surge in de-mand last year.

Although some workers will likelyrelocate from New Hampshire toSpringfield as part of the consolida-tion, Smith & Wesson expects to fillmost of the jobs with new hires,including managers, skilled machin-

READY TOHIRE

MATTHEW CAVANAUGH FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE

Jeremy Kislus is seen assembling a pistol at the Smith & Wesson plant in Springfield. Smith & Wesson plansto invest in the plant and add 225 jobs, aided by $6 million in tax incentives the state approved yesterday.

Armed with tax incentives, Smith &Wesson to expand Springfield plant

Smith & Wesson Corp.Headquarters: SpringfieldFounded: 1852Annual revenue: $406 millionEmployees: Around 1,560Products: Firearms, handcuffs

SMITH &WESSON , Page B11

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DECEMBER 22 , 2010

W E D N E S D A Y , D E C E M B E R 2 2 , 2 0 1 0 Business B9T H E B O S T O N G L O B E

GLOBE WIRE SERVICES

NATICK — Medical devicemaker Boston Scientific Corp.said yesterday that it will fight aruling by the Internal RevenueService that the company owesmore than half a billion dollars intaxes and interest.

The IRS concluded that thecompany’s Guidant Corp. divi-sion owes $525.1 million in tax-es, Boston Scientific said. Thecompany would also owe intereston those taxes. The estimate isthe result of an audit of Guidant’sfinances between 2001 and 2003,before it was acquired by BostonScientific. The company will nothave to pay the taxes until thedispute is resolved, which couldtake years.

Boston Scientific said it be-lieves it has adequate tax reservesto pay the additional assessmentif necessary, and that a full pay-ment would not have a signifi-cant effect on its business or its fi-nancial condition.

The company said the IRS isassessing additional taxes relatedto transfer prices on technology

license agreements betweensome of Guidant’s US and foreignbusinesses. Boston Scientific saidit disagrees with the methodolo-gy the IRS used in determiningthe additional taxes.

The company said it was firstnotified in 2008 that the IRS be-lieved Guidant owed a substan-tial amount in additional taxes.Boston Scientific said it receivedan IRS notice of deficiency onFriday. It disclosed the results ofthe audit in a filing with the Se-curities and Exchange Commis-sion.

Boston Scientific acquiredGuidant for $27 billion in 2006.Since then, Guidant’s implanta-ble heart defibrillators have beenthe subject of multiple productrecalls and safety warnings. Thisspring, Guidant agreed to pleadguilty to two misdemeanorcharges that it failed to informregulators about changes toheart devices that were prone toshort circuiting. Those issues al-so took place before Guidant wasbought by Boston Scientific. Gui-dant said it would pay a $296million penalty, but a judge re-jected the plea deal in April. Thecompany, which declined to com-ment on the matter when con-tacted yesterday, was advised toconsider a modified agreement.

Boston Scientificowes half billionin taxes, IRS saysCompany vowsto fight ruling onGuidant division

By Martin CrutsingerASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON — Before toolong, the government check willno longer be in the mail.

Officials have settled on thedates when millions of peoplewill no longer be able to get theirSocial Security and other benefitchecks by mail.

New recipients of benefits willhave to accept paperless pay-ments starting on May 1 of nextyear, three months later than firstproposed.

Those already on Social Secu-rity will have until March 1,2013, to make the switch to di-rect deposits or a debit card.

More than 58 million retirees,disabled people, and survivingfamily members receive SocialSecurity or Supplemental Securi-ty benefits. Already eight out of10 people getting federal benefitsreceive those payments electron-ically, officials say.

The switch to electronic pay-ments will eliminate the problemof lost or stolen checks and alsothe problems faced by people dis-placed from their homes whohave to worry about getting theirchecks mailed to them, said Rich-ard L. Gregg, the Treasury De-partment’s assistant fiscal secre-tary.

‘‘Even though we have done agood job of encouraging peopleto switch over, we still are mak-ing 120 million payments by mailfor Social Security every year andanother 15 million annually forveterans and other types of bene-fits,’’ Gregg said.

Every year, the governmenthas to process about 600,000claims for lost or stolen checks.Social Security will save $1 bil-lion over the next decade fromphasing out paper checks, hesaid.

In response to public com-ments, the government will allowpeople who are 90 and over andare still getting Social Securitybenefit checks to continue to re-ceive their benefits the same way.The government estimates thereare 275,000 people who fall into

that category.For people who do not have

accounts at a bank or creditunion, the government has anoption that allows them to use aDirect Express debit MasterCardissued by Comerica Bank, Treas-ury’s financial agent. More than1.5 million people have obtainedthese cards, which were first is-sued in 2008.

People living in remote areaswho might have trouble gettingto a bank can also petition for awaiver from the new rules. Greggsaid that the government expectsfewer than 1 percent of recipi-ents will petition for a waiver.

To help with the switchoverfor those still getting paperchecks, the government has cre-ated a website, www.GoDirec-t.org and a toll-free phone num-ber, 1-800-333-1795.

US sets dates to end maildelivery of benefit checks

By Ken ThomasASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON — The Insur-ance Institute for Highway Safetyrecognized 66 vehicles todaywith its ‘‘top safety pick award’’for the 2011 model year, the mostever awarded by the group. Thenumber was more than doublethe 27 vehicles selected last year.

Hyundai Motor Corp. and itsaffiliate Kia Motors Corp., alongwith Volkswagen AG and its Audibrand, received the most awardswith nine, followed by eightawards apiece for General Mo-tors Co., Ford Motor Co., andToyota Motor Corp.

The awards, used in advertis-ing to attract car buyers, bolsterHyundai and Volkswagen as theyattempt to enlarge their foot-holds in the United States.

Hyundai’s Genesis sedan, So-nata midsize car, and Santa Feand Tucson sport utility vehiclespicked up awards.

Kia was recognized for theOptima midsize car, the Forteand Soul small cars, and the So-rento and Sportage SUVs.

Volkswagen won plaudits forthe Jetta and Jetta SportWagen,the Golf and GTI small cars, andthe Touareg and Tiguan SUVs.

Audi’s A3 and A4 sedans andQ5 SUV also made the list.

Subaru and Chrysler receivedfive awards apiece; Volvo andMercedes had four. Subaru wasthe only automaker to winawards in every vehicle categoryin which it competes. Nissan andHonda had two awards each, andMitsubishi and BMW had one.

Hyundai said the award wasparticularly sweet for the Sonata,which also received the top scoreof five stars in the government’scrash test program. The combi-nation put Sonata ‘‘in a safety po-sition unsurpassed in the indus-

try,’’ said John Krafcik, chiefexecutive of Hyundai MotorAmerica.

Mark Barnes, Volkswagen ofAmerica’s chief operating officer,said the recognition for VW was a‘‘testament to our commitmentto engineering safe vehicles.’’

GM’s winners include theChevrolet Malibu, Cruze, andEquinox; Cadillac CTS and SRX;Buick LaCrosse and Regal andGMC Terrain. Chris Perry, vicepresident of Chevrolet market-ing, said the award would buildon ‘‘the already strong globalsafety reputation of the Cruze.’’

Ford’s picks include the FordTaurus, Fusion, Fiesta, Explorer,and Flex, plus the Lincoln MKS,MKZ, and MKT. Ford vice presi-dent Sue Cischke said the Explor-er, which arrived at showroomsthis month, offered a good exam-ple of the company’s safety im-provements, including technol-ogy that helps a driver maintaincontrol of the vehicle along toughcurves.

Toyota, which has grappledwith several high-profile recallsduring the past year, scored withthe Toyota Avalon, Corolla, Sien-na, Highlander, and Venza; Lex-us RX; and Scion tC and xB.

Toyota said its eight safetypicks were ‘‘reflective of our on-going commitment to developingsafe and reliable vehicles for ourcustomers.’’

The vehicles were chosen forprotection in front, side, and rearcrash tests.

To qualify for the award, theVirginia-based insurance indus-try group also requires the vehi-cles to have antirollover electron-ic stability controls, or ESC, andreceive top scores in roofstrength tests.

The institute’s president,Adrian Lund, credited automak-ers for ‘‘quickly rising to meet themore challenging criteria for ‘TopSafety Pick.’ ’’ He said severalautomakers have requested testsfor models coming out next year,and predicted more winners.

CONSUMER REPORTS

Hyundai said the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety award it got for its Sonata (above) was particularly sweet; the midsizecar also received the top score of five stars in the government’s crash test program.

Hyundai, Kia, VW top insurers’ safety list66 vehicles gethighest award,setting a record

By Andrew MartinNEW YORK TIMES

TRUCKEE, Calif. — When Mi-mi Ash arrived at her mountainchalet here for a weekend skitrip, she discovered that some-one had broken into the homeand changed the locks.

When she finally got into thehouse, it was empty. All of herpossessions were gone: furniture,her son’s ski medals, winterclothes, and family photos. Ac-cording to a federal lawsuit Ashfiled in October, Bank of Americahad wrongfully foreclosed on herhouse and thrown out her be-longings, without alerting Ashbeforehand.

As millions of homes havebeen foreclosed on nationwide,more and more lawsuits detail-ing bank break-ins like the one atAsh’s house have surfaced. Banksand their representatives insistthat situations like Ash’s repre-sent just a tiny percentage offoreclosures. But identifying thenumber of homeowners whowere locked out illegally is diffi-cult, and many claims are in dis-pute.

During the California real es-tate boom, Ash and her husband,Robert, thrived. Ash bought thehouse in Truckee in 2003. Twoyears later, he was stabbed todeath in a road-rage incident.

Ash’s troubles with the Truckeehouse became tangled in herworsening financial situationand, she claims, the bungling ofthe bank, originally CountrywideFinancial, which was bought byBank of America in 2008.

She intended to assume themortgage on the house, whichlanded in probate court after herhusband’s death. The bank re-quired that she catch up on pay-ments and taxes, so she sent acheck for $15,000.

Hearing nothing from thebank for many months and nothaving ownership of the house,she made no more payments, shesaid.

When Countrywide issued adefault notice in 2007, it went tothe wrong address, her lawsuitsays. Later, Ash said, the bank as-sured her it would not foreclosewhile she pursued the loan mod-ification.

Even so, the bank conducted aforeclosure sale on the propertyin May 2008. Again, Ash said shehad not been notified andlearned of the sale during a sum-mer visit. She said she had beentold the sale would be rescinded.

A bank spokeswoman, Juma-na Bauwens, said, ‘‘We take theallegations made by Ms. Ash veryseriously and are thoroughly re-searching her claims.’’

Banks accused of breaking into homes

Crust Pizzeria, said the allega-tions are not true.

Joyce is ‘‘angry that anotheremployee received a promotion,’’Regan said.

‘‘He was not threatened, hewas reprimanded for poor per-formance — not for being a whis-tle-blower. His version maysound more glamorous, but it isnot true.’’

Upper Crust, which rapidlyexpanded over the past decade to17 stores, has come under scru-tiny by several state and federalagencies for its treatment ofworkers, many of whom arrivedillegally in Boston from a villagein Brazil. Joyce’s lawsuit is thesecond this year brought by for-mer employees.

In July, two former cooks fileda lawsuit saying the popularpizza chain took back thousandsof dollars in overtime paymentsthat were ordered by the Depart-ment of Labor. The federal agen-cy investigated Upper Crust’s paypractices in 2009 and required itpay nearly $350,000 in backwages to about 121 employees.

After making the restitutionpayments, management alleg-edly demanded the Brazilian im-

migrants surrender their over-time checks or lose their jobs.The two former cooks claim incourt records that Upper Crustbegan drastically reducing week-ly paychecks to recoup the feder-ally ordered payouts, and thenfired them.

The company, through Regan,has disputed all of the allega-tions.

‘‘We appreciate our employeesand are responsible for keepingmore than 250 people in Massa-chusetts employed, thus we mustrun our business professionally,’’Regan said.

In his suit, Joyce said he toldTobins’s business partner, Bren-dan Higgins, and general man-ager Barry Proctor that employ-ees were routinely working inexcess of 70 hours a week at a flatrate of $455, without any over-time pay.

In January, Joyce contactedthe Labor Department and de-tailed what he believed to be ille-gal or unethical practices. Theagency recently confirmed it haslaunched a new investigation.

In May, Joyce said, Tobins ac-cused him of being involved in arobbery at one of the company’srestaurants and launched into a‘‘tirade of obscenities,’’ according

to the suit. In response, Joycesaid, he resigned.

Regan, in a previous inter-view, said the company did notallege that Joyce was involved ina crime.

‘‘If the company thought Mr.Joyce was implicated in the theft,he wouldn’t have remained withthe company,’’ Regan said.

After discovering in June thatseveral hundred dollars weremissing from his final paycheck,Joyce said, he told Tobins hewould report Upper Crust to theLabor Department if the moneywas not returned.

According to the suit, Tobinsresponded by saying ‘‘I will [ex-pletive] kill you.’’

Joyce filed an incident reportwith the Boston Police Depart-ment in July that included thesame accusations:

‘‘Mr. Joyce feels that he is be-ing targeted and is in fear of hissafety because people from hiscompany believe he went to theDepartment of Labor as well asthe press to open up this investi-gation,’’ the report said.

Jenn Abelson can be reached [email protected].

MORE COVERAGERead the Globe’s

previous coverage of theUpper Crust Pizzeria story atwww.boston.com/business.

Pizzeria accusedof illegal retaliation

DINA RUDICK/GLOBE STAFF/FILE

Upper Crust, begun at this Beacon Hill location, has 17restaurants. It is embroiled in disputes over its wage practices.

º UPPER CRUSTContinued from Page B7

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JULY 17 , 2010S A T U R D A Y , J U L Y 1 7 , 2 0 1 0 B5T H E B O S T O N G L O B E

BusinessDaily Briefing

PROVIDENCE — Boston Red Sox execu-tive Jeremy Kapstein said yesterday that hehas serious questions about the viability ofRhode Island’s plan to offer a video gamecompany owned by former Red Sox pitchinggreat Curt Schilling a $75 million loan guar-antee to move to the state.

Kapstein, a senior adviser for baseballprojects at the Red Sox, is running as a Dem-ocrat for Rhode Island lieutenant governoragainst incumbent Elizabeth Roberts, also aDemocrat.

Schilling’s 38 Studios, based in Maynard,Mass., says it could provide between 400 and450 jobs by the end of 2012 if it relocated toRhode Island. But the company, which is de-veloping what’s called a massively multi-player online game, has never produced aproduct, and even state officials have ac-knowledged the potential deal is risky for thestate.

Kapstein told WPRO-AM yesterday thathe had nothing against Schilling or his repre-sentatives, but if the company fails, the tax-payers will be on the hook for $75 million.

‘‘I have serious questions about the viabili-ty of that kind of an offer to a company that isfull of questions,’’ he told the station.

‘‘I have concerns because that moneyshould have been destined for our small busi-nesses, which are struggling in this state andcan’t get financing,’’ he said. ‘‘That’s a lot ofmoney, could do a lot of good for jobs here inRhode Island.’’

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Red Sox exec questionsplan for Schilling loan

SOUTHBOROUGH — Double-Take Soft-ware Inc. said yesterday that it and other de-fendants have signed a memorandum of un-derstanding to settle shareholder classactions in Delaware and Massachusetts overits planned acquisition by Vision SolutionsInc.

Double-Take Software, which providessoftware and services to recover and back updata, said it had agreed to make additionaldisclosures about the acquisition, which wasannounced in May.

It said the memorandum of understand-ing includes the terms of settlement of theDelaware case, including the dismissal of allclaims. Lawyers in the Massachusetts casehave agreed to stay their action and seek dis-missal once the Delaware case is closed. .

The company said it agreed to the settle-ment ‘‘to eliminate the uncertainty, distrac-tion, burden, and expense of further litiga-tion’’ and to make sure its acquisition movesforward without the threat of court action.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Double-Take in deal toend shareholder claims

PALO ALTO, Calif. — Toyota Motor Corp.and electric vehicle upstart Tesla Motors Inc.will work together to develop an electric ver-sion of Toyota’s RAV4 small crossover vehicle,with plans to begin selling it in the UnitedStates in 2012, the companies said yesterday.

Tesla already is working on the electricpower system for the RAV4, which looks likea small sport utility vehicle but is based on acar frame.

The electric car maker has built one proto-type for testing and plans to deliver a fleet ofthem for Toyota to evaluate sometime thisyear.

The companies disclosed a partnership inMay to develop and build electric cars at a re-cently closed auto factory in the San Francis-co Bay area.

Tesla, which in June began selling sharesto the public, says it hopes to drive down thecost of electric vehicles so they become with-in reach of mainstream buyers. Toyota hassaid it is investing $50 million in Tesla.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Toyota, Tesla to buildelectric RAV4 in 2012

COLUMBUS, Ohio — American Interna-tional Group Inc. and some of its directorsand officers have agreed to a $725 million set-tlement to resolve allegations of wide-rang-ing fraud laid out in a class-action suit led bythree Ohio pension funds.

Richard Cordray, Ohio’s attorney general,said yesterday that the latest figure will com-bine with previous AIG settlements reachedwith secondary defendants to pay about $1billion to shareholders, including pensionsrepresenting firefighters, police, teachers,and librarians.

He characterized it as the 10th-largest se-curities litigation settlement in US history.‘‘The serious misconduct by AIG more thandeserves today’s large settlement,’’ he said.

The lawsuit alleged anticompetitive mar-ket division, accounting violations, and stockprice manipulation by AIG between October1999 and April 2005.

AIG said in a statement that it was glad tohave the matter resolved.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

AIG agrees to $725m investor suit settlement

By Jenn AbelsonGLOBE STAFF

Two former cooks at Upper Crustpizza filed a lawsuit yesterday that ac-cuses the popular chain of taking back

thousands of dollars in overtime pay-ments that were ordered by the USDepartment of Labor after an investi-gation into the company’s compensa-tion practices.

The lawsuit, which seeks class ac-tion status, was filed nearly a year af-ter Upper Crust was ordered to paymore than $341,000 in back wages toabout 121 workers for uncompensat-ed overtime, according to John Cha-

vez, a spokesman for the agency. Thechain has 17 restaurants in the Bostonarea.

Valdeir Pereira Pinto of Allston andCleverson Batista of Somerville con-tend that Upper Crust management,after making the lump restitution pay-ments for overtime, told employeesthey would have ‘‘to pay it back’’ ifthey wanted to keep their jobs. Man-agement then began deducting hun-

dreds of dollars from their weeklychecks, according to a copy of the suitfiled in Suffolk Superior Court. Pintoand Batista, both immigrants fromBrazil, said in court papers that theywere fired this spring weeks after thecompany recovered its money.

‘‘It’s not fair that the guys take mymoney. I work for this money,’’ saidBatista, who worked at restaurants in

We ‘never ever said [employees] couldn’t work for us or that they had to pay us back.’

JOSH HUGGARD, one of Upper Crust’s owners, in response to the lawsuit

Upper Crust sued over pay disputePizza chain accusedof taking back moneyUS ordered it to give

UPPER CRUST, Page B6

By Katie Johnston ChaseGLOBE STAFF

Logan International Airport is vy-ing to become the first facility to use aless-invasive version of the full-bodyscanners that have been installed athundreds of security checkpointsaround the country this year.

Privacy advocates have raised ob-jections to the slightly blurred but ac-curate images the machines produce.But the Transportation Security Ad-ministrationis workingwith technol-ogy compa-nies to de-velop newsoftware thatshows a ge-neric paper-doll-like figureinstead of anactual imageof a passen-ger’s body when it uses X-ray beamsto scan for weapons and explosives.

TSA doesn’t have a target date forrolling out the software, which wouldtransmit images only when anoma-lies, such as keys or powdery sub-stances, are detected.

‘‘We want to completely eliminatethe privacy issue,’’ said Edward Freni,director of aviation for the Massachu-setts Port Authority, which runs Lo-gan. ‘‘Any kind of new technologythat comes by, we still want to be infront of that, to be the test place.’’

Logan now has a full-body scan-ner at every major security check-point — 17 machines in all — andplans to add six more in Terminal Cwhen a new checkpoint is completednext year. Despite the privacy con-cerns, most people opt to go throughthe imaging machines. When TSA be-gan testing them in airports, only 2percent of passengers chose to get apat-down or walk through a metaldetector.

Massport officials planned yester-day to discuss the possibilities of be-ing the first airport to use the soft-ware with the newly sworn-in TSAassistant secretary, John Pistole, whowas at Logan to see the security oper-ations and meet with TSA workers.

Pistole, former deputy director of

Loganpushes touse newscannersSeeks to be 1st in US;imaging less invasive

‘We want to. . . eliminatethe privacyissue.’ EDWARD FRENIMassport

TSA, Page B6

By Robert WeismanGLOBE STAFF

The challenge to Charles River Lab-oratories International Inc.’s plan tobuy a Chinese drugmaker heated upyesterday as Charles River’s largestshareholder cited research data sug-gesting the Wilmington companyshould instead consider splitting up orputting itself up for sale.

Another obstacle to the $1.6 billiondeal emerged as the Federal TradeCommission, which monitors anti-competitive behavior, asked for moreinformation about the proposed pur-

chase of WuXi PharmaTech Inc. But,in an endorsement of the acquisition,a proxy advisory firm recommendedthat investors approve the deal. Ashareholder vote is set for Aug. 5.

The flurry of activity, following aCharles River presentation Tuesdayurging support for the merger, under-scored how what once had looked likea routine transaction has become an-other test of wills between a company’smanagement and a band of activiststockowners. Two Massachusetts bio-technology companies, GenzymeCorp. and Biogen Idec Inc., foundthemselves embroiled in similar dis-putes this year.

Charles River believes WuXi willcatapult it into the ranks of the topglobal life sciences players by enabling

Investor, FTC make waves for Charles River Labs

WIQAN ANG FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE/FILE 2008

Charles River Labs believes the WuXi purchase will catapult it into theranks of the top global life sciences players.

But proxy advisertells shareholdersto back WuXi buy

CHARLES RIVER, Page B6

By Bonnie KavoussiGLOBE CORRESPONDENT

Apple Inc. is offering a free protective caseto every buyer of its latest iPhone untilSept. 30, in response to complaints thatthe device sometimes drops calls whenits users grasp a certain spot on the de-vice’s wraparound metal band.

Apple chief executive Steve Jobs said at a news con-ference yesterday that every iPhone 4 buyer who hasalready bought a ‘‘bumper’’ case, a thin plastic band thatwraps around the edge of the iPhone 4, will be refundedthe $29 price. Until Sept. 30, new buyers will get a case

for free. If customers are still not satisfied, they canreturn the phone within 30 days for a full refund.

‘‘We care about every user,’’ he said. ‘‘But I think it’simportant to understand the scope of this problem,because what the data says leads you to the conclusionthat this has been blown so out of proportion, it’s in-credible. I know it’s fun to have a story, but it’s less funwhen you’re on the other end of it.’’

He defended the quality of the iPhone 4 on a stage atApple’s headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., saying theantenna is ‘‘more advanced’’ than those in previoussmart phones, all of which have weaknesses.

‘‘This is not unique to iPhone 4,’’ Jobs said. ‘‘This is aproperty of smart phones.’’

While repeatedly referring to ‘‘hard data,’’ Jobs saidonly 0.55 percent of iPhone 4 users have called Apple’scustomer service hotline about reception or antenna

PAUL SAKUMA/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Steve Jobs, Apple CEO, said the iPhone 4 antenna is more advanced than previous smart phones’.

Apple’s Jobs makescase for iPhone 4

The ‘‘bumper’’ is a thin plastic band that wraps around the iPhone 4.

Offers free ‘bumper’ to address reception problems

ON THE CASEWatch a video of Steve Jobs at the Apple press

conference, and see local reaction from iPhone users atwww.boston.com/business. APPLE, Page B6

GL B5 21:53 1ST RED BLUE YELLOW Black

S A T U R D A Y , J U L Y 1 7 , 2 0 1 0 B5T H E B O S T O N G L O B E

BusinessDaily Briefing

PROVIDENCE — Boston Red Sox execu-tive Jeremy Kapstein said yesterday that hehas serious questions about the viability ofRhode Island’s plan to offer a video gamecompany owned by former Red Sox pitchinggreat Curt Schilling a $75 million loan guar-antee to move to the state.

Kapstein, a senior adviser for baseballprojects at the Red Sox, is running as a Dem-ocrat for Rhode Island lieutenant governoragainst incumbent Elizabeth Roberts, also aDemocrat.

Schilling’s 38 Studios, based in Maynard,Mass., says it could provide between 400 and450 jobs by the end of 2012 if it relocated toRhode Island. But the company, which is de-veloping what’s called a massively multi-player online game, has never produced aproduct, and even state officials have ac-knowledged the potential deal is risky for thestate.

Kapstein told WPRO-AM yesterday thathe had nothing against Schilling or his repre-sentatives, but if the company fails, the tax-payers will be on the hook for $75 million.

‘‘I have serious questions about the viabili-ty of that kind of an offer to a company that isfull of questions,’’ he told the station.

‘‘I have concerns because that moneyshould have been destined for our small busi-nesses, which are struggling in this state andcan’t get financing,’’ he said. ‘‘That’s a lot ofmoney, could do a lot of good for jobs here inRhode Island.’’

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Red Sox exec questionsplan for Schilling loan

SOUTHBOROUGH — Double-Take Soft-ware Inc. said yesterday that it and other de-fendants have signed a memorandum of un-derstanding to settle shareholder classactions in Delaware and Massachusetts overits planned acquisition by Vision SolutionsInc.

Double-Take Software, which providessoftware and services to recover and back updata, said it had agreed to make additionaldisclosures about the acquisition, which wasannounced in May.

It said the memorandum of understand-ing includes the terms of settlement of theDelaware case, including the dismissal of allclaims. Lawyers in the Massachusetts casehave agreed to stay their action and seek dis-missal once the Delaware case is closed. .

The company said it agreed to the settle-ment ‘‘to eliminate the uncertainty, distrac-tion, burden, and expense of further litiga-tion’’ and to make sure its acquisition movesforward without the threat of court action.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Double-Take in deal toend shareholder claims

PALO ALTO, Calif. — Toyota Motor Corp.and electric vehicle upstart Tesla Motors Inc.will work together to develop an electric ver-sion of Toyota’s RAV4 small crossover vehicle,with plans to begin selling it in the UnitedStates in 2012, the companies said yesterday.

Tesla already is working on the electricpower system for the RAV4, which looks likea small sport utility vehicle but is based on acar frame.

The electric car maker has built one proto-type for testing and plans to deliver a fleet ofthem for Toyota to evaluate sometime thisyear.

The companies disclosed a partnership inMay to develop and build electric cars at a re-cently closed auto factory in the San Francis-co Bay area.

Tesla, which in June began selling sharesto the public, says it hopes to drive down thecost of electric vehicles so they become with-in reach of mainstream buyers. Toyota hassaid it is investing $50 million in Tesla.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Toyota, Tesla to buildelectric RAV4 in 2012

COLUMBUS, Ohio — American Interna-tional Group Inc. and some of its directorsand officers have agreed to a $725 million set-tlement to resolve allegations of wide-rang-ing fraud laid out in a class-action suit led bythree Ohio pension funds.

Richard Cordray, Ohio’s attorney general,said yesterday that the latest figure will com-bine with previous AIG settlements reachedwith secondary defendants to pay about $1billion to shareholders, including pensionsrepresenting firefighters, police, teachers,and librarians.

He characterized it as the 10th-largest se-curities litigation settlement in US history.‘‘The serious misconduct by AIG more thandeserves today’s large settlement,’’ he said.

The lawsuit alleged anticompetitive mar-ket division, accounting violations, and stockprice manipulation by AIG between October1999 and April 2005.

AIG said in a statement that it was glad tohave the matter resolved.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

AIG agrees to $725m investor suit settlement

By Jenn AbelsonGLOBE STAFF

Two former cooks at Upper Crustpizza filed a lawsuit yesterday that ac-cuses the popular chain of taking back

thousands of dollars in overtime pay-ments that were ordered by the USDepartment of Labor after an investi-gation into the company’s compensa-tion practices.

The lawsuit, which seeks class ac-tion status, was filed nearly a year af-ter Upper Crust was ordered to paymore than $341,000 in back wages toabout 121 workers for uncompensat-ed overtime, according to John Cha-

vez, a spokesman for the agency. Thechain has 17 restaurants in the Bostonarea.

Valdeir Pereira Pinto of Allston andCleverson Batista of Somerville con-tend that Upper Crust management,after making the lump restitution pay-ments for overtime, told employeesthey would have ‘‘to pay it back’’ ifthey wanted to keep their jobs. Man-agement then began deducting hun-

dreds of dollars from their weeklychecks, according to a copy of the suitfiled in Suffolk Superior Court. Pintoand Batista, both immigrants fromBrazil, said in court papers that theywere fired this spring weeks after thecompany recovered its money.

‘‘It’s not fair that the guys take mymoney. I work for this money,’’ saidBatista, who worked at restaurants in

We ‘never ever said [employees] couldn’t work for us or that they had to pay us back.’

JOSH HUGGARD, one of Upper Crust’s owners, in response to the lawsuit

Upper Crust sued over pay disputePizza chain accusedof taking back moneyUS ordered it to give

UPPER CRUST, Page B6

By Katie Johnston ChaseGLOBE STAFF

Logan International Airport is vy-ing to become the first facility to use aless-invasive version of the full-bodyscanners that have been installed athundreds of security checkpointsaround the country this year.

Privacy advocates have raised ob-jections to the slightly blurred but ac-curate images the machines produce.But the Transportation Security Ad-ministrationis workingwith technol-ogy compa-nies to de-velop newsoftware thatshows a ge-neric paper-doll-like figureinstead of anactual imageof a passen-ger’s body when it uses X-ray beamsto scan for weapons and explosives.

TSA doesn’t have a target date forrolling out the software, which wouldtransmit images only when anoma-lies, such as keys or powdery sub-stances, are detected.

‘‘We want to completely eliminatethe privacy issue,’’ said Edward Freni,director of aviation for the Massachu-setts Port Authority, which runs Lo-gan. ‘‘Any kind of new technologythat comes by, we still want to be infront of that, to be the test place.’’

Logan now has a full-body scan-ner at every major security check-point — 17 machines in all — andplans to add six more in Terminal Cwhen a new checkpoint is completednext year. Despite the privacy con-cerns, most people opt to go throughthe imaging machines. When TSA be-gan testing them in airports, only 2percent of passengers chose to get apat-down or walk through a metaldetector.

Massport officials planned yester-day to discuss the possibilities of be-ing the first airport to use the soft-ware with the newly sworn-in TSAassistant secretary, John Pistole, whowas at Logan to see the security oper-ations and meet with TSA workers.

Pistole, former deputy director of

Loganpushes touse newscannersSeeks to be 1st in US;imaging less invasive

‘We want to. . . eliminatethe privacyissue.’ EDWARD FRENIMassport

TSA, Page B6

By Robert WeismanGLOBE STAFF

The challenge to Charles River Lab-oratories International Inc.’s plan tobuy a Chinese drugmaker heated upyesterday as Charles River’s largestshareholder cited research data sug-gesting the Wilmington companyshould instead consider splitting up orputting itself up for sale.

Another obstacle to the $1.6 billiondeal emerged as the Federal TradeCommission, which monitors anti-competitive behavior, asked for moreinformation about the proposed pur-

chase of WuXi PharmaTech Inc. But,in an endorsement of the acquisition,a proxy advisory firm recommendedthat investors approve the deal. Ashareholder vote is set for Aug. 5.

The flurry of activity, following aCharles River presentation Tuesdayurging support for the merger, under-scored how what once had looked likea routine transaction has become an-other test of wills between a company’smanagement and a band of activiststockowners. Two Massachusetts bio-technology companies, GenzymeCorp. and Biogen Idec Inc., foundthemselves embroiled in similar dis-putes this year.

Charles River believes WuXi willcatapult it into the ranks of the topglobal life sciences players by enabling

Investor, FTC make waves for Charles River Labs

WIQAN ANG FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE/FILE 2008

Charles River Labs believes the WuXi purchase will catapult it into theranks of the top global life sciences players.

But proxy advisertells shareholdersto back WuXi buy

CHARLES RIVER, Page B6

By Bonnie KavoussiGLOBE CORRESPONDENT

Apple Inc. is offering a free protective caseto every buyer of its latest iPhone untilSept. 30, in response to complaints thatthe device sometimes drops calls whenits users grasp a certain spot on the de-vice’s wraparound metal band.

Apple chief executive Steve Jobs said at a news con-ference yesterday that every iPhone 4 buyer who hasalready bought a ‘‘bumper’’ case, a thin plastic band thatwraps around the edge of the iPhone 4, will be refundedthe $29 price. Until Sept. 30, new buyers will get a case

for free. If customers are still not satisfied, they canreturn the phone within 30 days for a full refund.

‘‘We care about every user,’’ he said. ‘‘But I think it’simportant to understand the scope of this problem,because what the data says leads you to the conclusionthat this has been blown so out of proportion, it’s in-credible. I know it’s fun to have a story, but it’s less funwhen you’re on the other end of it.’’

He defended the quality of the iPhone 4 on a stage atApple’s headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., saying theantenna is ‘‘more advanced’’ than those in previoussmart phones, all of which have weaknesses.

‘‘This is not unique to iPhone 4,’’ Jobs said. ‘‘This is aproperty of smart phones.’’

While repeatedly referring to ‘‘hard data,’’ Jobs saidonly 0.55 percent of iPhone 4 users have called Apple’scustomer service hotline about reception or antenna

PAUL SAKUMA/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Steve Jobs, Apple CEO, said the iPhone 4 antenna is more advanced than previous smart phones’.

Apple’s Jobs makescase for iPhone 4

The ‘‘bumper’’ is a thin plastic band that wraps around the iPhone 4.

Offers free ‘bumper’ to address reception problems

ON THE CASEWatch a video of Steve Jobs at the Apple press

conference, and see local reaction from iPhone users atwww.boston.com/business. APPLE, Page B6

GL B5 21:53 1ST RED BLUE YELLOW Black

S A T U R D A Y , J U L Y 1 7 , 2 0 1 0 B5T H E B O S T O N G L O B E

BusinessDaily Briefing

PROVIDENCE — Boston Red Sox execu-tive Jeremy Kapstein said yesterday that hehas serious questions about the viability ofRhode Island’s plan to offer a video gamecompany owned by former Red Sox pitchinggreat Curt Schilling a $75 million loan guar-antee to move to the state.

Kapstein, a senior adviser for baseballprojects at the Red Sox, is running as a Dem-ocrat for Rhode Island lieutenant governoragainst incumbent Elizabeth Roberts, also aDemocrat.

Schilling’s 38 Studios, based in Maynard,Mass., says it could provide between 400 and450 jobs by the end of 2012 if it relocated toRhode Island. But the company, which is de-veloping what’s called a massively multi-player online game, has never produced aproduct, and even state officials have ac-knowledged the potential deal is risky for thestate.

Kapstein told WPRO-AM yesterday thathe had nothing against Schilling or his repre-sentatives, but if the company fails, the tax-payers will be on the hook for $75 million.

‘‘I have serious questions about the viabili-ty of that kind of an offer to a company that isfull of questions,’’ he told the station.

‘‘I have concerns because that moneyshould have been destined for our small busi-nesses, which are struggling in this state andcan’t get financing,’’ he said. ‘‘That’s a lot ofmoney, could do a lot of good for jobs here inRhode Island.’’

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Red Sox exec questionsplan for Schilling loan

SOUTHBOROUGH — Double-Take Soft-ware Inc. said yesterday that it and other de-fendants have signed a memorandum of un-derstanding to settle shareholder classactions in Delaware and Massachusetts overits planned acquisition by Vision SolutionsInc.

Double-Take Software, which providessoftware and services to recover and back updata, said it had agreed to make additionaldisclosures about the acquisition, which wasannounced in May.

It said the memorandum of understand-ing includes the terms of settlement of theDelaware case, including the dismissal of allclaims. Lawyers in the Massachusetts casehave agreed to stay their action and seek dis-missal once the Delaware case is closed. .

The company said it agreed to the settle-ment ‘‘to eliminate the uncertainty, distrac-tion, burden, and expense of further litiga-tion’’ and to make sure its acquisition movesforward without the threat of court action.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Double-Take in deal toend shareholder claims

PALO ALTO, Calif. — Toyota Motor Corp.and electric vehicle upstart Tesla Motors Inc.will work together to develop an electric ver-sion of Toyota’s RAV4 small crossover vehicle,with plans to begin selling it in the UnitedStates in 2012, the companies said yesterday.

Tesla already is working on the electricpower system for the RAV4, which looks likea small sport utility vehicle but is based on acar frame.

The electric car maker has built one proto-type for testing and plans to deliver a fleet ofthem for Toyota to evaluate sometime thisyear.

The companies disclosed a partnership inMay to develop and build electric cars at a re-cently closed auto factory in the San Francis-co Bay area.

Tesla, which in June began selling sharesto the public, says it hopes to drive down thecost of electric vehicles so they become with-in reach of mainstream buyers. Toyota hassaid it is investing $50 million in Tesla.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Toyota, Tesla to buildelectric RAV4 in 2012

COLUMBUS, Ohio — American Interna-tional Group Inc. and some of its directorsand officers have agreed to a $725 million set-tlement to resolve allegations of wide-rang-ing fraud laid out in a class-action suit led bythree Ohio pension funds.

Richard Cordray, Ohio’s attorney general,said yesterday that the latest figure will com-bine with previous AIG settlements reachedwith secondary defendants to pay about $1billion to shareholders, including pensionsrepresenting firefighters, police, teachers,and librarians.

He characterized it as the 10th-largest se-curities litigation settlement in US history.‘‘The serious misconduct by AIG more thandeserves today’s large settlement,’’ he said.

The lawsuit alleged anticompetitive mar-ket division, accounting violations, and stockprice manipulation by AIG between October1999 and April 2005.

AIG said in a statement that it was glad tohave the matter resolved.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

AIG agrees to $725m investor suit settlement

By Jenn AbelsonGLOBE STAFF

Two former cooks at Upper Crustpizza filed a lawsuit yesterday that ac-cuses the popular chain of taking back

thousands of dollars in overtime pay-ments that were ordered by the USDepartment of Labor after an investi-gation into the company’s compensa-tion practices.

The lawsuit, which seeks class ac-tion status, was filed nearly a year af-ter Upper Crust was ordered to paymore than $341,000 in back wages toabout 121 workers for uncompensat-ed overtime, according to John Cha-

vez, a spokesman for the agency. Thechain has 17 restaurants in the Bostonarea.

Valdeir Pereira Pinto of Allston andCleverson Batista of Somerville con-tend that Upper Crust management,after making the lump restitution pay-ments for overtime, told employeesthey would have ‘‘to pay it back’’ ifthey wanted to keep their jobs. Man-agement then began deducting hun-

dreds of dollars from their weeklychecks, according to a copy of the suitfiled in Suffolk Superior Court. Pintoand Batista, both immigrants fromBrazil, said in court papers that theywere fired this spring weeks after thecompany recovered its money.

‘‘It’s not fair that the guys take mymoney. I work for this money,’’ saidBatista, who worked at restaurants in

We ‘never ever said [employees] couldn’t work for us or that they had to pay us back.’

JOSH HUGGARD, one of Upper Crust’s owners, in response to the lawsuit

Upper Crust sued over pay disputePizza chain accusedof taking back moneyUS ordered it to give

UPPER CRUST, Page B6

By Katie Johnston ChaseGLOBE STAFF

Logan International Airport is vy-ing to become the first facility to use aless-invasive version of the full-bodyscanners that have been installed athundreds of security checkpointsaround the country this year.

Privacy advocates have raised ob-jections to the slightly blurred but ac-curate images the machines produce.But the Transportation Security Ad-ministrationis workingwith technol-ogy compa-nies to de-velop newsoftware thatshows a ge-neric paper-doll-like figureinstead of anactual imageof a passen-ger’s body when it uses X-ray beamsto scan for weapons and explosives.

TSA doesn’t have a target date forrolling out the software, which wouldtransmit images only when anoma-lies, such as keys or powdery sub-stances, are detected.

‘‘We want to completely eliminatethe privacy issue,’’ said Edward Freni,director of aviation for the Massachu-setts Port Authority, which runs Lo-gan. ‘‘Any kind of new technologythat comes by, we still want to be infront of that, to be the test place.’’

Logan now has a full-body scan-ner at every major security check-point — 17 machines in all — andplans to add six more in Terminal Cwhen a new checkpoint is completednext year. Despite the privacy con-cerns, most people opt to go throughthe imaging machines. When TSA be-gan testing them in airports, only 2percent of passengers chose to get apat-down or walk through a metaldetector.

Massport officials planned yester-day to discuss the possibilities of be-ing the first airport to use the soft-ware with the newly sworn-in TSAassistant secretary, John Pistole, whowas at Logan to see the security oper-ations and meet with TSA workers.

Pistole, former deputy director of

Loganpushes touse newscannersSeeks to be 1st in US;imaging less invasive

‘We want to. . . eliminatethe privacyissue.’ EDWARD FRENIMassport

TSA, Page B6

By Robert WeismanGLOBE STAFF

The challenge to Charles River Lab-oratories International Inc.’s plan tobuy a Chinese drugmaker heated upyesterday as Charles River’s largestshareholder cited research data sug-gesting the Wilmington companyshould instead consider splitting up orputting itself up for sale.

Another obstacle to the $1.6 billiondeal emerged as the Federal TradeCommission, which monitors anti-competitive behavior, asked for moreinformation about the proposed pur-

chase of WuXi PharmaTech Inc. But,in an endorsement of the acquisition,a proxy advisory firm recommendedthat investors approve the deal. Ashareholder vote is set for Aug. 5.

The flurry of activity, following aCharles River presentation Tuesdayurging support for the merger, under-scored how what once had looked likea routine transaction has become an-other test of wills between a company’smanagement and a band of activiststockowners. Two Massachusetts bio-technology companies, GenzymeCorp. and Biogen Idec Inc., foundthemselves embroiled in similar dis-putes this year.

Charles River believes WuXi willcatapult it into the ranks of the topglobal life sciences players by enabling

Investor, FTC make waves for Charles River Labs

WIQAN ANG FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE/FILE 2008

Charles River Labs believes the WuXi purchase will catapult it into theranks of the top global life sciences players.

But proxy advisertells shareholdersto back WuXi buy

CHARLES RIVER, Page B6

By Bonnie KavoussiGLOBE CORRESPONDENT

Apple Inc. is offering a free protective caseto every buyer of its latest iPhone untilSept. 30, in response to complaints thatthe device sometimes drops calls whenits users grasp a certain spot on the de-vice’s wraparound metal band.

Apple chief executive Steve Jobs said at a news con-ference yesterday that every iPhone 4 buyer who hasalready bought a ‘‘bumper’’ case, a thin plastic band thatwraps around the edge of the iPhone 4, will be refundedthe $29 price. Until Sept. 30, new buyers will get a case

for free. If customers are still not satisfied, they canreturn the phone within 30 days for a full refund.

‘‘We care about every user,’’ he said. ‘‘But I think it’simportant to understand the scope of this problem,because what the data says leads you to the conclusionthat this has been blown so out of proportion, it’s in-credible. I know it’s fun to have a story, but it’s less funwhen you’re on the other end of it.’’

He defended the quality of the iPhone 4 on a stage atApple’s headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., saying theantenna is ‘‘more advanced’’ than those in previoussmart phones, all of which have weaknesses.

‘‘This is not unique to iPhone 4,’’ Jobs said. ‘‘This is aproperty of smart phones.’’

While repeatedly referring to ‘‘hard data,’’ Jobs saidonly 0.55 percent of iPhone 4 users have called Apple’scustomer service hotline about reception or antenna

PAUL SAKUMA/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Steve Jobs, Apple CEO, said the iPhone 4 antenna is more advanced than previous smart phones’.

Apple’s Jobs makescase for iPhone 4

The ‘‘bumper’’ is a thin plastic band that wraps around the iPhone 4.

Offers free ‘bumper’ to address reception problems

ON THE CASEWatch a video of Steve Jobs at the Apple press

conference, and see local reaction from iPhone users atwww.boston.com/business. APPLE, Page B6

GL B5 21:53 1ST RED BLUE YELLOW Black

S A T U R D A Y , J U L Y 1 7 , 2 0 1 0 B5T H E B O S T O N G L O B E

BusinessDaily Briefing

PROVIDENCE — Boston Red Sox execu-tive Jeremy Kapstein said yesterday that hehas serious questions about the viability ofRhode Island’s plan to offer a video gamecompany owned by former Red Sox pitchinggreat Curt Schilling a $75 million loan guar-antee to move to the state.

Kapstein, a senior adviser for baseballprojects at the Red Sox, is running as a Dem-ocrat for Rhode Island lieutenant governoragainst incumbent Elizabeth Roberts, also aDemocrat.

Schilling’s 38 Studios, based in Maynard,Mass., says it could provide between 400 and450 jobs by the end of 2012 if it relocated toRhode Island. But the company, which is de-veloping what’s called a massively multi-player online game, has never produced aproduct, and even state officials have ac-knowledged the potential deal is risky for thestate.

Kapstein told WPRO-AM yesterday thathe had nothing against Schilling or his repre-sentatives, but if the company fails, the tax-payers will be on the hook for $75 million.

‘‘I have serious questions about the viabili-ty of that kind of an offer to a company that isfull of questions,’’ he told the station.

‘‘I have concerns because that moneyshould have been destined for our small busi-nesses, which are struggling in this state andcan’t get financing,’’ he said. ‘‘That’s a lot ofmoney, could do a lot of good for jobs here inRhode Island.’’

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Red Sox exec questionsplan for Schilling loan

SOUTHBOROUGH — Double-Take Soft-ware Inc. said yesterday that it and other de-fendants have signed a memorandum of un-derstanding to settle shareholder classactions in Delaware and Massachusetts overits planned acquisition by Vision SolutionsInc.

Double-Take Software, which providessoftware and services to recover and back updata, said it had agreed to make additionaldisclosures about the acquisition, which wasannounced in May.

It said the memorandum of understand-ing includes the terms of settlement of theDelaware case, including the dismissal of allclaims. Lawyers in the Massachusetts casehave agreed to stay their action and seek dis-missal once the Delaware case is closed. .

The company said it agreed to the settle-ment ‘‘to eliminate the uncertainty, distrac-tion, burden, and expense of further litiga-tion’’ and to make sure its acquisition movesforward without the threat of court action.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Double-Take in deal toend shareholder claims

PALO ALTO, Calif. — Toyota Motor Corp.and electric vehicle upstart Tesla Motors Inc.will work together to develop an electric ver-sion of Toyota’s RAV4 small crossover vehicle,with plans to begin selling it in the UnitedStates in 2012, the companies said yesterday.

Tesla already is working on the electricpower system for the RAV4, which looks likea small sport utility vehicle but is based on acar frame.

The electric car maker has built one proto-type for testing and plans to deliver a fleet ofthem for Toyota to evaluate sometime thisyear.

The companies disclosed a partnership inMay to develop and build electric cars at a re-cently closed auto factory in the San Francis-co Bay area.

Tesla, which in June began selling sharesto the public, says it hopes to drive down thecost of electric vehicles so they become with-in reach of mainstream buyers. Toyota hassaid it is investing $50 million in Tesla.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Toyota, Tesla to buildelectric RAV4 in 2012

COLUMBUS, Ohio — American Interna-tional Group Inc. and some of its directorsand officers have agreed to a $725 million set-tlement to resolve allegations of wide-rang-ing fraud laid out in a class-action suit led bythree Ohio pension funds.

Richard Cordray, Ohio’s attorney general,said yesterday that the latest figure will com-bine with previous AIG settlements reachedwith secondary defendants to pay about $1billion to shareholders, including pensionsrepresenting firefighters, police, teachers,and librarians.

He characterized it as the 10th-largest se-curities litigation settlement in US history.‘‘The serious misconduct by AIG more thandeserves today’s large settlement,’’ he said.

The lawsuit alleged anticompetitive mar-ket division, accounting violations, and stockprice manipulation by AIG between October1999 and April 2005.

AIG said in a statement that it was glad tohave the matter resolved.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

AIG agrees to $725m investor suit settlement

By Jenn AbelsonGLOBE STAFF

Two former cooks at Upper Crustpizza filed a lawsuit yesterday that ac-cuses the popular chain of taking back

thousands of dollars in overtime pay-ments that were ordered by the USDepartment of Labor after an investi-gation into the company’s compensa-tion practices.

The lawsuit, which seeks class ac-tion status, was filed nearly a year af-ter Upper Crust was ordered to paymore than $341,000 in back wages toabout 121 workers for uncompensat-ed overtime, according to John Cha-

vez, a spokesman for the agency. Thechain has 17 restaurants in the Bostonarea.

Valdeir Pereira Pinto of Allston andCleverson Batista of Somerville con-tend that Upper Crust management,after making the lump restitution pay-ments for overtime, told employeesthey would have ‘‘to pay it back’’ ifthey wanted to keep their jobs. Man-agement then began deducting hun-

dreds of dollars from their weeklychecks, according to a copy of the suitfiled in Suffolk Superior Court. Pintoand Batista, both immigrants fromBrazil, said in court papers that theywere fired this spring weeks after thecompany recovered its money.

‘‘It’s not fair that the guys take mymoney. I work for this money,’’ saidBatista, who worked at restaurants in

We ‘never ever said [employees] couldn’t work for us or that they had to pay us back.’

JOSH HUGGARD, one of Upper Crust’s owners, in response to the lawsuit

Upper Crust sued over pay disputePizza chain accusedof taking back moneyUS ordered it to give

UPPER CRUST, Page B6

By Katie Johnston ChaseGLOBE STAFF

Logan International Airport is vy-ing to become the first facility to use aless-invasive version of the full-bodyscanners that have been installed athundreds of security checkpointsaround the country this year.

Privacy advocates have raised ob-jections to the slightly blurred but ac-curate images the machines produce.But the Transportation Security Ad-ministrationis workingwith technol-ogy compa-nies to de-velop newsoftware thatshows a ge-neric paper-doll-like figureinstead of anactual imageof a passen-ger’s body when it uses X-ray beamsto scan for weapons and explosives.

TSA doesn’t have a target date forrolling out the software, which wouldtransmit images only when anoma-lies, such as keys or powdery sub-stances, are detected.

‘‘We want to completely eliminatethe privacy issue,’’ said Edward Freni,director of aviation for the Massachu-setts Port Authority, which runs Lo-gan. ‘‘Any kind of new technologythat comes by, we still want to be infront of that, to be the test place.’’

Logan now has a full-body scan-ner at every major security check-point — 17 machines in all — andplans to add six more in Terminal Cwhen a new checkpoint is completednext year. Despite the privacy con-cerns, most people opt to go throughthe imaging machines. When TSA be-gan testing them in airports, only 2percent of passengers chose to get apat-down or walk through a metaldetector.

Massport officials planned yester-day to discuss the possibilities of be-ing the first airport to use the soft-ware with the newly sworn-in TSAassistant secretary, John Pistole, whowas at Logan to see the security oper-ations and meet with TSA workers.

Pistole, former deputy director of

Loganpushes touse newscannersSeeks to be 1st in US;imaging less invasive

‘We want to. . . eliminatethe privacyissue.’ EDWARD FRENIMassport

TSA, Page B6

By Robert WeismanGLOBE STAFF

The challenge to Charles River Lab-oratories International Inc.’s plan tobuy a Chinese drugmaker heated upyesterday as Charles River’s largestshareholder cited research data sug-gesting the Wilmington companyshould instead consider splitting up orputting itself up for sale.

Another obstacle to the $1.6 billiondeal emerged as the Federal TradeCommission, which monitors anti-competitive behavior, asked for moreinformation about the proposed pur-

chase of WuXi PharmaTech Inc. But,in an endorsement of the acquisition,a proxy advisory firm recommendedthat investors approve the deal. Ashareholder vote is set for Aug. 5.

The flurry of activity, following aCharles River presentation Tuesdayurging support for the merger, under-scored how what once had looked likea routine transaction has become an-other test of wills between a company’smanagement and a band of activiststockowners. Two Massachusetts bio-technology companies, GenzymeCorp. and Biogen Idec Inc., foundthemselves embroiled in similar dis-putes this year.

Charles River believes WuXi willcatapult it into the ranks of the topglobal life sciences players by enabling

Investor, FTC make waves for Charles River Labs

WIQAN ANG FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE/FILE 2008

Charles River Labs believes the WuXi purchase will catapult it into theranks of the top global life sciences players.

But proxy advisertells shareholdersto back WuXi buy

CHARLES RIVER, Page B6

By Bonnie KavoussiGLOBE CORRESPONDENT

Apple Inc. is offering a free protective caseto every buyer of its latest iPhone untilSept. 30, in response to complaints thatthe device sometimes drops calls whenits users grasp a certain spot on the de-vice’s wraparound metal band.

Apple chief executive Steve Jobs said at a news con-ference yesterday that every iPhone 4 buyer who hasalready bought a ‘‘bumper’’ case, a thin plastic band thatwraps around the edge of the iPhone 4, will be refundedthe $29 price. Until Sept. 30, new buyers will get a case

for free. If customers are still not satisfied, they canreturn the phone within 30 days for a full refund.

‘‘We care about every user,’’ he said. ‘‘But I think it’simportant to understand the scope of this problem,because what the data says leads you to the conclusionthat this has been blown so out of proportion, it’s in-credible. I know it’s fun to have a story, but it’s less funwhen you’re on the other end of it.’’

He defended the quality of the iPhone 4 on a stage atApple’s headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., saying theantenna is ‘‘more advanced’’ than those in previoussmart phones, all of which have weaknesses.

‘‘This is not unique to iPhone 4,’’ Jobs said. ‘‘This is aproperty of smart phones.’’

While repeatedly referring to ‘‘hard data,’’ Jobs saidonly 0.55 percent of iPhone 4 users have called Apple’scustomer service hotline about reception or antenna

PAUL SAKUMA/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Steve Jobs, Apple CEO, said the iPhone 4 antenna is more advanced than previous smart phones’.

Apple’s Jobs makescase for iPhone 4

The ‘‘bumper’’ is a thin plastic band that wraps around the iPhone 4.

Offers free ‘bumper’ to address reception problems

ON THE CASEWatch a video of Steve Jobs at the Apple press

conference, and see local reaction from iPhone users atwww.boston.com/business. APPLE, Page B6

GL B5 21:53 1ST RED BLUE YELLOW Black

S A T U R D A Y , J U L Y 1 7 , 2 0 1 0 B5T H E B O S T O N G L O B E

BusinessDaily Briefing

PROVIDENCE — Boston Red Sox execu-tive Jeremy Kapstein said yesterday that hehas serious questions about the viability ofRhode Island’s plan to offer a video gamecompany owned by former Red Sox pitchinggreat Curt Schilling a $75 million loan guar-antee to move to the state.

Kapstein, a senior adviser for baseballprojects at the Red Sox, is running as a Dem-ocrat for Rhode Island lieutenant governoragainst incumbent Elizabeth Roberts, also aDemocrat.

Schilling’s 38 Studios, based in Maynard,Mass., says it could provide between 400 and450 jobs by the end of 2012 if it relocated toRhode Island. But the company, which is de-veloping what’s called a massively multi-player online game, has never produced aproduct, and even state officials have ac-knowledged the potential deal is risky for thestate.

Kapstein told WPRO-AM yesterday thathe had nothing against Schilling or his repre-sentatives, but if the company fails, the tax-payers will be on the hook for $75 million.

‘‘I have serious questions about the viabili-ty of that kind of an offer to a company that isfull of questions,’’ he told the station.

‘‘I have concerns because that moneyshould have been destined for our small busi-nesses, which are struggling in this state andcan’t get financing,’’ he said. ‘‘That’s a lot ofmoney, could do a lot of good for jobs here inRhode Island.’’

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Red Sox exec questionsplan for Schilling loan

SOUTHBOROUGH — Double-Take Soft-ware Inc. said yesterday that it and other de-fendants have signed a memorandum of un-derstanding to settle shareholder classactions in Delaware and Massachusetts overits planned acquisition by Vision SolutionsInc.

Double-Take Software, which providessoftware and services to recover and back updata, said it had agreed to make additionaldisclosures about the acquisition, which wasannounced in May.

It said the memorandum of understand-ing includes the terms of settlement of theDelaware case, including the dismissal of allclaims. Lawyers in the Massachusetts casehave agreed to stay their action and seek dis-missal once the Delaware case is closed. .

The company said it agreed to the settle-ment ‘‘to eliminate the uncertainty, distrac-tion, burden, and expense of further litiga-tion’’ and to make sure its acquisition movesforward without the threat of court action.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Double-Take in deal toend shareholder claims

PALO ALTO, Calif. — Toyota Motor Corp.and electric vehicle upstart Tesla Motors Inc.will work together to develop an electric ver-sion of Toyota’s RAV4 small crossover vehicle,with plans to begin selling it in the UnitedStates in 2012, the companies said yesterday.

Tesla already is working on the electricpower system for the RAV4, which looks likea small sport utility vehicle but is based on acar frame.

The electric car maker has built one proto-type for testing and plans to deliver a fleet ofthem for Toyota to evaluate sometime thisyear.

The companies disclosed a partnership inMay to develop and build electric cars at a re-cently closed auto factory in the San Francis-co Bay area.

Tesla, which in June began selling sharesto the public, says it hopes to drive down thecost of electric vehicles so they become with-in reach of mainstream buyers. Toyota hassaid it is investing $50 million in Tesla.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Toyota, Tesla to buildelectric RAV4 in 2012

COLUMBUS, Ohio — American Interna-tional Group Inc. and some of its directorsand officers have agreed to a $725 million set-tlement to resolve allegations of wide-rang-ing fraud laid out in a class-action suit led bythree Ohio pension funds.

Richard Cordray, Ohio’s attorney general,said yesterday that the latest figure will com-bine with previous AIG settlements reachedwith secondary defendants to pay about $1billion to shareholders, including pensionsrepresenting firefighters, police, teachers,and librarians.

He characterized it as the 10th-largest se-curities litigation settlement in US history.‘‘The serious misconduct by AIG more thandeserves today’s large settlement,’’ he said.

The lawsuit alleged anticompetitive mar-ket division, accounting violations, and stockprice manipulation by AIG between October1999 and April 2005.

AIG said in a statement that it was glad tohave the matter resolved.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

AIG agrees to $725m investor suit settlement

By Jenn AbelsonGLOBE STAFF

Two former cooks at Upper Crustpizza filed a lawsuit yesterday that ac-cuses the popular chain of taking back

thousands of dollars in overtime pay-ments that were ordered by the USDepartment of Labor after an investi-gation into the company’s compensa-tion practices.

The lawsuit, which seeks class ac-tion status, was filed nearly a year af-ter Upper Crust was ordered to paymore than $341,000 in back wages toabout 121 workers for uncompensat-ed overtime, according to John Cha-

vez, a spokesman for the agency. Thechain has 17 restaurants in the Bostonarea.

Valdeir Pereira Pinto of Allston andCleverson Batista of Somerville con-tend that Upper Crust management,after making the lump restitution pay-ments for overtime, told employeesthey would have ‘‘to pay it back’’ ifthey wanted to keep their jobs. Man-agement then began deducting hun-

dreds of dollars from their weeklychecks, according to a copy of the suitfiled in Suffolk Superior Court. Pintoand Batista, both immigrants fromBrazil, said in court papers that theywere fired this spring weeks after thecompany recovered its money.

‘‘It’s not fair that the guys take mymoney. I work for this money,’’ saidBatista, who worked at restaurants in

We ‘never ever said [employees] couldn’t work for us or that they had to pay us back.’

JOSH HUGGARD, one of Upper Crust’s owners, in response to the lawsuit

Upper Crust sued over pay disputePizza chain accusedof taking back moneyUS ordered it to give

UPPER CRUST, Page B6

By Katie Johnston ChaseGLOBE STAFF

Logan International Airport is vy-ing to become the first facility to use aless-invasive version of the full-bodyscanners that have been installed athundreds of security checkpointsaround the country this year.

Privacy advocates have raised ob-jections to the slightly blurred but ac-curate images the machines produce.But the Transportation Security Ad-ministrationis workingwith technol-ogy compa-nies to de-velop newsoftware thatshows a ge-neric paper-doll-like figureinstead of anactual imageof a passen-ger’s body when it uses X-ray beamsto scan for weapons and explosives.

TSA doesn’t have a target date forrolling out the software, which wouldtransmit images only when anoma-lies, such as keys or powdery sub-stances, are detected.

‘‘We want to completely eliminatethe privacy issue,’’ said Edward Freni,director of aviation for the Massachu-setts Port Authority, which runs Lo-gan. ‘‘Any kind of new technologythat comes by, we still want to be infront of that, to be the test place.’’

Logan now has a full-body scan-ner at every major security check-point — 17 machines in all — andplans to add six more in Terminal Cwhen a new checkpoint is completednext year. Despite the privacy con-cerns, most people opt to go throughthe imaging machines. When TSA be-gan testing them in airports, only 2percent of passengers chose to get apat-down or walk through a metaldetector.

Massport officials planned yester-day to discuss the possibilities of be-ing the first airport to use the soft-ware with the newly sworn-in TSAassistant secretary, John Pistole, whowas at Logan to see the security oper-ations and meet with TSA workers.

Pistole, former deputy director of

Loganpushes touse newscannersSeeks to be 1st in US;imaging less invasive

‘We want to. . . eliminatethe privacyissue.’ EDWARD FRENIMassport

TSA, Page B6

By Robert WeismanGLOBE STAFF

The challenge to Charles River Lab-oratories International Inc.’s plan tobuy a Chinese drugmaker heated upyesterday as Charles River’s largestshareholder cited research data sug-gesting the Wilmington companyshould instead consider splitting up orputting itself up for sale.

Another obstacle to the $1.6 billiondeal emerged as the Federal TradeCommission, which monitors anti-competitive behavior, asked for moreinformation about the proposed pur-

chase of WuXi PharmaTech Inc. But,in an endorsement of the acquisition,a proxy advisory firm recommendedthat investors approve the deal. Ashareholder vote is set for Aug. 5.

The flurry of activity, following aCharles River presentation Tuesdayurging support for the merger, under-scored how what once had looked likea routine transaction has become an-other test of wills between a company’smanagement and a band of activiststockowners. Two Massachusetts bio-technology companies, GenzymeCorp. and Biogen Idec Inc., foundthemselves embroiled in similar dis-putes this year.

Charles River believes WuXi willcatapult it into the ranks of the topglobal life sciences players by enabling

Investor, FTC make waves for Charles River Labs

WIQAN ANG FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE/FILE 2008

Charles River Labs believes the WuXi purchase will catapult it into theranks of the top global life sciences players.

But proxy advisertells shareholdersto back WuXi buy

CHARLES RIVER, Page B6

By Bonnie KavoussiGLOBE CORRESPONDENT

Apple Inc. is offering a free protective caseto every buyer of its latest iPhone untilSept. 30, in response to complaints thatthe device sometimes drops calls whenits users grasp a certain spot on the de-vice’s wraparound metal band.

Apple chief executive Steve Jobs said at a news con-ference yesterday that every iPhone 4 buyer who hasalready bought a ‘‘bumper’’ case, a thin plastic band thatwraps around the edge of the iPhone 4, will be refundedthe $29 price. Until Sept. 30, new buyers will get a case

for free. If customers are still not satisfied, they canreturn the phone within 30 days for a full refund.

‘‘We care about every user,’’ he said. ‘‘But I think it’simportant to understand the scope of this problem,because what the data says leads you to the conclusionthat this has been blown so out of proportion, it’s in-credible. I know it’s fun to have a story, but it’s less funwhen you’re on the other end of it.’’

He defended the quality of the iPhone 4 on a stage atApple’s headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., saying theantenna is ‘‘more advanced’’ than those in previoussmart phones, all of which have weaknesses.

‘‘This is not unique to iPhone 4,’’ Jobs said. ‘‘This is aproperty of smart phones.’’

While repeatedly referring to ‘‘hard data,’’ Jobs saidonly 0.55 percent of iPhone 4 users have called Apple’scustomer service hotline about reception or antenna

PAUL SAKUMA/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Steve Jobs, Apple CEO, said the iPhone 4 antenna is more advanced than previous smart phones’.

Apple’s Jobs makescase for iPhone 4

The ‘‘bumper’’ is a thin plastic band that wraps around the iPhone 4.

Offers free ‘bumper’ to address reception problems

ON THE CASEWatch a video of Steve Jobs at the Apple press

conference, and see local reaction from iPhone users atwww.boston.com/business. APPLE, Page B6

GL B5 21:53 1ST RED BLUE YELLOW Black

S A T U R D A Y , J U L Y 1 7 , 2 0 1 0 B5T H E B O S T O N G L O B E

BusinessDaily Briefing

PROVIDENCE — Boston Red Sox execu-tive Jeremy Kapstein said yesterday that hehas serious questions about the viability ofRhode Island’s plan to offer a video gamecompany owned by former Red Sox pitchinggreat Curt Schilling a $75 million loan guar-antee to move to the state.

Kapstein, a senior adviser for baseballprojects at the Red Sox, is running as a Dem-ocrat for Rhode Island lieutenant governoragainst incumbent Elizabeth Roberts, also aDemocrat.

Schilling’s 38 Studios, based in Maynard,Mass., says it could provide between 400 and450 jobs by the end of 2012 if it relocated toRhode Island. But the company, which is de-veloping what’s called a massively multi-player online game, has never produced aproduct, and even state officials have ac-knowledged the potential deal is risky for thestate.

Kapstein told WPRO-AM yesterday thathe had nothing against Schilling or his repre-sentatives, but if the company fails, the tax-payers will be on the hook for $75 million.

‘‘I have serious questions about the viabili-ty of that kind of an offer to a company that isfull of questions,’’ he told the station.

‘‘I have concerns because that moneyshould have been destined for our small busi-nesses, which are struggling in this state andcan’t get financing,’’ he said. ‘‘That’s a lot ofmoney, could do a lot of good for jobs here inRhode Island.’’

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Red Sox exec questionsplan for Schilling loan

SOUTHBOROUGH — Double-Take Soft-ware Inc. said yesterday that it and other de-fendants have signed a memorandum of un-derstanding to settle shareholder classactions in Delaware and Massachusetts overits planned acquisition by Vision SolutionsInc.

Double-Take Software, which providessoftware and services to recover and back updata, said it had agreed to make additionaldisclosures about the acquisition, which wasannounced in May.

It said the memorandum of understand-ing includes the terms of settlement of theDelaware case, including the dismissal of allclaims. Lawyers in the Massachusetts casehave agreed to stay their action and seek dis-missal once the Delaware case is closed. .

The company said it agreed to the settle-ment ‘‘to eliminate the uncertainty, distrac-tion, burden, and expense of further litiga-tion’’ and to make sure its acquisition movesforward without the threat of court action.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Double-Take in deal toend shareholder claims

PALO ALTO, Calif. — Toyota Motor Corp.and electric vehicle upstart Tesla Motors Inc.will work together to develop an electric ver-sion of Toyota’s RAV4 small crossover vehicle,with plans to begin selling it in the UnitedStates in 2012, the companies said yesterday.

Tesla already is working on the electricpower system for the RAV4, which looks likea small sport utility vehicle but is based on acar frame.

The electric car maker has built one proto-type for testing and plans to deliver a fleet ofthem for Toyota to evaluate sometime thisyear.

The companies disclosed a partnership inMay to develop and build electric cars at a re-cently closed auto factory in the San Francis-co Bay area.

Tesla, which in June began selling sharesto the public, says it hopes to drive down thecost of electric vehicles so they become with-in reach of mainstream buyers. Toyota hassaid it is investing $50 million in Tesla.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Toyota, Tesla to buildelectric RAV4 in 2012

COLUMBUS, Ohio — American Interna-tional Group Inc. and some of its directorsand officers have agreed to a $725 million set-tlement to resolve allegations of wide-rang-ing fraud laid out in a class-action suit led bythree Ohio pension funds.

Richard Cordray, Ohio’s attorney general,said yesterday that the latest figure will com-bine with previous AIG settlements reachedwith secondary defendants to pay about $1billion to shareholders, including pensionsrepresenting firefighters, police, teachers,and librarians.

He characterized it as the 10th-largest se-curities litigation settlement in US history.‘‘The serious misconduct by AIG more thandeserves today’s large settlement,’’ he said.

The lawsuit alleged anticompetitive mar-ket division, accounting violations, and stockprice manipulation by AIG between October1999 and April 2005.

AIG said in a statement that it was glad tohave the matter resolved.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

AIG agrees to $725m investor suit settlement

By Jenn AbelsonGLOBE STAFF

Two former cooks at Upper Crustpizza filed a lawsuit yesterday that ac-cuses the popular chain of taking back

thousands of dollars in overtime pay-ments that were ordered by the USDepartment of Labor after an investi-gation into the company’s compensa-tion practices.

The lawsuit, which seeks class ac-tion status, was filed nearly a year af-ter Upper Crust was ordered to paymore than $341,000 in back wages toabout 121 workers for uncompensat-ed overtime, according to John Cha-

vez, a spokesman for the agency. Thechain has 17 restaurants in the Bostonarea.

Valdeir Pereira Pinto of Allston andCleverson Batista of Somerville con-tend that Upper Crust management,after making the lump restitution pay-ments for overtime, told employeesthey would have ‘‘to pay it back’’ ifthey wanted to keep their jobs. Man-agement then began deducting hun-

dreds of dollars from their weeklychecks, according to a copy of the suitfiled in Suffolk Superior Court. Pintoand Batista, both immigrants fromBrazil, said in court papers that theywere fired this spring weeks after thecompany recovered its money.

‘‘It’s not fair that the guys take mymoney. I work for this money,’’ saidBatista, who worked at restaurants in

We ‘never ever said [employees] couldn’t work for us or that they had to pay us back.’

JOSH HUGGARD, one of Upper Crust’s owners, in response to the lawsuit

Upper Crust sued over pay disputePizza chain accusedof taking back moneyUS ordered it to give

UPPER CRUST, Page B6

By Katie Johnston ChaseGLOBE STAFF

Logan International Airport is vy-ing to become the first facility to use aless-invasive version of the full-bodyscanners that have been installed athundreds of security checkpointsaround the country this year.

Privacy advocates have raised ob-jections to the slightly blurred but ac-curate images the machines produce.But the Transportation Security Ad-ministrationis workingwith technol-ogy compa-nies to de-velop newsoftware thatshows a ge-neric paper-doll-like figureinstead of anactual imageof a passen-ger’s body when it uses X-ray beamsto scan for weapons and explosives.

TSA doesn’t have a target date forrolling out the software, which wouldtransmit images only when anoma-lies, such as keys or powdery sub-stances, are detected.

‘‘We want to completely eliminatethe privacy issue,’’ said Edward Freni,director of aviation for the Massachu-setts Port Authority, which runs Lo-gan. ‘‘Any kind of new technologythat comes by, we still want to be infront of that, to be the test place.’’

Logan now has a full-body scan-ner at every major security check-point — 17 machines in all — andplans to add six more in Terminal Cwhen a new checkpoint is completednext year. Despite the privacy con-cerns, most people opt to go throughthe imaging machines. When TSA be-gan testing them in airports, only 2percent of passengers chose to get apat-down or walk through a metaldetector.

Massport officials planned yester-day to discuss the possibilities of be-ing the first airport to use the soft-ware with the newly sworn-in TSAassistant secretary, John Pistole, whowas at Logan to see the security oper-ations and meet with TSA workers.

Pistole, former deputy director of

Loganpushes touse newscannersSeeks to be 1st in US;imaging less invasive

‘We want to. . . eliminatethe privacyissue.’ EDWARD FRENIMassport

TSA, Page B6

By Robert WeismanGLOBE STAFF

The challenge to Charles River Lab-oratories International Inc.’s plan tobuy a Chinese drugmaker heated upyesterday as Charles River’s largestshareholder cited research data sug-gesting the Wilmington companyshould instead consider splitting up orputting itself up for sale.

Another obstacle to the $1.6 billiondeal emerged as the Federal TradeCommission, which monitors anti-competitive behavior, asked for moreinformation about the proposed pur-

chase of WuXi PharmaTech Inc. But,in an endorsement of the acquisition,a proxy advisory firm recommendedthat investors approve the deal. Ashareholder vote is set for Aug. 5.

The flurry of activity, following aCharles River presentation Tuesdayurging support for the merger, under-scored how what once had looked likea routine transaction has become an-other test of wills between a company’smanagement and a band of activiststockowners. Two Massachusetts bio-technology companies, GenzymeCorp. and Biogen Idec Inc., foundthemselves embroiled in similar dis-putes this year.

Charles River believes WuXi willcatapult it into the ranks of the topglobal life sciences players by enabling

Investor, FTC make waves for Charles River Labs

WIQAN ANG FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE/FILE 2008

Charles River Labs believes the WuXi purchase will catapult it into theranks of the top global life sciences players.

But proxy advisertells shareholdersto back WuXi buy

CHARLES RIVER, Page B6

By Bonnie KavoussiGLOBE CORRESPONDENT

Apple Inc. is offering a free protective caseto every buyer of its latest iPhone untilSept. 30, in response to complaints thatthe device sometimes drops calls whenits users grasp a certain spot on the de-vice’s wraparound metal band.

Apple chief executive Steve Jobs said at a news con-ference yesterday that every iPhone 4 buyer who hasalready bought a ‘‘bumper’’ case, a thin plastic band thatwraps around the edge of the iPhone 4, will be refundedthe $29 price. Until Sept. 30, new buyers will get a case

for free. If customers are still not satisfied, they canreturn the phone within 30 days for a full refund.

‘‘We care about every user,’’ he said. ‘‘But I think it’simportant to understand the scope of this problem,because what the data says leads you to the conclusionthat this has been blown so out of proportion, it’s in-credible. I know it’s fun to have a story, but it’s less funwhen you’re on the other end of it.’’

He defended the quality of the iPhone 4 on a stage atApple’s headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., saying theantenna is ‘‘more advanced’’ than those in previoussmart phones, all of which have weaknesses.

‘‘This is not unique to iPhone 4,’’ Jobs said. ‘‘This is aproperty of smart phones.’’

While repeatedly referring to ‘‘hard data,’’ Jobs saidonly 0.55 percent of iPhone 4 users have called Apple’scustomer service hotline about reception or antenna

PAUL SAKUMA/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Steve Jobs, Apple CEO, said the iPhone 4 antenna is more advanced than previous smart phones’.

Apple’s Jobs makescase for iPhone 4

The ‘‘bumper’’ is a thin plastic band that wraps around the iPhone 4.

Offers free ‘bumper’ to address reception problems

ON THE CASEWatch a video of Steve Jobs at the Apple press

conference, and see local reaction from iPhone users atwww.boston.com/business. APPLE, Page B6

GL B5 21:53 1ST RED BLUE YELLOW Black

S A T U R D A Y , J U L Y 1 7 , 2 0 1 0 B5T H E B O S T O N G L O B E

BusinessDaily Briefing

PROVIDENCE — Boston Red Sox execu-tive Jeremy Kapstein said yesterday that hehas serious questions about the viability ofRhode Island’s plan to offer a video gamecompany owned by former Red Sox pitchinggreat Curt Schilling a $75 million loan guar-antee to move to the state.

Kapstein, a senior adviser for baseballprojects at the Red Sox, is running as a Dem-ocrat for Rhode Island lieutenant governoragainst incumbent Elizabeth Roberts, also aDemocrat.

Schilling’s 38 Studios, based in Maynard,Mass., says it could provide between 400 and450 jobs by the end of 2012 if it relocated toRhode Island. But the company, which is de-veloping what’s called a massively multi-player online game, has never produced aproduct, and even state officials have ac-knowledged the potential deal is risky for thestate.

Kapstein told WPRO-AM yesterday thathe had nothing against Schilling or his repre-sentatives, but if the company fails, the tax-payers will be on the hook for $75 million.

‘‘I have serious questions about the viabili-ty of that kind of an offer to a company that isfull of questions,’’ he told the station.

‘‘I have concerns because that moneyshould have been destined for our small busi-nesses, which are struggling in this state andcan’t get financing,’’ he said. ‘‘That’s a lot ofmoney, could do a lot of good for jobs here inRhode Island.’’

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Red Sox exec questionsplan for Schilling loan

SOUTHBOROUGH — Double-Take Soft-ware Inc. said yesterday that it and other de-fendants have signed a memorandum of un-derstanding to settle shareholder classactions in Delaware and Massachusetts overits planned acquisition by Vision SolutionsInc.

Double-Take Software, which providessoftware and services to recover and back updata, said it had agreed to make additionaldisclosures about the acquisition, which wasannounced in May.

It said the memorandum of understand-ing includes the terms of settlement of theDelaware case, including the dismissal of allclaims. Lawyers in the Massachusetts casehave agreed to stay their action and seek dis-missal once the Delaware case is closed. .

The company said it agreed to the settle-ment ‘‘to eliminate the uncertainty, distrac-tion, burden, and expense of further litiga-tion’’ and to make sure its acquisition movesforward without the threat of court action.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Double-Take in deal toend shareholder claims

PALO ALTO, Calif. — Toyota Motor Corp.and electric vehicle upstart Tesla Motors Inc.will work together to develop an electric ver-sion of Toyota’s RAV4 small crossover vehicle,with plans to begin selling it in the UnitedStates in 2012, the companies said yesterday.

Tesla already is working on the electricpower system for the RAV4, which looks likea small sport utility vehicle but is based on acar frame.

The electric car maker has built one proto-type for testing and plans to deliver a fleet ofthem for Toyota to evaluate sometime thisyear.

The companies disclosed a partnership inMay to develop and build electric cars at a re-cently closed auto factory in the San Francis-co Bay area.

Tesla, which in June began selling sharesto the public, says it hopes to drive down thecost of electric vehicles so they become with-in reach of mainstream buyers. Toyota hassaid it is investing $50 million in Tesla.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Toyota, Tesla to buildelectric RAV4 in 2012

COLUMBUS, Ohio — American Interna-tional Group Inc. and some of its directorsand officers have agreed to a $725 million set-tlement to resolve allegations of wide-rang-ing fraud laid out in a class-action suit led bythree Ohio pension funds.

Richard Cordray, Ohio’s attorney general,said yesterday that the latest figure will com-bine with previous AIG settlements reachedwith secondary defendants to pay about $1billion to shareholders, including pensionsrepresenting firefighters, police, teachers,and librarians.

He characterized it as the 10th-largest se-curities litigation settlement in US history.‘‘The serious misconduct by AIG more thandeserves today’s large settlement,’’ he said.

The lawsuit alleged anticompetitive mar-ket division, accounting violations, and stockprice manipulation by AIG between October1999 and April 2005.

AIG said in a statement that it was glad tohave the matter resolved.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

AIG agrees to $725m investor suit settlement

By Jenn AbelsonGLOBE STAFF

Two former cooks at Upper Crustpizza filed a lawsuit yesterday that ac-cuses the popular chain of taking back

thousands of dollars in overtime pay-ments that were ordered by the USDepartment of Labor after an investi-gation into the company’s compensa-tion practices.

The lawsuit, which seeks class ac-tion status, was filed nearly a year af-ter Upper Crust was ordered to paymore than $341,000 in back wages toabout 121 workers for uncompensat-ed overtime, according to John Cha-

vez, a spokesman for the agency. Thechain has 17 restaurants in the Bostonarea.

Valdeir Pereira Pinto of Allston andCleverson Batista of Somerville con-tend that Upper Crust management,after making the lump restitution pay-ments for overtime, told employeesthey would have ‘‘to pay it back’’ ifthey wanted to keep their jobs. Man-agement then began deducting hun-

dreds of dollars from their weeklychecks, according to a copy of the suitfiled in Suffolk Superior Court. Pintoand Batista, both immigrants fromBrazil, said in court papers that theywere fired this spring weeks after thecompany recovered its money.

‘‘It’s not fair that the guys take mymoney. I work for this money,’’ saidBatista, who worked at restaurants in

We ‘never ever said [employees] couldn’t work for us or that they had to pay us back.’

JOSH HUGGARD, one of Upper Crust’s owners, in response to the lawsuit

Upper Crust sued over pay disputePizza chain accusedof taking back moneyUS ordered it to give

UPPER CRUST, Page B6

By Katie Johnston ChaseGLOBE STAFF

Logan International Airport is vy-ing to become the first facility to use aless-invasive version of the full-bodyscanners that have been installed athundreds of security checkpointsaround the country this year.

Privacy advocates have raised ob-jections to the slightly blurred but ac-curate images the machines produce.But the Transportation Security Ad-ministrationis workingwith technol-ogy compa-nies to de-velop newsoftware thatshows a ge-neric paper-doll-like figureinstead of anactual imageof a passen-ger’s body when it uses X-ray beamsto scan for weapons and explosives.

TSA doesn’t have a target date forrolling out the software, which wouldtransmit images only when anoma-lies, such as keys or powdery sub-stances, are detected.

‘‘We want to completely eliminatethe privacy issue,’’ said Edward Freni,director of aviation for the Massachu-setts Port Authority, which runs Lo-gan. ‘‘Any kind of new technologythat comes by, we still want to be infront of that, to be the test place.’’

Logan now has a full-body scan-ner at every major security check-point — 17 machines in all — andplans to add six more in Terminal Cwhen a new checkpoint is completednext year. Despite the privacy con-cerns, most people opt to go throughthe imaging machines. When TSA be-gan testing them in airports, only 2percent of passengers chose to get apat-down or walk through a metaldetector.

Massport officials planned yester-day to discuss the possibilities of be-ing the first airport to use the soft-ware with the newly sworn-in TSAassistant secretary, John Pistole, whowas at Logan to see the security oper-ations and meet with TSA workers.

Pistole, former deputy director of

Loganpushes touse newscannersSeeks to be 1st in US;imaging less invasive

‘We want to. . . eliminatethe privacyissue.’ EDWARD FRENIMassport

TSA, Page B6

By Robert WeismanGLOBE STAFF

The challenge to Charles River Lab-oratories International Inc.’s plan tobuy a Chinese drugmaker heated upyesterday as Charles River’s largestshareholder cited research data sug-gesting the Wilmington companyshould instead consider splitting up orputting itself up for sale.

Another obstacle to the $1.6 billiondeal emerged as the Federal TradeCommission, which monitors anti-competitive behavior, asked for moreinformation about the proposed pur-

chase of WuXi PharmaTech Inc. But,in an endorsement of the acquisition,a proxy advisory firm recommendedthat investors approve the deal. Ashareholder vote is set for Aug. 5.

The flurry of activity, following aCharles River presentation Tuesdayurging support for the merger, under-scored how what once had looked likea routine transaction has become an-other test of wills between a company’smanagement and a band of activiststockowners. Two Massachusetts bio-technology companies, GenzymeCorp. and Biogen Idec Inc., foundthemselves embroiled in similar dis-putes this year.

Charles River believes WuXi willcatapult it into the ranks of the topglobal life sciences players by enabling

Investor, FTC make waves for Charles River Labs

WIQAN ANG FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE/FILE 2008

Charles River Labs believes the WuXi purchase will catapult it into theranks of the top global life sciences players.

But proxy advisertells shareholdersto back WuXi buy

CHARLES RIVER, Page B6

By Bonnie KavoussiGLOBE CORRESPONDENT

Apple Inc. is offering a free protective caseto every buyer of its latest iPhone untilSept. 30, in response to complaints thatthe device sometimes drops calls whenits users grasp a certain spot on the de-vice’s wraparound metal band.

Apple chief executive Steve Jobs said at a news con-ference yesterday that every iPhone 4 buyer who hasalready bought a ‘‘bumper’’ case, a thin plastic band thatwraps around the edge of the iPhone 4, will be refundedthe $29 price. Until Sept. 30, new buyers will get a case

for free. If customers are still not satisfied, they canreturn the phone within 30 days for a full refund.

‘‘We care about every user,’’ he said. ‘‘But I think it’simportant to understand the scope of this problem,because what the data says leads you to the conclusionthat this has been blown so out of proportion, it’s in-credible. I know it’s fun to have a story, but it’s less funwhen you’re on the other end of it.’’

He defended the quality of the iPhone 4 on a stage atApple’s headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., saying theantenna is ‘‘more advanced’’ than those in previoussmart phones, all of which have weaknesses.

‘‘This is not unique to iPhone 4,’’ Jobs said. ‘‘This is aproperty of smart phones.’’

While repeatedly referring to ‘‘hard data,’’ Jobs saidonly 0.55 percent of iPhone 4 users have called Apple’scustomer service hotline about reception or antenna

PAUL SAKUMA/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Steve Jobs, Apple CEO, said the iPhone 4 antenna is more advanced than previous smart phones’.

Apple’s Jobs makescase for iPhone 4

The ‘‘bumper’’ is a thin plastic band that wraps around the iPhone 4.

Offers free ‘bumper’ to address reception problems

ON THE CASEWatch a video of Steve Jobs at the Apple press

conference, and see local reaction from iPhone users atwww.boston.com/business. APPLE, Page B6

GL B5 21:53 1ST RED BLUE YELLOW Black

12

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JULY 17 , 2010

B6 S A T U R D A Y , J U L Y 1 7 , 2 0 1 0T H E B O S T O N G L O B E

By Shobhana Chandraand Timothy R. Homan

BLOOMBERG NEWS

WASHINGTON— Confidenceamong US consumers tumbledthis month to the lowest level in ayear, heightening the risk of aslowdown in economic growth.

The Thomson Reuters/Uni-versity of Michigan preliminaryindex of consumer sentiment de-creased to 66.5, the lowest sinceAugust and less than the mostpessimistic forecast of econo-mists surveyed by BloombergNews. Another report showed in-flation cooled last month.

The sentiment figures showeda record-low share of Americansexpected their incomes to rise inthe next 12 months, underscor-ing growing pessimism over em-ployment prospects. Declining

confidence may further restrainconsumer spending, which ac-counts for 70 percent of the econ-omy, and hinder the recovery incoming months.

‘‘It feels like a wipeout all of asudden,’’ said Jonathan Basile, aneconomist at Credit Suisse inNew York who had the lowestforecast in the Bloomberg survey.‘‘We’ve basically wiped out all thegains we’ve had for some time. Itbuilds the case for moderategrowth in consumer spending inthe second half.’’

The estimates for the confi-dence measure ranged from 71 to78, according to the survey of 62economists. The 9.5-point de-cline from June’s final reading of76 was the biggest since October2008.

More than 7 out of 10 Ameri-

cans believed the economy ismired in recession, according toa Bloomberg National Poll con-ducted July 9-12. Just 1 in 6 be-lieved they are personally betteroff than they were 18 monthsago, when President Obama tookoffice.

A report from the Labor De-partment showed consumerprices fell 0.1 percent in June, athird consecutive decrease. Thedecrease brought the gain in thecost of living over the past 12months down to 1.1 percentfrom 2 percent in the year endedMay.

Costs of goods and services ex-cluding food and energy were up0.2 percent, more than forecastand the biggest gain since Octo-ber.

The report showed rents, thebiggest component of the con-sumer-price index, stabilized,while the cost of clothing andused cars climbed, diminishing

the risk of deflation, or a pro-tracted drop in prices.

The Michigan report’s gaugeof current conditions, which re-flects Americans’ perceptions oftheir financial situation andwhether it is a good time to buybig-ticket items like cars, fell toan eight-month low of 75.5 from85.6 in the prior month.

Retail sales fell in June for asecond month, the CommerceDepartment reported this week.

The share of consumers an-ticipating income gains duringthe coming year dropped to 39percent, the lowest on record.

Yesterday’s sentiment reportalso showed confidence aboutthe government’s economic poli-cy fell to the lowest level since thestart of the Obama administra-tion. The proportion that saideconomic policies were unfavor-able rose to 42 percent in July, al-most twice the low of 22 percentin May 2009, the report said.

JIN LEE/BLOOMBERG NEWS

US stocks slid, wiping out a weekly advance as consumer confidence slid to the lowest level in 11 months.

Consumer confidence slumpsNews may put strain on spending,hinder recovery in coming months

issues. ‘‘If you read all these arti-cles out there, you would havethought, . . . at least half our cus-tomers must have called in tocomplain or ask questions or beangry, right?’’ he said.

Apple has sold 3 million of thedevices. Jobs said that only 1.7percent of iPhone 4s have beenreturned and that the iPhone 4drops less than one call more per100 than the iPhone 3GS does.‘‘It’s very hard to escape the con-clusion that there is a problem,but that — that problem is affect-ing a very small percentage of us-ers,’’ he said.

At the Apple retail store onBoylston Street, customers gen-erally said Apple was being smartand trying to fulfill its reputationfor good customer service.

‘‘Apple understands the im-portance of not looking evil. Theymay yet be evil, but they makethat gesture,’’ said Benjamin Ste-vens, 25, a Boston native who is agraduate student at Oxford Uni-versity.

‘‘I think that the bumper isjust sort of like a Band-Aid fix,and there’s a deeper problemwith the phones,’’ said MichaelAaronson, 26, a lawyer fromDenver who just exchanged hisiPhone for a new one at the Bos-ton store. ‘‘I didn’t want a bump-er originally, but I’m pretty muchforced to have one because I have

bad reception in my house.’’Aaronson said that since he is

left-handed, he often has recep-tion problems while touching thephone’s bottom left corner. ‘‘Idon’t think you can really make aproduct that’s for right-handersor only works for right-handers,’’said Aaronson, who expectedJobs to announce a recall, whichanalysts said could have cost thecompany $1.5 billion.

Some customers at the BostonApple store said the case give-away was one of the least expen-sive options for Apple.

‘‘I think it’s a master PR-typeof strategy,’’ said Peter C. Wernau,35, chief executive of Wernau As-set Management Inc. in Boston.‘‘A person that sees that on TVcan still come into the storeagain, and they give you a free $3thing, and then they can sell youthe iPad, they can sell you a com-puter — all that stuff.’’

On Monday, Consumer Re-ports said it would not recom-mend the iPhone 4 because of theantenna problem.

‘‘Apple needs to come up witha permanent and free fix for theantenna problem before we canrecommend the iPhone 4,’’ MikeGikas wrote on the Consumer Re-ports blog.

Material from wire services wasused in this report. BonnieKavoussi can be reached [email protected].

PAUL SAKUMA/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Steve Jobs, Apple CEO, said iPhone 4 customers who are notsatisfied can return the phone within 30 days for a full refund.

Apple offers iPhone 4 caseº APPLEContinued from Page B5

it to offer customers a broaderrange of services. Opponents, in-cluding the two largest CharlesRiver stockowners, argue thatthe price is too high and that thepromised benefits of the deal arequestionable.

In a letter to Charles River’schief executive, James C. Foster,the head of New York hedge fundJANA Partners LLC, which ownsmore than 7 percent of the com-pany, offered a fresh critique yes-terday of the agreement to buyWuXi (pronounced woo-shee).

JANA managing partner Bar-ry Rosenstein contended that‘‘other avenues for creatingshareholder value are far morepromising.’’ Among them, hewrote, are buying back stock,selling the company outright, orsplitting itself into two separatebusinesses — one focused on

breeding and supplying lab ani-mals for biomedical research, theother on providing preclinicalservices for biopharmaceuticalclients.

Citing a recent Lazard CapitalMarkets research report, he saida breakup could boost CharlesRiver shares by about 30 percent.Shares fell 83 cents to close at$34.12 on the New York StockExchange yesterday, about a 2.4percent decline.

‘‘We’re trying to make thepoint that there’s far more cer-tain ways to generate substantial-ly greater value for shareholders’’than the acquisition of WuXi, aspokesman for JANA said.

Charles River executives de-clined to comment on the alter-native proposals outlined in yes-terday’s letter from Rosenstein,his third since JANA’s attempt toderail the takeover became pub-lic early last month. In a Tuesday

interview, Foster noted that JA-NA took its stake in Charles Riveronly after the agreement to pur-chase WuXi was disclosed onApril 26. ‘‘This is not a long-term

shareholder whounderstands thecompany and isconcerned aboutit,’’ he said.

Executives atCharles River al-so would not dis-cuss the FTC’s

request in regulatory filingsWednesday for additional dataon the proposed merger. Theagency’s request, which could de-lay the completion of the deal byabout a month, sought informa-tion on the would-be partners’testing and cell line services.

Charles River management’sposition got a boost, however,when Proxy Governance Inc., anindependent firm that advises in-

stitutional investors on issues be-ing decided by shareholder votes,recommended approval of theWuXi purchase.

‘‘We support the deal becauseit appears to place a fair value onthe company based on the pre-mium offered,’’ the firm wrote inits report Wednesday. It saidshareholders had ‘‘an opportuni-ty to benefit from the long-termstrategic benefits of the combina-tion.’’

In a statement yesterday,Charles River said: ‘‘We are con-tinuing to meet with our share-holders to discuss the strategicrationale for the transaction andthe long-term value it will bringthem. We are gratified that ProxyGovernance recognizes the com-pelling strategic and financialmerits of this acquisition.’’

Robert Weisman can be reachedat [email protected].

Charles River Labs faces new obstacles to WuXi buy

. . . CRL . . .Charles RiverLaboratories

YESTERDAY

Close $34.12

Change -$0.83

52-WEEK

High $41.65

Low $26.82

º CHARLES RIVERContinued from Page B5

Brookline and the Fenway sec-tion of Boston.

Josh Huggard, one of UpperCrust’s owners, said the chain‘‘learned from its mistakes in thepast’’ regarding the Departmentof Labor investigation into itsovertime payment practices. ButHuggard said the company ‘‘nev-er ever said [employees] couldn’twork for us or that they had topay us back.’’

Huggard said Pinto, whoworked at Upper Crust on Com-monwealth Avenue in Boston,was fired more than a year agobecause ‘‘he was lazy. He was anawful worker.’’ But paychecksprovided by Batista’s lawyersshow he received checks throughApril of this year.

The federal investigation,which looked at pay practicesfrom April 2007 through April2009, showed that Upper Crust’shourly workers were paidstraight time even after they ex-ceeded 40 hours in a week. Pin-

to, for example, received twochecks for the week ending Jan.5, 2008, earning $400 at $10 anhour for the first 40 hours and$305 for an additional 30.5hours, according to copies ofpaychecks provided by his law-yers.

A time card from the weekending Sept. 27, 2009, a monthafter the overtime restitution,show Pinto worked 72 hours.That week, however, he receivedonly one check for $455, withouta breakdown of hours worked.He made the same amount forthe week ending Dec. 6, 2009,according to records supplied byhis lawyers, even though heworked longer — 80.5 hours.

Jordan Tobins, one of thechain’s owners and a defendantin the lawsuit, described Pintoand Batista as ‘‘disgruntled ex-employees’’ who ‘‘have been try-ing to figure out a way to extortmoney from our business.’’

He wrote in an e-mail to theGlobe that their time sheets arenot an accurate representation of

hours worked and that they wereboth salaried employees startingin August 2009.

‘‘We don’t really care what thehours said on the time report,since they are salaried and nothourly employees,’’ Tobins wrote.

The lawsuit alleges that Up-per Crust made improper deduc-tions from the employees’ wages,failed to pay the required mini-mum wage, and also retaliatedagainst those who complained.Batista and Pinto said they werefired for protesting the deduc-tions shortly after the chain hadrecouped the full payments —roughly $10,000 each — orderedas a result of the Labor Depart-ment investigation.

Tobins wrote in his e-mail tothe Globe that pay rates werescaled back in August 2009 be-cause of ‘‘our need to reduce pay-roll. We explained that it was un-fortunate, but in order to keep allthe guys we had, that was ouronly option. Our payroll had ris-en beyond the acceptable per-centage for a restaurant, and in

order to keep growing, we need-ed to get things back in check!’’

Upper Crust opened at leastthree new stores last year. Pintoand Batista said they stayed withthe company despite the allegedwage deductions because theyworried about finding anotherjob in a down economy.

‘‘They were opening storeswith my money,’’ Pinto said. ‘‘Iwant my money back.’’

Tobins said an investigator atthe Labor Department ‘‘helpedguide us through the legal way toreduce payroll and the need forovertime.’’

Chavez, the Labor Depart-ment spokesman, said that wasnot the case.

‘‘The wage and hour divisionis not in the business of advisingemployers how to reduce theirpayroll,’’ he said. ‘‘They are in thebusiness of making sure employ-ers pay their employees properlyunder the law.’’

Jenn Abelson can be reached [email protected].

Ex-workers sue Upper Crust in pay disputeº UPPER CRUSTContinued from Page B5

the FBI, was paying his first offi-cial visit to an airport outsidethe Washington, D.C., area. Lo-gan was his first destination, hesaid, because ‘‘it’s known as oneof the best, most secure airportsin the country.’’

Pistole is touring airportsacross the country to get feed-back from TSA staff. He is alsohoping to get feedback from thetraveling public at a new ‘‘Talkto TSA’’ online forum on the ad-ministration’s website, www.tsa-.gov.

‘‘We know that the threatsare real out there,’’ Pistole saidat a news conference in Termi-nal A. ‘‘We know what happenedon the attempt on ChristmasDay. We know what happened inTimes Square, the attemptedbombing. We’ve seen what’shappened around the worldsince 9/11. So my job is to makesure we are doing everything wecan to keep the traveling publicsafe.’’

Katie Johnston Chase can bereached [email protected].

Logan presses to be firstto use less-invasive scannersº TSAContinued from Page B5

By Eric Dash and Nelson D. Schwartz

NEW YORK TIMES

NEW YORK — The ink is noteven dry on the new rules forWall Street, and already, thebankers are a step ahead of ev-eryone else.

In ways large and small, thebroad overhaul of the nation’s fi-nancial regulatory system thatCongress approved Thursday willeat into the profits of the nation’sbanks.

So after spending many mil-lions of dollars to lobby againstthe legislation, bankers are nowturning to Plan B: adapting to therules and turning them to theiradvantage.

Faced with new limits on feesassociated with debit cards, forinstance, Bank of America, WellsFargo, and others are imposingfees on checking accounts. Com-pelled to trade derivatives in thedaylight of closely regulatedclearinghouses, rather than inmurky over-the-counter markets,titans like J.P. Morgan Invest-ment Bank and Goldman Sachs

are building up their derivativesbrokerage operations. Their goalis to make up any lost profits —and perhaps make even moremoney than before — by becom-ing matchmakers in the vastmarket for these instruments,which critics say were a principalcause of the financial crisis.

Even when it comes to what isperhaps the biggest new rule —barring banks from making betswith their own money — bankshave found what they think is asolution: allowing some tradersto continue making those wa-gers, as long as they also workwith clients.

Banks concede they intend topass many of the costs associatedwith the bill to their clients. Thelegislation, which President Oba-ma is expected to sign next week,is intended to address the causesof the 2008 economic crisis andcurb the most risky behavior onWall Street.

‘‘If you’re a restaurant and youcan’t charge for the soda, you’regoing to charge more for the bur-ger,’’ Jamie Dimon, chairman andchief executive of JPMorganChase, said after his bank report-ed a $4.8 billion profit for the sec-ond quarter on Thursday. ‘‘Overtime, it will all be repriced intothe business.’’

Banks fightto keep profitsFacing overhaul,adapt by boostingfees, operations

GL B6 21:51 1ST

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JULY 22 , 2010

T H U R S D A Y , J U L Y 2 2 , 2 0 1 0 B7T H E B O S T O N G L O B E

Business

By Robert WeismanGLOBE STAFF

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Mas-sachusetts, which has been seek-ing higher health insurance pre-miums from customers, amasseda surplus of $723.8 million at theend of 2009, more than 3Æ timesthe amount required by regula-tors for solvency protection, ac-cording to a report scheduled tobe released today.

The report by ConsumersUnion, an independent researchand educational group, shows

that nonprofit Blue Cross BlueShield plans across the countryset aside billions of dollars in sur-pluses over the past decade at thesame time they consistentlyraised premium rates, sometimesby double-digits in a single year.

Such increases might havebeen avoided or moderated if theinsurance companies used someof their reserves to stabilize rates,the report said. It recommendedthat regulators consider surplus-es as part of their rate reviewsand reject hikes from insurers

with excessive reserves, a prac-tice Massachusetts officials saythey already embrace.

A reserve is the excess of aninsurance carrier’s assets over itsliabilities. The money is intendedto protect insurers and policyholders from financial losses inthe event that medical emergen-cies result in unexpectedly highbills from health care providers.States set their own surplus lev-els, but Blue Cross Blue Shieldplans typically keep more cash onreserve than is required.

‘‘State insurance commission-ers should be trying to strike a

Report questions Blue Cross surplusBy Liz Kowalczyk

and Robert WeismanGLOBE STAFF

Massachusetts hospitals sayin a new report that they havesubstantially slowed the rise intheir costs in the past 18months, saving insurers and em-ployers billions of dollars, andshowing that they do not deserveall the blame for skyrocketinghealth insurance premiums.

The Massachusetts HospitalAssociation is releasing the anal-

ysis today, as the Legislature isconsidering imposing manda-tory short-term cost controls onthe hospital and insurance in-dustries, including provisionshospitals find unappealing.

The House bill, which is ex-pected to be debated today,would grant the state broaderpowers to review — and reject —large hospital constructionprojects and contracts betweeninsurers and providers that payhospitals rates that are far from

the statewide average.The Senate passed a different

bill in May, including a one-time$100 million assessment onwealthier hospitals that wouldbe used to offset premium in-creases for small businesses. Ifthe House approves its legisla-tion, the two chambers wouldneed to agree on a final version,the likelihood of which is un-clear. Hospital officials opposethe Senate assessment, and

Hospitals stress cost cuts saving billionsInsurer says HMO not counted

BLUE CROSS, Page B11

By Jenn AbelsonGLOBE STAFF

The US Department of Labor is inves-tigating new allegations of wage law vio-lations at the Upper Crust pizzeria chain,according to several people involved inthe inquiry.

The federal agency last year orderedUpper Crust LLC to pay more than$341,000 to about 121 workers for un-compensated overtime, following com-plaints from employees. Last week, twoformer Upper Crust cooks filed a lawsuitthat accuses the company of taking backthe federally-ordered payments by de-ducting the money from their weeklypaychecks.

Carlos Matos, an investigator at theUS Department of Labor, has already in-terviewed some former Upper Crust em-ployees — including a manager and cook— along with several current workers,according to the people involved in theinvestigation. Matos declined to com-ment.

Neal B. Siskind, an attorney repre-senting Upper Crust, which has 17 res-taurants in Massachusetts, wrote in ane-mail to the Globe: ‘‘There will be nofurther comment on alleged pendingmatters until such time as my office hashad an opportunity to review documen-tation filed by either former employeesand/or the Department of Labor.’’

A former Upper Crust manager saidhe told federal officials that employeeswho received overtime settlements last

UPPER CRUST, Page B9

Pizzeriachain mayface newwage caseSuit vs. Upper Crustsparks US inquiry

By Erin AilworthGLOBE STAFF

The Massachusetts High TechnologyCouncil and the Associated Industries ofMassachusetts, which have been criticsof the costs of clean energy, are each call-ing for federal climate legislation theysay will create jobs and keep local busi-nesses competitive.

Today, the council is expected to out-line its recommendations for climatelegislation being considered by the USSenate.

Such support is a significant policyshift for the council and AIM, two of thehighest-profile trade groups in the state,and one that signals that beyond thestate’s environmental and clean technol-ogy sectors, there is local business back-ing for a national green energy policy.Another prominent trade group, theMassachusetts Biotechnology Council, isoffering its support as well.

The positions from the trade groupsare expected to add pressure for the USSenate to pass a national energy and cli-mate bill in the coming weeks.

Robert Rio, senior vice president atAIM, whose membership includes 6,000employers in traditional industries such

CLIMATE BILL, Page B11

Business-likeapproach onclimate billMass. industry groupsnow cite need for plan

ers — hopes to achieve that goal via ‘‘ri-diculous simplicity,’’ according to JeffNoyes, the head of user experience forthe firm.

Noyes’s job title, in case there’s anydoubt about the company’s priority, is‘‘director of simplicity.’’

Although online sites continue toproliferate — some estimates peg thecurrent number at 3 billion — creatingWeb pages is still regarded as difficultand intimidating for many. Acquia ishoping to change that.

‘‘We want to close the ease-of-usegap,’’ said Acquia chief executive Thom-as Erickson.

By D.C. DenisonGLOBE STAFF

When Acquia Inc. launches its newservice today, the goal will be . . . sim-ple.

The service, called Drupal Gardens,is designed to make the creation of com-plex websites easier than it has everbeen before. And the Woburn company— which sells products and services forDrupal, a website creation softwareplatform that is popular with develop-

The new service is designed to re-duce the time it takes to create a work-ing website, cutting the usual processfrom three to six months to ‘‘60 minutesor less, and that will change every-thing,’’ Erickson said.

The payoff for Acquia could be a big-ger share of business from the thou-sands of websites that are being createdevery day, from complex corporate sitesto Web bulletin boards for churchgroups and neighborhood events.

WordPress, a competitor based inRedwood City, Calif., is the leading plat-form for users and developers whowant an easy way to get content on the

Web. Acquia is hoping that its new soft-

ware will close the gap between the twoplatforms.

The Drupal Gardens project hasbeen in development for more than ayear, and is a crucial one for the compa-ny, which was founded in December2007 and has 65 employees.

Drupal is an open source Web con-tent management system, meaning it isbuilt and maintained by a fast-growing,worldwide army of volunteer program-mers, and is available for anybody touse at no cost. Acquia was cofounded by

ACQUIA, Page B11

Acquia aims to make it easier to design websitesSimplicity is bywordfor new service

THE ALFRED HITCHCOCK HOUR

THE OFFICE HOUSE

My trouble is I don’t watch enough television. If Iburned through the national average, watching 35hours a week, I would probably love Hulu Plus, the newpay-to-play video service.

Hulu.com is a partnership of major media producers— News Corp., which runs the Fox TV network; theWalt Disney Co., owners of the ABC network; and NBCUniversal. Of the big four broadcast networks, only CBSis missing.

The free version of Hulu launched in 2008 andquickly became a popular way to catch the show youmissed last night. It was a poor man’s TiVo; no need toinvest in a digital video recorder when you could watchyesterday’s episode of ‘‘House’’ on any Internet-connect-ed computer.

Hulu Plus is being gradually rolled out to the public,at $9.99 a month. There is a waiting list to try it; sign upfor access at hulu.com/plus.

While the free version of Hulu tends to offer themost recent episodes of a show, the subscription servicecarries a much broader selection. Fans of the NBC sit-com ‘‘The Office’’ can only look at five episodes, fromthe most recent season, on free Hulu, but Hulu Plus

TV ON THE INTERNETWatch Hiawatha Bray try out the Hulu Plus service

at www.boston.com/business.

TECH LAB, Page B9

Hiawatha BrayTECH LAB

HuluPlus for

TV gurus

Hulu Plus Internet TV service$10 per month; currently availableby invitation only. Limited accessavailable now via iPad and iPhoneapps. Sign up at hulu.com/plus.

Works on Windows or Mac comput-ers, Apple iPad, iPod Touch, andiPhone, newest models of SamsungTVs and Blu-ray players, and Sony’sPlayStation 3 video game console with$50 subscription to Sony’s PlayStationPlus network.

Provides access to thousands oftelevision shows from the 1950s tothe present. Includes every episode ofmany series. Many shows featurehigh-definition video quality. Alsocarries a limited number of movies.

Popular CBS network shows areunavailable. Despite the subscriptionfee, shows still include regular com-mercial breaks, though ads are shorterthan on broadcast TV. 24

HOSPITALS, Page B11

GL B7 22:06 1ST RED BLUE YELLOW Black

14

Page 16: Upper Crust

JULY 22 , 2010

T H U R S D A Y , J U L Y 2 2 , 2 0 1 0 Business B9T H E B O S T O N G L O B E

Equal Housing Lender. MA Lender/Broker License #MC0022 - 52 Second Avenue, Waltham, MA 02451; NH Lender/Broker License # 11360 MB “Licensed by the New Hampshire Banking Department”; RI Licensed Lender: License #20052011LL; RI Licensed Loan Broker License: # 20052012LB; ME Lender License #SLM2431; ME Lender License #SLB4665; CT Lender/Broker License #8731; CT Second Mortgage Lender/Broker License #11581.

ASK ABOUT OUR FHA STREAMLINE REFINANCING!

FOR MORE INFORMATION:Visit our website

www.NEMMortgage.comto fi nd a loan offi cer in your area.

or

Call: 800-762-6385and ask for John Tighe.

An Affi liate of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage

• FREE PRE-APPROVALS

RATES AT HISTORIC LOWS

By Casey RossGLOBE STAFF

A Boston developer is shrink-ing the size of a residential towerit wants to build in the city’s FortPoint Channel neighborhood.

Archon/Goldman Propertieslatest version of the plan for 319A St. rear is a 21-story buildingwith 184 rental apartments andfour levels of above-ground park-ing. It previously had wanted tobuild a 25-story building with232 apartments.

The building will replace afive-story warehouse currentlyused as artists’ work space. Afterconsultation with city planners,Archon/Goldman opted to mar-ket the units as modestly ap-pointed apartments attractive toyoung professionals or graduatestudents.

‘‘The goal has always been tocreate something that is afford-able and can also get developed,’’said John Matteson, regional di-rector for Archon Group, which

is working with Goldman Prop-erties in the joint venture. ‘‘Wewant a building that young pro-fessionals can live in.’’

The city is trying to lureyounger residents to the FortPoint neighborhood as part of abroader effort to create a so-called innovation district, withtechnology and medical firmsthat typically employ large num-bers of students and younger re-searchers. Matteson said 15 per-cent of the units will be set asidefor affordable housing.

Archon/Goldman said it isstill considering a version of theplan that would include 20 stu-dio units built around sharedkitchens, living rooms, and laun-dry facilities.

The plan needs approval fromthe Boston Redevelopment Au-thority. Construction would be-gin in 2012.

Casey Ross can be reached [email protected].

Fort Point building plan scaled back

ADD INC. ARCHITECTS

A joint venture of Archon Group and Goldman Properties isproposing to build a 21-story residential tower at 319 A St. rear(rendering above). The building would contain 184 rentalapartments and four levels of above-ground parking.

By Bob Van VorisBLOOMBERG NEWS

NEW YORK — The trusteeoverseeing the liquidation of Ber-nard Madoff ’s firm yesterdaysued 43 new defendants, includ-ing the cofounder of FairfieldGreenwich Group, in an effort torecoup some of the money forswindled investors.

Cofounder Walter Noel andthe other defendants workedwith Madoff and his firm ‘‘tocommit, and exponentially ex-pand, the single largest financialfraud in history,’’ trustee IrvingPicard said in the complaint inUS Bankruptcy Court in NewYork. ‘‘Every dollar the defend-ants purportedly earned, and ev-ery dollar they kept to unjustlyenrich themselves, was stolenmoney.’’

Madoff, 72, is serving a 150-year term in federal prison inNorth Carolina after pleadingguilty to orchestrating history’sbiggest Ponzi scheme. FairfieldGreenwich was a marketing andinvestor-relations arm for Ber-nard L. Madoff Investment Secu-rities LLC, helping to enable thescheme, Picard said.

Picard seeks more than $3.6billion in damages from the Fair-field Greenwich defendants.

A company spokesman,Thomas Mulligan, reading froma statement, said the decision toexpand the lawsuit was ‘‘incom-prehensible’’ because the compa-ny is involved in good-faith nego-tiations with Picard.

‘‘The Madoff trustee’s amend-ed complaint is replete with false,misleading and rehashed accusa-tions,’’ Fairfield Greenwich said

in the statement.Top Fairfield Greenwich exec-

utives invested in Madoff alongwith their clients, according tothe statement. They lost morethan $70 million the fraud, Fair-field Greenwich said.

In May 2009, Picard suedthree Fairfield Greenwich ‘‘feederfunds’’ that channeled $4.7 bil-lion to Madoff Investment Secu-rities and withdrew billions fromthe firm.

Picard yesterday added 24Fairfield Greenwich units and 19people who held managementpositions at the firm or marketedthe feeder funds.

Picard said Noel, a foundingpartner and director of FairfieldGreenwich, and the other de-fendants made millions of dollarsby ignoring red flags and helpingMadoff accomplish his fraud.

‘‘Noel and his immediate andextended family became excep-tionally wealthy due to FGG’s defacto partnership with Madoff,’’Picard said.

Suit to recoverMadoff fundsexpands scope

TrusteeIrvingPicard

seeks more than$3.6 billion indamages from theFairfield Greenwichdefendants.

COMPENSATIONFOR VICTIMS

By Jane Wardelland Emma Vandore

ASSOCIATED PRESS

FARNBOROUGH, England —Plane makers notched up ordersworth more than $28 billion atthe Farnborough InternationalAirshow by the close of theevent’s third day, underscoring arevival in commercial aviationeven as budget cuts keep the de-fense sector in the doldrums.

New deals announced yester-day included orders for Airbusjets from Berlin-based airlineGermania and Indonesian na-tional carrier Garuda, while Mid-dle Eastern airline Qatar agreedto a deal with Boeing to takeearlier delivery of the US compa-ny’s fuel-efficient 787 jetliner.

‘‘Air travel demand is continu-ing to rise in the Middle East,and it is becoming clear that in-ternational demand is returningas the global economy showssigns of recovery,’’ Akbar Al Bak-er, Qatar Airways chief executive,said at Farnborough, which endsSunday.

‘‘Commercial business travelis so dependent on innovationthat there will always be opportu-nities,’’ Baker added. ‘‘Eachdownturn is an upturn some-where else.’’

Orders at the show are well offthe record-breaking $88.7 billion

in deals announced at Farnbo-rough in 2008, but the gatheringhas exceeded the slow orders forcommercial planes, about $7 bil-lion worth, at its sister show LeBourget, near Paris, last year.

The International Air Trans-port Association recently forecastthat the global industry wouldmake a small profit of $2.5 bil-

lion this year, after a huge loss of$9.4 billion in 2009 — a quick im-provement from its predictionslast year of more losses this year.

‘‘The number of orders showsthat the economic recovery is onits way,’’ said Max Sukkhasanti-kul, Commercial Aviation Con-sulting analyst.

More than 1,000 exhibitors

from 38 countries are at Farnbo-rough, with delegations fromEgypt, Taiwan, and Morocco at-tending for the first time. Organ-izers also cited stronger interestfrom China and Russia.

Boeing confirmed deals withAir Austral, a French airline, andQatar worth just over $1 billiontotal.

Farnborough Airshow orders top $28b

SANG TAN/ASSOCIATED PRESS

The Red Devils parachute regiment performed at the Farnborough International Airshow, inFarnborough, England, yesterday. The show features exhibitors from 38 countries.

By Candice ChoiASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK — A late creditcard payment will cost you. It’sjust not always clear how much.

Despite new reforms that re-quire more transparent billingpractices, about half of creditcards do not disclose in market-ing materials the penalty interestrates customers can incur.

Penalty rates can be as high as29.99 percent. That’s on top ofthe $39 fee a late payment oftentriggers.

A study by the Pew Safe CreditCards Project found that card is-suers are complying with a newlaw this year that prohibits nu-merous deceptive practices. Pre-viously, all card issuers trackedby Pew used at least one practicethat is now illegal.

Many major card issuers, in-cluding Chase and Capital One,disclose their penalty rates. ButBank of America does not and,because it’s one of the largestcard issuers, accounted for the 50percent of cards in the Pew studythat do not specify penalty rates.

Federal regulations only re-quire that set penalty rates aredisclosed in marketing materials.

A Bank of America spokes-woman, Betty Riess, said thecompany does not have a set pen-alty rate. Instead, accounts thatare 60 days past due are flaggedfor review.

‘‘It’s not predetermined,’’ she

said. If Bank of America decidesto hike a rate, it must provide thecustomer with a 45-day noticeunder the new law.

That 45-day notice is requiredfor any rate hikes on new bal-ances, even if customers are toldof the penalty rate upfront.

The new 45-day notices areintended to give cardholders achance to stop using their cardsor close their accounts.

There is another recoursefrom penalty fees. Under the newlaw, cardholders are entitled totheir original rates if they makesix straight on-time payments,starting from immediately after apenalty rate is imposed.

Other costs tied to creditcards are rising too, the Pewstudy found.

Cash advance and balancetransfer fees rose on averagefrom 3 percent of transactions to4 percent since July of last year.

For cards with annual fees,the median fee increased from$50 to $59. Median interest ratesalso rose to between 13 percentto 21 percent, compared with 10percent to 16 percent at the endof December 2008. Interest ratesand fees at credit unions rosemore moderately.

The good news for consumersis that over-the-limit fees are be-coming less common, with lessthan 25 percent of cards now im-posing them, versus 80 percent ayear ago.

Credit cards not alwaysclear on penalty rates

August were told they had to quittheir jobs if they wanted to keepthe checks, or effectively give themoney back by taking a pay cut.The former manager — who re-quested anonymity because theinvestigation is ongoing — saidthe employees, who were mostlyBrazilian immigrants and rou-tinely worked 70 to 80 hours aweek, were also changed fromhourly staff to salaried employeesso the company could avoid pay-ing overtime.

‘‘These were guys rolling pizzaand making dough,’’ the formermanager said of the Brazilianworkers. ‘‘There’s no accountabil-ity for anything.’’ The owners‘‘did whatever they wanted to

make money,’’ he said.Jordan Tobins, one of the

chain’s owners, confirmed in ane-mail to the Globe last week thatpay rates were scaled back lastAugust because Upper Crustneeded to reduce payroll. But healso added that the two formercooks who filed the lawsuit lastweek in Suffolk Superior Courtwere promoted from hourlyworkers to kitchen managers lastsummer.

Valdeir Pereira Pinto, one ofthe former cooks suing UpperCrust, said he was not a kitchenmanager. Pinto, who worked atthe Upper Crust restaurant onCommonwealth Avenue in Bos-ton, said he discussed with Matosat the US Department of Laborhow the company, after making

the lump restitution paymentsfor overtime, deducted hundredsof dollars from his weekly pay-check and fired him after UpperCrust recovered its money.

‘‘I spoke to [Matos] about themoney they took back,’’ Pintosaid.

The initial investigation,which looked at pay practices at

Upper Crust from April 2007through April 2009, found hourlyworkers were paid straight timeeven after they exceeded 40hours in a week. For example,Pinto received two checks for theweek ending Jan. 5, 2008, earn-ing $400 at $10 an hour for thefirst 40 hours and $305 for an ad-ditional 30.5 hours, according tocopies of paychecks provided byhis lawyers.

A time card for the week end-ing Sept. 27, 2009, a month afterthe overtime payments, showsPinto worked 72 hours. But hereceived only one check, for$455. He earned the sameamount for the week ending Dec.6, 2009, even though he workedlonger — 80.5 hours, accordingto records supplied by his law-

yers.Lydia Edwards, a volunteer

attorney at the Brazilian Immi-grant Center in Brighton, saidthe office has referred at least fivecurrent and former Upper Crustemployees to the US Departmentof Labor to aid in its most recentinvestigation.

‘‘This is an unfortunate situa-tion that many immigrant work-ers and workers in general haveto face to get paid a decent wage,’’Edwards said. ‘‘It also demon-strates that even in situationswhen you are willing to workwith an employer, some employ-ers insist on exploiting theirworkers.’’

Jenn Abelson can be reached [email protected].

Suit against Upper Crust sets off new federal inquiryº UPPER CRUSTContinued from Page B7

The employees weremostly Brazilianimmigrants androutinely worked 70to 80 hours a week.

subscribers can see six seasons’worth of shows whenever theywant.

In addition, Hulu Plus offershigher video resolution, up tothe high-definition standard of720p. It is also compatible withlots of video-capable devices.That includes your living roomTV if you buy one of the newestsets by Samsung Corp. You canalso get Hulu Plus through Sam-sung’s Blu-ray disk players.

Sony Corp. will offer accessthrough its PlayStation 3 videogame console. But there is acatch: You must pay $50 a yearfor Sony’s new PlayStation Plusonline service, an attempt tomimic the success of Xbox Live,Microsoft Corp.’s popular sub-scription service for the Xbox360. Hulu Plus also runs on theApple iPhone, iPod Touch, andiPad, and of course, on a PC orMacintosh computer.

I ran Hulu Plus on an iPad,and found it quite an acceptableTV substitute. Shows look verygood on the big, bright Appletablet, and the iPad’s portabilitymade it easy to watch anywherein the house.

But here’s the thing: I alreadypay $13.99 a month for the vid-eo subscription service Netflix.That gets me two DVDs at a timemailed to my house, as well asthe ability to stream thousandsof movies and TV shows straightto my iPad.

For me, Netflix is the betterdeal. Hulu is no haven for moviebuffs; its selection is tiny and al-most entirely dreadful. It isaimed at TV addicts, after all.

Apart from the current line-up of ABC, NBC, and Fox shows,Hulu Plus does have thousandsof older programs, scrolling backto the 1950s. An old episode ofthe ‘‘Alfred Hitchcock Hour’’ thatfrightened me terribly as a childstill scared me four decades lat-

er.But there is a hit-or-miss

quality to the collection. The ab-sence of CBS from the Hulu part-nership means that the net-work’s current shows are notthere. That means no ‘‘NCIS’’ or‘‘CSI.’’ Even when shows are list-ed, you do not always get everyepisode. For instance, the entireeight-year run of the Fox series‘‘24’’ can be streamed over Net-flix, but Hulu Plus offers onlyseason eight.

Many shows are not streama-ble on Netflix. But you can getthem on DVD at no extra cost.Around here, the disks usuallyhit your mailbox in two days.Surely you can hold out thatlong. The Netflix disk library isfull of shows Hulu lacks, includ-ing classic HBO series like ‘‘TheSopranos’’ and ‘‘The Wire.’’

And there is the matter ofcommercials. Netflix figures thata monthly subscription entitlesyou to ad-free viewing. Not so

with Hulu Plus. Its videos are lit-tered with ads. The ads are usu-ally brief and often clever, butyou cannot fast-forward throughthem.

In the iPad version, each addisplays a hyperlink in one cor-ner of the screen. Touch it, andthe video pauses while you aretaken to the advertiser’s website.It is a well-designed interactivemarketing gimmick, but at $10 amonth, I expect to watch my re-runs in peace.

Netflix makes more sense foroccasional viewers like me. ButHulu Plus, ads and all, couldprove irresistible to those whocannot get enough of ‘‘Bones’’ or‘‘Lost’’ or ‘‘Family Guy.’’ Hulu’sown commercials depict theservice as a plot to soften ourbrains through nonstop TVviewing. It might just work —just not on me.

Hiawatha Bray can be reachedat [email protected].

TV gurus will enjoy Hulu’s new pay serviceº TECH LABContinued from Page B7

GL B9 21:35 1ST

T H U R S D A Y , J U L Y 2 2 , 2 0 1 0 Business B9T H E B O S T O N G L O B E

Equal Housing Lender. MA Lender/Broker License #MC0022 - 52 Second Avenue, Waltham, MA 02451; NH Lender/Broker License # 11360 MB “Licensed by the New Hampshire Banking Department”; RI Licensed Lender: License #20052011LL; RI Licensed Loan Broker License: # 20052012LB; ME Lender License #SLM2431; ME Lender License #SLB4665; CT Lender/Broker License #8731; CT Second Mortgage Lender/Broker License #11581.

ASK ABOUT OUR FHA STREAMLINE REFINANCING!

FOR MORE INFORMATION:Visit our website

www.NEMMortgage.comto fi nd a loan offi cer in your area.

or

Call: 800-762-6385and ask for John Tighe.

An Affi liate of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage

• FREE PRE-APPROVALS

RATES AT HISTORIC LOWS

By Casey RossGLOBE STAFF

A Boston developer is shrink-ing the size of a residential towerit wants to build in the city’s FortPoint Channel neighborhood.

Archon/Goldman Propertieslatest version of the plan for 319A St. rear is a 21-story buildingwith 184 rental apartments andfour levels of above-ground park-ing. It previously had wanted tobuild a 25-story building with232 apartments.

The building will replace afive-story warehouse currentlyused as artists’ work space. Afterconsultation with city planners,Archon/Goldman opted to mar-ket the units as modestly ap-pointed apartments attractive toyoung professionals or graduatestudents.

‘‘The goal has always been tocreate something that is afford-able and can also get developed,’’said John Matteson, regional di-rector for Archon Group, which

is working with Goldman Prop-erties in the joint venture. ‘‘Wewant a building that young pro-fessionals can live in.’’

The city is trying to lureyounger residents to the FortPoint neighborhood as part of abroader effort to create a so-called innovation district, withtechnology and medical firmsthat typically employ large num-bers of students and younger re-searchers. Matteson said 15 per-cent of the units will be set asidefor affordable housing.

Archon/Goldman said it isstill considering a version of theplan that would include 20 stu-dio units built around sharedkitchens, living rooms, and laun-dry facilities.

The plan needs approval fromthe Boston Redevelopment Au-thority. Construction would be-gin in 2012.

Casey Ross can be reached [email protected].

Fort Point building plan scaled back

ADD INC. ARCHITECTS

A joint venture of Archon Group and Goldman Properties isproposing to build a 21-story residential tower at 319 A St. rear(rendering above). The building would contain 184 rentalapartments and four levels of above-ground parking.

By Bob Van VorisBLOOMBERG NEWS

NEW YORK — The trusteeoverseeing the liquidation of Ber-nard Madoff ’s firm yesterdaysued 43 new defendants, includ-ing the cofounder of FairfieldGreenwich Group, in an effort torecoup some of the money forswindled investors.

Cofounder Walter Noel andthe other defendants workedwith Madoff and his firm ‘‘tocommit, and exponentially ex-pand, the single largest financialfraud in history,’’ trustee IrvingPicard said in the complaint inUS Bankruptcy Court in NewYork. ‘‘Every dollar the defend-ants purportedly earned, and ev-ery dollar they kept to unjustlyenrich themselves, was stolenmoney.’’

Madoff, 72, is serving a 150-year term in federal prison inNorth Carolina after pleadingguilty to orchestrating history’sbiggest Ponzi scheme. FairfieldGreenwich was a marketing andinvestor-relations arm for Ber-nard L. Madoff Investment Secu-rities LLC, helping to enable thescheme, Picard said.

Picard seeks more than $3.6billion in damages from the Fair-field Greenwich defendants.

A company spokesman,Thomas Mulligan, reading froma statement, said the decision toexpand the lawsuit was ‘‘incom-prehensible’’ because the compa-ny is involved in good-faith nego-tiations with Picard.

‘‘The Madoff trustee’s amend-ed complaint is replete with false,misleading and rehashed accusa-tions,’’ Fairfield Greenwich said

in the statement.Top Fairfield Greenwich exec-

utives invested in Madoff alongwith their clients, according tothe statement. They lost morethan $70 million the fraud, Fair-field Greenwich said.

In May 2009, Picard suedthree Fairfield Greenwich ‘‘feederfunds’’ that channeled $4.7 bil-lion to Madoff Investment Secu-rities and withdrew billions fromthe firm.

Picard yesterday added 24Fairfield Greenwich units and 19people who held managementpositions at the firm or marketedthe feeder funds.

Picard said Noel, a foundingpartner and director of FairfieldGreenwich, and the other de-fendants made millions of dollarsby ignoring red flags and helpingMadoff accomplish his fraud.

‘‘Noel and his immediate andextended family became excep-tionally wealthy due to FGG’s defacto partnership with Madoff,’’Picard said.

Suit to recoverMadoff fundsexpands scope

TrusteeIrvingPicard

seeks more than$3.6 billion indamages from theFairfield Greenwichdefendants.

COMPENSATIONFOR VICTIMS

By Jane Wardelland Emma Vandore

ASSOCIATED PRESS

FARNBOROUGH, England —Plane makers notched up ordersworth more than $28 billion atthe Farnborough InternationalAirshow by the close of theevent’s third day, underscoring arevival in commercial aviationeven as budget cuts keep the de-fense sector in the doldrums.

New deals announced yester-day included orders for Airbusjets from Berlin-based airlineGermania and Indonesian na-tional carrier Garuda, while Mid-dle Eastern airline Qatar agreedto a deal with Boeing to takeearlier delivery of the US compa-ny’s fuel-efficient 787 jetliner.

‘‘Air travel demand is continu-ing to rise in the Middle East,and it is becoming clear that in-ternational demand is returningas the global economy showssigns of recovery,’’ Akbar Al Bak-er, Qatar Airways chief executive,said at Farnborough, which endsSunday.

‘‘Commercial business travelis so dependent on innovationthat there will always be opportu-nities,’’ Baker added. ‘‘Eachdownturn is an upturn some-where else.’’

Orders at the show are well offthe record-breaking $88.7 billion

in deals announced at Farnbo-rough in 2008, but the gatheringhas exceeded the slow orders forcommercial planes, about $7 bil-lion worth, at its sister show LeBourget, near Paris, last year.

The International Air Trans-port Association recently forecastthat the global industry wouldmake a small profit of $2.5 bil-

lion this year, after a huge loss of$9.4 billion in 2009 — a quick im-provement from its predictionslast year of more losses this year.

‘‘The number of orders showsthat the economic recovery is onits way,’’ said Max Sukkhasanti-kul, Commercial Aviation Con-sulting analyst.

More than 1,000 exhibitors

from 38 countries are at Farnbo-rough, with delegations fromEgypt, Taiwan, and Morocco at-tending for the first time. Organ-izers also cited stronger interestfrom China and Russia.

Boeing confirmed deals withAir Austral, a French airline, andQatar worth just over $1 billiontotal.

Farnborough Airshow orders top $28b

SANG TAN/ASSOCIATED PRESS

The Red Devils parachute regiment performed at the Farnborough International Airshow, inFarnborough, England, yesterday. The show features exhibitors from 38 countries.

By Candice ChoiASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK — A late creditcard payment will cost you. It’sjust not always clear how much.

Despite new reforms that re-quire more transparent billingpractices, about half of creditcards do not disclose in market-ing materials the penalty interestrates customers can incur.

Penalty rates can be as high as29.99 percent. That’s on top ofthe $39 fee a late payment oftentriggers.

A study by the Pew Safe CreditCards Project found that card is-suers are complying with a newlaw this year that prohibits nu-merous deceptive practices. Pre-viously, all card issuers trackedby Pew used at least one practicethat is now illegal.

Many major card issuers, in-cluding Chase and Capital One,disclose their penalty rates. ButBank of America does not and,because it’s one of the largestcard issuers, accounted for the 50percent of cards in the Pew studythat do not specify penalty rates.

Federal regulations only re-quire that set penalty rates aredisclosed in marketing materials.

A Bank of America spokes-woman, Betty Riess, said thecompany does not have a set pen-alty rate. Instead, accounts thatare 60 days past due are flaggedfor review.

‘‘It’s not predetermined,’’ she

said. If Bank of America decidesto hike a rate, it must provide thecustomer with a 45-day noticeunder the new law.

That 45-day notice is requiredfor any rate hikes on new bal-ances, even if customers are toldof the penalty rate upfront.

The new 45-day notices areintended to give cardholders achance to stop using their cardsor close their accounts.

There is another recoursefrom penalty fees. Under the newlaw, cardholders are entitled totheir original rates if they makesix straight on-time payments,starting from immediately after apenalty rate is imposed.

Other costs tied to creditcards are rising too, the Pewstudy found.

Cash advance and balancetransfer fees rose on averagefrom 3 percent of transactions to4 percent since July of last year.

For cards with annual fees,the median fee increased from$50 to $59. Median interest ratesalso rose to between 13 percentto 21 percent, compared with 10percent to 16 percent at the endof December 2008. Interest ratesand fees at credit unions rosemore moderately.

The good news for consumersis that over-the-limit fees are be-coming less common, with lessthan 25 percent of cards now im-posing them, versus 80 percent ayear ago.

Credit cards not alwaysclear on penalty rates

August were told they had to quittheir jobs if they wanted to keepthe checks, or effectively give themoney back by taking a pay cut.The former manager — who re-quested anonymity because theinvestigation is ongoing — saidthe employees, who were mostlyBrazilian immigrants and rou-tinely worked 70 to 80 hours aweek, were also changed fromhourly staff to salaried employeesso the company could avoid pay-ing overtime.

‘‘These were guys rolling pizzaand making dough,’’ the formermanager said of the Brazilianworkers. ‘‘There’s no accountabil-ity for anything.’’ The owners‘‘did whatever they wanted to

make money,’’ he said.Jordan Tobins, one of the

chain’s owners, confirmed in ane-mail to the Globe last week thatpay rates were scaled back lastAugust because Upper Crustneeded to reduce payroll. But healso added that the two formercooks who filed the lawsuit lastweek in Suffolk Superior Courtwere promoted from hourlyworkers to kitchen managers lastsummer.

Valdeir Pereira Pinto, one ofthe former cooks suing UpperCrust, said he was not a kitchenmanager. Pinto, who worked atthe Upper Crust restaurant onCommonwealth Avenue in Bos-ton, said he discussed with Matosat the US Department of Laborhow the company, after making

the lump restitution paymentsfor overtime, deducted hundredsof dollars from his weekly pay-check and fired him after UpperCrust recovered its money.

‘‘I spoke to [Matos] about themoney they took back,’’ Pintosaid.

The initial investigation,which looked at pay practices at

Upper Crust from April 2007through April 2009, found hourlyworkers were paid straight timeeven after they exceeded 40hours in a week. For example,Pinto received two checks for theweek ending Jan. 5, 2008, earn-ing $400 at $10 an hour for thefirst 40 hours and $305 for an ad-ditional 30.5 hours, according tocopies of paychecks provided byhis lawyers.

A time card for the week end-ing Sept. 27, 2009, a month afterthe overtime payments, showsPinto worked 72 hours. But hereceived only one check, for$455. He earned the sameamount for the week ending Dec.6, 2009, even though he workedlonger — 80.5 hours, accordingto records supplied by his law-

yers.Lydia Edwards, a volunteer

attorney at the Brazilian Immi-grant Center in Brighton, saidthe office has referred at least fivecurrent and former Upper Crustemployees to the US Departmentof Labor to aid in its most recentinvestigation.

‘‘This is an unfortunate situa-tion that many immigrant work-ers and workers in general haveto face to get paid a decent wage,’’Edwards said. ‘‘It also demon-strates that even in situationswhen you are willing to workwith an employer, some employ-ers insist on exploiting theirworkers.’’

Jenn Abelson can be reached [email protected].

Suit against Upper Crust sets off new federal inquiryº UPPER CRUSTContinued from Page B7

The employees weremostly Brazilianimmigrants androutinely worked 70to 80 hours a week.

subscribers can see six seasons’worth of shows whenever theywant.

In addition, Hulu Plus offershigher video resolution, up tothe high-definition standard of720p. It is also compatible withlots of video-capable devices.That includes your living roomTV if you buy one of the newestsets by Samsung Corp. You canalso get Hulu Plus through Sam-sung’s Blu-ray disk players.

Sony Corp. will offer accessthrough its PlayStation 3 videogame console. But there is acatch: You must pay $50 a yearfor Sony’s new PlayStation Plusonline service, an attempt tomimic the success of Xbox Live,Microsoft Corp.’s popular sub-scription service for the Xbox360. Hulu Plus also runs on theApple iPhone, iPod Touch, andiPad, and of course, on a PC orMacintosh computer.

I ran Hulu Plus on an iPad,and found it quite an acceptableTV substitute. Shows look verygood on the big, bright Appletablet, and the iPad’s portabilitymade it easy to watch anywherein the house.

But here’s the thing: I alreadypay $13.99 a month for the vid-eo subscription service Netflix.That gets me two DVDs at a timemailed to my house, as well asthe ability to stream thousandsof movies and TV shows straightto my iPad.

For me, Netflix is the betterdeal. Hulu is no haven for moviebuffs; its selection is tiny and al-most entirely dreadful. It isaimed at TV addicts, after all.

Apart from the current line-up of ABC, NBC, and Fox shows,Hulu Plus does have thousandsof older programs, scrolling backto the 1950s. An old episode ofthe ‘‘Alfred Hitchcock Hour’’ thatfrightened me terribly as a childstill scared me four decades lat-

er.But there is a hit-or-miss

quality to the collection. The ab-sence of CBS from the Hulu part-nership means that the net-work’s current shows are notthere. That means no ‘‘NCIS’’ or‘‘CSI.’’ Even when shows are list-ed, you do not always get everyepisode. For instance, the entireeight-year run of the Fox series‘‘24’’ can be streamed over Net-flix, but Hulu Plus offers onlyseason eight.

Many shows are not streama-ble on Netflix. But you can getthem on DVD at no extra cost.Around here, the disks usuallyhit your mailbox in two days.Surely you can hold out thatlong. The Netflix disk library isfull of shows Hulu lacks, includ-ing classic HBO series like ‘‘TheSopranos’’ and ‘‘The Wire.’’

And there is the matter ofcommercials. Netflix figures thata monthly subscription entitlesyou to ad-free viewing. Not so

with Hulu Plus. Its videos are lit-tered with ads. The ads are usu-ally brief and often clever, butyou cannot fast-forward throughthem.

In the iPad version, each addisplays a hyperlink in one cor-ner of the screen. Touch it, andthe video pauses while you aretaken to the advertiser’s website.It is a well-designed interactivemarketing gimmick, but at $10 amonth, I expect to watch my re-runs in peace.

Netflix makes more sense foroccasional viewers like me. ButHulu Plus, ads and all, couldprove irresistible to those whocannot get enough of ‘‘Bones’’ or‘‘Lost’’ or ‘‘Family Guy.’’ Hulu’sown commercials depict theservice as a plot to soften ourbrains through nonstop TVviewing. It might just work —just not on me.

Hiawatha Bray can be reachedat [email protected].

TV gurus will enjoy Hulu’s new pay serviceº TECH LABContinued from Page B7

GL B9 21:35 1ST

T H U R S D A Y , J U L Y 2 2 , 2 0 1 0 Business B9T H E B O S T O N G L O B E

Equal Housing Lender. MA Lender/Broker License #MC0022 - 52 Second Avenue, Waltham, MA 02451; NH Lender/Broker License # 11360 MB “Licensed by the New Hampshire Banking Department”; RI Licensed Lender: License #20052011LL; RI Licensed Loan Broker License: # 20052012LB; ME Lender License #SLM2431; ME Lender License #SLB4665; CT Lender/Broker License #8731; CT Second Mortgage Lender/Broker License #11581.

ASK ABOUT OUR FHA STREAMLINE REFINANCING!

FOR MORE INFORMATION:Visit our website

www.NEMMortgage.comto fi nd a loan offi cer in your area.

or

Call: 800-762-6385and ask for John Tighe.

An Affi liate of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage

• FREE PRE-APPROVALS

RATES AT HISTORIC LOWS

By Casey RossGLOBE STAFF

A Boston developer is shrink-ing the size of a residential towerit wants to build in the city’s FortPoint Channel neighborhood.

Archon/Goldman Propertieslatest version of the plan for 319A St. rear is a 21-story buildingwith 184 rental apartments andfour levels of above-ground park-ing. It previously had wanted tobuild a 25-story building with232 apartments.

The building will replace afive-story warehouse currentlyused as artists’ work space. Afterconsultation with city planners,Archon/Goldman opted to mar-ket the units as modestly ap-pointed apartments attractive toyoung professionals or graduatestudents.

‘‘The goal has always been tocreate something that is afford-able and can also get developed,’’said John Matteson, regional di-rector for Archon Group, which

is working with Goldman Prop-erties in the joint venture. ‘‘Wewant a building that young pro-fessionals can live in.’’

The city is trying to lureyounger residents to the FortPoint neighborhood as part of abroader effort to create a so-called innovation district, withtechnology and medical firmsthat typically employ large num-bers of students and younger re-searchers. Matteson said 15 per-cent of the units will be set asidefor affordable housing.

Archon/Goldman said it isstill considering a version of theplan that would include 20 stu-dio units built around sharedkitchens, living rooms, and laun-dry facilities.

The plan needs approval fromthe Boston Redevelopment Au-thority. Construction would be-gin in 2012.

Casey Ross can be reached [email protected].

Fort Point building plan scaled back

ADD INC. ARCHITECTS

A joint venture of Archon Group and Goldman Properties isproposing to build a 21-story residential tower at 319 A St. rear(rendering above). The building would contain 184 rentalapartments and four levels of above-ground parking.

By Bob Van VorisBLOOMBERG NEWS

NEW YORK — The trusteeoverseeing the liquidation of Ber-nard Madoff ’s firm yesterdaysued 43 new defendants, includ-ing the cofounder of FairfieldGreenwich Group, in an effort torecoup some of the money forswindled investors.

Cofounder Walter Noel andthe other defendants workedwith Madoff and his firm ‘‘tocommit, and exponentially ex-pand, the single largest financialfraud in history,’’ trustee IrvingPicard said in the complaint inUS Bankruptcy Court in NewYork. ‘‘Every dollar the defend-ants purportedly earned, and ev-ery dollar they kept to unjustlyenrich themselves, was stolenmoney.’’

Madoff, 72, is serving a 150-year term in federal prison inNorth Carolina after pleadingguilty to orchestrating history’sbiggest Ponzi scheme. FairfieldGreenwich was a marketing andinvestor-relations arm for Ber-nard L. Madoff Investment Secu-rities LLC, helping to enable thescheme, Picard said.

Picard seeks more than $3.6billion in damages from the Fair-field Greenwich defendants.

A company spokesman,Thomas Mulligan, reading froma statement, said the decision toexpand the lawsuit was ‘‘incom-prehensible’’ because the compa-ny is involved in good-faith nego-tiations with Picard.

‘‘The Madoff trustee’s amend-ed complaint is replete with false,misleading and rehashed accusa-tions,’’ Fairfield Greenwich said

in the statement.Top Fairfield Greenwich exec-

utives invested in Madoff alongwith their clients, according tothe statement. They lost morethan $70 million the fraud, Fair-field Greenwich said.

In May 2009, Picard suedthree Fairfield Greenwich ‘‘feederfunds’’ that channeled $4.7 bil-lion to Madoff Investment Secu-rities and withdrew billions fromthe firm.

Picard yesterday added 24Fairfield Greenwich units and 19people who held managementpositions at the firm or marketedthe feeder funds.

Picard said Noel, a foundingpartner and director of FairfieldGreenwich, and the other de-fendants made millions of dollarsby ignoring red flags and helpingMadoff accomplish his fraud.

‘‘Noel and his immediate andextended family became excep-tionally wealthy due to FGG’s defacto partnership with Madoff,’’Picard said.

Suit to recoverMadoff fundsexpands scope

TrusteeIrvingPicard

seeks more than$3.6 billion indamages from theFairfield Greenwichdefendants.

COMPENSATIONFOR VICTIMS

By Jane Wardelland Emma Vandore

ASSOCIATED PRESS

FARNBOROUGH, England —Plane makers notched up ordersworth more than $28 billion atthe Farnborough InternationalAirshow by the close of theevent’s third day, underscoring arevival in commercial aviationeven as budget cuts keep the de-fense sector in the doldrums.

New deals announced yester-day included orders for Airbusjets from Berlin-based airlineGermania and Indonesian na-tional carrier Garuda, while Mid-dle Eastern airline Qatar agreedto a deal with Boeing to takeearlier delivery of the US compa-ny’s fuel-efficient 787 jetliner.

‘‘Air travel demand is continu-ing to rise in the Middle East,and it is becoming clear that in-ternational demand is returningas the global economy showssigns of recovery,’’ Akbar Al Bak-er, Qatar Airways chief executive,said at Farnborough, which endsSunday.

‘‘Commercial business travelis so dependent on innovationthat there will always be opportu-nities,’’ Baker added. ‘‘Eachdownturn is an upturn some-where else.’’

Orders at the show are well offthe record-breaking $88.7 billion

in deals announced at Farnbo-rough in 2008, but the gatheringhas exceeded the slow orders forcommercial planes, about $7 bil-lion worth, at its sister show LeBourget, near Paris, last year.

The International Air Trans-port Association recently forecastthat the global industry wouldmake a small profit of $2.5 bil-

lion this year, after a huge loss of$9.4 billion in 2009 — a quick im-provement from its predictionslast year of more losses this year.

‘‘The number of orders showsthat the economic recovery is onits way,’’ said Max Sukkhasanti-kul, Commercial Aviation Con-sulting analyst.

More than 1,000 exhibitors

from 38 countries are at Farnbo-rough, with delegations fromEgypt, Taiwan, and Morocco at-tending for the first time. Organ-izers also cited stronger interestfrom China and Russia.

Boeing confirmed deals withAir Austral, a French airline, andQatar worth just over $1 billiontotal.

Farnborough Airshow orders top $28b

SANG TAN/ASSOCIATED PRESS

The Red Devils parachute regiment performed at the Farnborough International Airshow, inFarnborough, England, yesterday. The show features exhibitors from 38 countries.

By Candice ChoiASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK — A late creditcard payment will cost you. It’sjust not always clear how much.

Despite new reforms that re-quire more transparent billingpractices, about half of creditcards do not disclose in market-ing materials the penalty interestrates customers can incur.

Penalty rates can be as high as29.99 percent. That’s on top ofthe $39 fee a late payment oftentriggers.

A study by the Pew Safe CreditCards Project found that card is-suers are complying with a newlaw this year that prohibits nu-merous deceptive practices. Pre-viously, all card issuers trackedby Pew used at least one practicethat is now illegal.

Many major card issuers, in-cluding Chase and Capital One,disclose their penalty rates. ButBank of America does not and,because it’s one of the largestcard issuers, accounted for the 50percent of cards in the Pew studythat do not specify penalty rates.

Federal regulations only re-quire that set penalty rates aredisclosed in marketing materials.

A Bank of America spokes-woman, Betty Riess, said thecompany does not have a set pen-alty rate. Instead, accounts thatare 60 days past due are flaggedfor review.

‘‘It’s not predetermined,’’ she

said. If Bank of America decidesto hike a rate, it must provide thecustomer with a 45-day noticeunder the new law.

That 45-day notice is requiredfor any rate hikes on new bal-ances, even if customers are toldof the penalty rate upfront.

The new 45-day notices areintended to give cardholders achance to stop using their cardsor close their accounts.

There is another recoursefrom penalty fees. Under the newlaw, cardholders are entitled totheir original rates if they makesix straight on-time payments,starting from immediately after apenalty rate is imposed.

Other costs tied to creditcards are rising too, the Pewstudy found.

Cash advance and balancetransfer fees rose on averagefrom 3 percent of transactions to4 percent since July of last year.

For cards with annual fees,the median fee increased from$50 to $59. Median interest ratesalso rose to between 13 percentto 21 percent, compared with 10percent to 16 percent at the endof December 2008. Interest ratesand fees at credit unions rosemore moderately.

The good news for consumersis that over-the-limit fees are be-coming less common, with lessthan 25 percent of cards now im-posing them, versus 80 percent ayear ago.

Credit cards not alwaysclear on penalty rates

August were told they had to quittheir jobs if they wanted to keepthe checks, or effectively give themoney back by taking a pay cut.The former manager — who re-quested anonymity because theinvestigation is ongoing — saidthe employees, who were mostlyBrazilian immigrants and rou-tinely worked 70 to 80 hours aweek, were also changed fromhourly staff to salaried employeesso the company could avoid pay-ing overtime.

‘‘These were guys rolling pizzaand making dough,’’ the formermanager said of the Brazilianworkers. ‘‘There’s no accountabil-ity for anything.’’ The owners‘‘did whatever they wanted to

make money,’’ he said.Jordan Tobins, one of the

chain’s owners, confirmed in ane-mail to the Globe last week thatpay rates were scaled back lastAugust because Upper Crustneeded to reduce payroll. But healso added that the two formercooks who filed the lawsuit lastweek in Suffolk Superior Courtwere promoted from hourlyworkers to kitchen managers lastsummer.

Valdeir Pereira Pinto, one ofthe former cooks suing UpperCrust, said he was not a kitchenmanager. Pinto, who worked atthe Upper Crust restaurant onCommonwealth Avenue in Bos-ton, said he discussed with Matosat the US Department of Laborhow the company, after making

the lump restitution paymentsfor overtime, deducted hundredsof dollars from his weekly pay-check and fired him after UpperCrust recovered its money.

‘‘I spoke to [Matos] about themoney they took back,’’ Pintosaid.

The initial investigation,which looked at pay practices at

Upper Crust from April 2007through April 2009, found hourlyworkers were paid straight timeeven after they exceeded 40hours in a week. For example,Pinto received two checks for theweek ending Jan. 5, 2008, earn-ing $400 at $10 an hour for thefirst 40 hours and $305 for an ad-ditional 30.5 hours, according tocopies of paychecks provided byhis lawyers.

A time card for the week end-ing Sept. 27, 2009, a month afterthe overtime payments, showsPinto worked 72 hours. But hereceived only one check, for$455. He earned the sameamount for the week ending Dec.6, 2009, even though he workedlonger — 80.5 hours, accordingto records supplied by his law-

yers.Lydia Edwards, a volunteer

attorney at the Brazilian Immi-grant Center in Brighton, saidthe office has referred at least fivecurrent and former Upper Crustemployees to the US Departmentof Labor to aid in its most recentinvestigation.

‘‘This is an unfortunate situa-tion that many immigrant work-ers and workers in general haveto face to get paid a decent wage,’’Edwards said. ‘‘It also demon-strates that even in situationswhen you are willing to workwith an employer, some employ-ers insist on exploiting theirworkers.’’

Jenn Abelson can be reached [email protected].

Suit against Upper Crust sets off new federal inquiryº UPPER CRUSTContinued from Page B7

The employees weremostly Brazilianimmigrants androutinely worked 70to 80 hours a week.

subscribers can see six seasons’worth of shows whenever theywant.

In addition, Hulu Plus offershigher video resolution, up tothe high-definition standard of720p. It is also compatible withlots of video-capable devices.That includes your living roomTV if you buy one of the newestsets by Samsung Corp. You canalso get Hulu Plus through Sam-sung’s Blu-ray disk players.

Sony Corp. will offer accessthrough its PlayStation 3 videogame console. But there is acatch: You must pay $50 a yearfor Sony’s new PlayStation Plusonline service, an attempt tomimic the success of Xbox Live,Microsoft Corp.’s popular sub-scription service for the Xbox360. Hulu Plus also runs on theApple iPhone, iPod Touch, andiPad, and of course, on a PC orMacintosh computer.

I ran Hulu Plus on an iPad,and found it quite an acceptableTV substitute. Shows look verygood on the big, bright Appletablet, and the iPad’s portabilitymade it easy to watch anywherein the house.

But here’s the thing: I alreadypay $13.99 a month for the vid-eo subscription service Netflix.That gets me two DVDs at a timemailed to my house, as well asthe ability to stream thousandsof movies and TV shows straightto my iPad.

For me, Netflix is the betterdeal. Hulu is no haven for moviebuffs; its selection is tiny and al-most entirely dreadful. It isaimed at TV addicts, after all.

Apart from the current line-up of ABC, NBC, and Fox shows,Hulu Plus does have thousandsof older programs, scrolling backto the 1950s. An old episode ofthe ‘‘Alfred Hitchcock Hour’’ thatfrightened me terribly as a childstill scared me four decades lat-

er.But there is a hit-or-miss

quality to the collection. The ab-sence of CBS from the Hulu part-nership means that the net-work’s current shows are notthere. That means no ‘‘NCIS’’ or‘‘CSI.’’ Even when shows are list-ed, you do not always get everyepisode. For instance, the entireeight-year run of the Fox series‘‘24’’ can be streamed over Net-flix, but Hulu Plus offers onlyseason eight.

Many shows are not streama-ble on Netflix. But you can getthem on DVD at no extra cost.Around here, the disks usuallyhit your mailbox in two days.Surely you can hold out thatlong. The Netflix disk library isfull of shows Hulu lacks, includ-ing classic HBO series like ‘‘TheSopranos’’ and ‘‘The Wire.’’

And there is the matter ofcommercials. Netflix figures thata monthly subscription entitlesyou to ad-free viewing. Not so

with Hulu Plus. Its videos are lit-tered with ads. The ads are usu-ally brief and often clever, butyou cannot fast-forward throughthem.

In the iPad version, each addisplays a hyperlink in one cor-ner of the screen. Touch it, andthe video pauses while you aretaken to the advertiser’s website.It is a well-designed interactivemarketing gimmick, but at $10 amonth, I expect to watch my re-runs in peace.

Netflix makes more sense foroccasional viewers like me. ButHulu Plus, ads and all, couldprove irresistible to those whocannot get enough of ‘‘Bones’’ or‘‘Lost’’ or ‘‘Family Guy.’’ Hulu’sown commercials depict theservice as a plot to soften ourbrains through nonstop TVviewing. It might just work —just not on me.

Hiawatha Bray can be reachedat [email protected].

TV gurus will enjoy Hulu’s new pay serviceº TECH LABContinued from Page B7

GL B9 21:35 1ST

T H U R S D A Y , J U L Y 2 2 , 2 0 1 0 Business B9T H E B O S T O N G L O B E

Equal Housing Lender. MA Lender/Broker License #MC0022 - 52 Second Avenue, Waltham, MA 02451; NH Lender/Broker License # 11360 MB “Licensed by the New Hampshire Banking Department”; RI Licensed Lender: License #20052011LL; RI Licensed Loan Broker License: # 20052012LB; ME Lender License #SLM2431; ME Lender License #SLB4665; CT Lender/Broker License #8731; CT Second Mortgage Lender/Broker License #11581.

ASK ABOUT OUR FHA STREAMLINE REFINANCING!

FOR MORE INFORMATION:Visit our website

www.NEMMortgage.comto fi nd a loan offi cer in your area.

or

Call: 800-762-6385and ask for John Tighe.

An Affi liate of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage

• FREE PRE-APPROVALS

RATES AT HISTORIC LOWS

By Casey RossGLOBE STAFF

A Boston developer is shrink-ing the size of a residential towerit wants to build in the city’s FortPoint Channel neighborhood.

Archon/Goldman Propertieslatest version of the plan for 319A St. rear is a 21-story buildingwith 184 rental apartments andfour levels of above-ground park-ing. It previously had wanted tobuild a 25-story building with232 apartments.

The building will replace afive-story warehouse currentlyused as artists’ work space. Afterconsultation with city planners,Archon/Goldman opted to mar-ket the units as modestly ap-pointed apartments attractive toyoung professionals or graduatestudents.

‘‘The goal has always been tocreate something that is afford-able and can also get developed,’’said John Matteson, regional di-rector for Archon Group, which

is working with Goldman Prop-erties in the joint venture. ‘‘Wewant a building that young pro-fessionals can live in.’’

The city is trying to lureyounger residents to the FortPoint neighborhood as part of abroader effort to create a so-called innovation district, withtechnology and medical firmsthat typically employ large num-bers of students and younger re-searchers. Matteson said 15 per-cent of the units will be set asidefor affordable housing.

Archon/Goldman said it isstill considering a version of theplan that would include 20 stu-dio units built around sharedkitchens, living rooms, and laun-dry facilities.

The plan needs approval fromthe Boston Redevelopment Au-thority. Construction would be-gin in 2012.

Casey Ross can be reached [email protected].

Fort Point building plan scaled back

ADD INC. ARCHITECTS

A joint venture of Archon Group and Goldman Properties isproposing to build a 21-story residential tower at 319 A St. rear(rendering above). The building would contain 184 rentalapartments and four levels of above-ground parking.

By Bob Van VorisBLOOMBERG NEWS

NEW YORK — The trusteeoverseeing the liquidation of Ber-nard Madoff ’s firm yesterdaysued 43 new defendants, includ-ing the cofounder of FairfieldGreenwich Group, in an effort torecoup some of the money forswindled investors.

Cofounder Walter Noel andthe other defendants workedwith Madoff and his firm ‘‘tocommit, and exponentially ex-pand, the single largest financialfraud in history,’’ trustee IrvingPicard said in the complaint inUS Bankruptcy Court in NewYork. ‘‘Every dollar the defend-ants purportedly earned, and ev-ery dollar they kept to unjustlyenrich themselves, was stolenmoney.’’

Madoff, 72, is serving a 150-year term in federal prison inNorth Carolina after pleadingguilty to orchestrating history’sbiggest Ponzi scheme. FairfieldGreenwich was a marketing andinvestor-relations arm for Ber-nard L. Madoff Investment Secu-rities LLC, helping to enable thescheme, Picard said.

Picard seeks more than $3.6billion in damages from the Fair-field Greenwich defendants.

A company spokesman,Thomas Mulligan, reading froma statement, said the decision toexpand the lawsuit was ‘‘incom-prehensible’’ because the compa-ny is involved in good-faith nego-tiations with Picard.

‘‘The Madoff trustee’s amend-ed complaint is replete with false,misleading and rehashed accusa-tions,’’ Fairfield Greenwich said

in the statement.Top Fairfield Greenwich exec-

utives invested in Madoff alongwith their clients, according tothe statement. They lost morethan $70 million the fraud, Fair-field Greenwich said.

In May 2009, Picard suedthree Fairfield Greenwich ‘‘feederfunds’’ that channeled $4.7 bil-lion to Madoff Investment Secu-rities and withdrew billions fromthe firm.

Picard yesterday added 24Fairfield Greenwich units and 19people who held managementpositions at the firm or marketedthe feeder funds.

Picard said Noel, a foundingpartner and director of FairfieldGreenwich, and the other de-fendants made millions of dollarsby ignoring red flags and helpingMadoff accomplish his fraud.

‘‘Noel and his immediate andextended family became excep-tionally wealthy due to FGG’s defacto partnership with Madoff,’’Picard said.

Suit to recoverMadoff fundsexpands scope

TrusteeIrvingPicard

seeks more than$3.6 billion indamages from theFairfield Greenwichdefendants.

COMPENSATIONFOR VICTIMS

By Jane Wardelland Emma Vandore

ASSOCIATED PRESS

FARNBOROUGH, England —Plane makers notched up ordersworth more than $28 billion atthe Farnborough InternationalAirshow by the close of theevent’s third day, underscoring arevival in commercial aviationeven as budget cuts keep the de-fense sector in the doldrums.

New deals announced yester-day included orders for Airbusjets from Berlin-based airlineGermania and Indonesian na-tional carrier Garuda, while Mid-dle Eastern airline Qatar agreedto a deal with Boeing to takeearlier delivery of the US compa-ny’s fuel-efficient 787 jetliner.

‘‘Air travel demand is continu-ing to rise in the Middle East,and it is becoming clear that in-ternational demand is returningas the global economy showssigns of recovery,’’ Akbar Al Bak-er, Qatar Airways chief executive,said at Farnborough, which endsSunday.

‘‘Commercial business travelis so dependent on innovationthat there will always be opportu-nities,’’ Baker added. ‘‘Eachdownturn is an upturn some-where else.’’

Orders at the show are well offthe record-breaking $88.7 billion

in deals announced at Farnbo-rough in 2008, but the gatheringhas exceeded the slow orders forcommercial planes, about $7 bil-lion worth, at its sister show LeBourget, near Paris, last year.

The International Air Trans-port Association recently forecastthat the global industry wouldmake a small profit of $2.5 bil-

lion this year, after a huge loss of$9.4 billion in 2009 — a quick im-provement from its predictionslast year of more losses this year.

‘‘The number of orders showsthat the economic recovery is onits way,’’ said Max Sukkhasanti-kul, Commercial Aviation Con-sulting analyst.

More than 1,000 exhibitors

from 38 countries are at Farnbo-rough, with delegations fromEgypt, Taiwan, and Morocco at-tending for the first time. Organ-izers also cited stronger interestfrom China and Russia.

Boeing confirmed deals withAir Austral, a French airline, andQatar worth just over $1 billiontotal.

Farnborough Airshow orders top $28b

SANG TAN/ASSOCIATED PRESS

The Red Devils parachute regiment performed at the Farnborough International Airshow, inFarnborough, England, yesterday. The show features exhibitors from 38 countries.

By Candice ChoiASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK — A late creditcard payment will cost you. It’sjust not always clear how much.

Despite new reforms that re-quire more transparent billingpractices, about half of creditcards do not disclose in market-ing materials the penalty interestrates customers can incur.

Penalty rates can be as high as29.99 percent. That’s on top ofthe $39 fee a late payment oftentriggers.

A study by the Pew Safe CreditCards Project found that card is-suers are complying with a newlaw this year that prohibits nu-merous deceptive practices. Pre-viously, all card issuers trackedby Pew used at least one practicethat is now illegal.

Many major card issuers, in-cluding Chase and Capital One,disclose their penalty rates. ButBank of America does not and,because it’s one of the largestcard issuers, accounted for the 50percent of cards in the Pew studythat do not specify penalty rates.

Federal regulations only re-quire that set penalty rates aredisclosed in marketing materials.

A Bank of America spokes-woman, Betty Riess, said thecompany does not have a set pen-alty rate. Instead, accounts thatare 60 days past due are flaggedfor review.

‘‘It’s not predetermined,’’ she

said. If Bank of America decidesto hike a rate, it must provide thecustomer with a 45-day noticeunder the new law.

That 45-day notice is requiredfor any rate hikes on new bal-ances, even if customers are toldof the penalty rate upfront.

The new 45-day notices areintended to give cardholders achance to stop using their cardsor close their accounts.

There is another recoursefrom penalty fees. Under the newlaw, cardholders are entitled totheir original rates if they makesix straight on-time payments,starting from immediately after apenalty rate is imposed.

Other costs tied to creditcards are rising too, the Pewstudy found.

Cash advance and balancetransfer fees rose on averagefrom 3 percent of transactions to4 percent since July of last year.

For cards with annual fees,the median fee increased from$50 to $59. Median interest ratesalso rose to between 13 percentto 21 percent, compared with 10percent to 16 percent at the endof December 2008. Interest ratesand fees at credit unions rosemore moderately.

The good news for consumersis that over-the-limit fees are be-coming less common, with lessthan 25 percent of cards now im-posing them, versus 80 percent ayear ago.

Credit cards not alwaysclear on penalty rates

August were told they had to quittheir jobs if they wanted to keepthe checks, or effectively give themoney back by taking a pay cut.The former manager — who re-quested anonymity because theinvestigation is ongoing — saidthe employees, who were mostlyBrazilian immigrants and rou-tinely worked 70 to 80 hours aweek, were also changed fromhourly staff to salaried employeesso the company could avoid pay-ing overtime.

‘‘These were guys rolling pizzaand making dough,’’ the formermanager said of the Brazilianworkers. ‘‘There’s no accountabil-ity for anything.’’ The owners‘‘did whatever they wanted to

make money,’’ he said.Jordan Tobins, one of the

chain’s owners, confirmed in ane-mail to the Globe last week thatpay rates were scaled back lastAugust because Upper Crustneeded to reduce payroll. But healso added that the two formercooks who filed the lawsuit lastweek in Suffolk Superior Courtwere promoted from hourlyworkers to kitchen managers lastsummer.

Valdeir Pereira Pinto, one ofthe former cooks suing UpperCrust, said he was not a kitchenmanager. Pinto, who worked atthe Upper Crust restaurant onCommonwealth Avenue in Bos-ton, said he discussed with Matosat the US Department of Laborhow the company, after making

the lump restitution paymentsfor overtime, deducted hundredsof dollars from his weekly pay-check and fired him after UpperCrust recovered its money.

‘‘I spoke to [Matos] about themoney they took back,’’ Pintosaid.

The initial investigation,which looked at pay practices at

Upper Crust from April 2007through April 2009, found hourlyworkers were paid straight timeeven after they exceeded 40hours in a week. For example,Pinto received two checks for theweek ending Jan. 5, 2008, earn-ing $400 at $10 an hour for thefirst 40 hours and $305 for an ad-ditional 30.5 hours, according tocopies of paychecks provided byhis lawyers.

A time card for the week end-ing Sept. 27, 2009, a month afterthe overtime payments, showsPinto worked 72 hours. But hereceived only one check, for$455. He earned the sameamount for the week ending Dec.6, 2009, even though he workedlonger — 80.5 hours, accordingto records supplied by his law-

yers.Lydia Edwards, a volunteer

attorney at the Brazilian Immi-grant Center in Brighton, saidthe office has referred at least fivecurrent and former Upper Crustemployees to the US Departmentof Labor to aid in its most recentinvestigation.

‘‘This is an unfortunate situa-tion that many immigrant work-ers and workers in general haveto face to get paid a decent wage,’’Edwards said. ‘‘It also demon-strates that even in situationswhen you are willing to workwith an employer, some employ-ers insist on exploiting theirworkers.’’

Jenn Abelson can be reached [email protected].

Suit against Upper Crust sets off new federal inquiryº UPPER CRUSTContinued from Page B7

The employees weremostly Brazilianimmigrants androutinely worked 70to 80 hours a week.

subscribers can see six seasons’worth of shows whenever theywant.

In addition, Hulu Plus offershigher video resolution, up tothe high-definition standard of720p. It is also compatible withlots of video-capable devices.That includes your living roomTV if you buy one of the newestsets by Samsung Corp. You canalso get Hulu Plus through Sam-sung’s Blu-ray disk players.

Sony Corp. will offer accessthrough its PlayStation 3 videogame console. But there is acatch: You must pay $50 a yearfor Sony’s new PlayStation Plusonline service, an attempt tomimic the success of Xbox Live,Microsoft Corp.’s popular sub-scription service for the Xbox360. Hulu Plus also runs on theApple iPhone, iPod Touch, andiPad, and of course, on a PC orMacintosh computer.

I ran Hulu Plus on an iPad,and found it quite an acceptableTV substitute. Shows look verygood on the big, bright Appletablet, and the iPad’s portabilitymade it easy to watch anywherein the house.

But here’s the thing: I alreadypay $13.99 a month for the vid-eo subscription service Netflix.That gets me two DVDs at a timemailed to my house, as well asthe ability to stream thousandsof movies and TV shows straightto my iPad.

For me, Netflix is the betterdeal. Hulu is no haven for moviebuffs; its selection is tiny and al-most entirely dreadful. It isaimed at TV addicts, after all.

Apart from the current line-up of ABC, NBC, and Fox shows,Hulu Plus does have thousandsof older programs, scrolling backto the 1950s. An old episode ofthe ‘‘Alfred Hitchcock Hour’’ thatfrightened me terribly as a childstill scared me four decades lat-

er.But there is a hit-or-miss

quality to the collection. The ab-sence of CBS from the Hulu part-nership means that the net-work’s current shows are notthere. That means no ‘‘NCIS’’ or‘‘CSI.’’ Even when shows are list-ed, you do not always get everyepisode. For instance, the entireeight-year run of the Fox series‘‘24’’ can be streamed over Net-flix, but Hulu Plus offers onlyseason eight.

Many shows are not streama-ble on Netflix. But you can getthem on DVD at no extra cost.Around here, the disks usuallyhit your mailbox in two days.Surely you can hold out thatlong. The Netflix disk library isfull of shows Hulu lacks, includ-ing classic HBO series like ‘‘TheSopranos’’ and ‘‘The Wire.’’

And there is the matter ofcommercials. Netflix figures thata monthly subscription entitlesyou to ad-free viewing. Not so

with Hulu Plus. Its videos are lit-tered with ads. The ads are usu-ally brief and often clever, butyou cannot fast-forward throughthem.

In the iPad version, each addisplays a hyperlink in one cor-ner of the screen. Touch it, andthe video pauses while you aretaken to the advertiser’s website.It is a well-designed interactivemarketing gimmick, but at $10 amonth, I expect to watch my re-runs in peace.

Netflix makes more sense foroccasional viewers like me. ButHulu Plus, ads and all, couldprove irresistible to those whocannot get enough of ‘‘Bones’’ or‘‘Lost’’ or ‘‘Family Guy.’’ Hulu’sown commercials depict theservice as a plot to soften ourbrains through nonstop TVviewing. It might just work —just not on me.

Hiawatha Bray can be reachedat [email protected].

TV gurus will enjoy Hulu’s new pay serviceº TECH LABContinued from Page B7

GL B9 21:35 1ST

T H U R S D A Y , J U L Y 2 2 , 2 0 1 0 Business B9T H E B O S T O N G L O B E

Equal Housing Lender. MA Lender/Broker License #MC0022 - 52 Second Avenue, Waltham, MA 02451; NH Lender/Broker License # 11360 MB “Licensed by the New Hampshire Banking Department”; RI Licensed Lender: License #20052011LL; RI Licensed Loan Broker License: # 20052012LB; ME Lender License #SLM2431; ME Lender License #SLB4665; CT Lender/Broker License #8731; CT Second Mortgage Lender/Broker License #11581.

ASK ABOUT OUR FHA STREAMLINE REFINANCING!

FOR MORE INFORMATION:Visit our website

www.NEMMortgage.comto fi nd a loan offi cer in your area.

or

Call: 800-762-6385and ask for John Tighe.

An Affi liate of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage

• FREE PRE-APPROVALS

RATES AT HISTORIC LOWS

By Casey RossGLOBE STAFF

A Boston developer is shrink-ing the size of a residential towerit wants to build in the city’s FortPoint Channel neighborhood.

Archon/Goldman Propertieslatest version of the plan for 319A St. rear is a 21-story buildingwith 184 rental apartments andfour levels of above-ground park-ing. It previously had wanted tobuild a 25-story building with232 apartments.

The building will replace afive-story warehouse currentlyused as artists’ work space. Afterconsultation with city planners,Archon/Goldman opted to mar-ket the units as modestly ap-pointed apartments attractive toyoung professionals or graduatestudents.

‘‘The goal has always been tocreate something that is afford-able and can also get developed,’’said John Matteson, regional di-rector for Archon Group, which

is working with Goldman Prop-erties in the joint venture. ‘‘Wewant a building that young pro-fessionals can live in.’’

The city is trying to lureyounger residents to the FortPoint neighborhood as part of abroader effort to create a so-called innovation district, withtechnology and medical firmsthat typically employ large num-bers of students and younger re-searchers. Matteson said 15 per-cent of the units will be set asidefor affordable housing.

Archon/Goldman said it isstill considering a version of theplan that would include 20 stu-dio units built around sharedkitchens, living rooms, and laun-dry facilities.

The plan needs approval fromthe Boston Redevelopment Au-thority. Construction would be-gin in 2012.

Casey Ross can be reached [email protected].

Fort Point building plan scaled back

ADD INC. ARCHITECTS

A joint venture of Archon Group and Goldman Properties isproposing to build a 21-story residential tower at 319 A St. rear(rendering above). The building would contain 184 rentalapartments and four levels of above-ground parking.

By Bob Van VorisBLOOMBERG NEWS

NEW YORK — The trusteeoverseeing the liquidation of Ber-nard Madoff ’s firm yesterdaysued 43 new defendants, includ-ing the cofounder of FairfieldGreenwich Group, in an effort torecoup some of the money forswindled investors.

Cofounder Walter Noel andthe other defendants workedwith Madoff and his firm ‘‘tocommit, and exponentially ex-pand, the single largest financialfraud in history,’’ trustee IrvingPicard said in the complaint inUS Bankruptcy Court in NewYork. ‘‘Every dollar the defend-ants purportedly earned, and ev-ery dollar they kept to unjustlyenrich themselves, was stolenmoney.’’

Madoff, 72, is serving a 150-year term in federal prison inNorth Carolina after pleadingguilty to orchestrating history’sbiggest Ponzi scheme. FairfieldGreenwich was a marketing andinvestor-relations arm for Ber-nard L. Madoff Investment Secu-rities LLC, helping to enable thescheme, Picard said.

Picard seeks more than $3.6billion in damages from the Fair-field Greenwich defendants.

A company spokesman,Thomas Mulligan, reading froma statement, said the decision toexpand the lawsuit was ‘‘incom-prehensible’’ because the compa-ny is involved in good-faith nego-tiations with Picard.

‘‘The Madoff trustee’s amend-ed complaint is replete with false,misleading and rehashed accusa-tions,’’ Fairfield Greenwich said

in the statement.Top Fairfield Greenwich exec-

utives invested in Madoff alongwith their clients, according tothe statement. They lost morethan $70 million the fraud, Fair-field Greenwich said.

In May 2009, Picard suedthree Fairfield Greenwich ‘‘feederfunds’’ that channeled $4.7 bil-lion to Madoff Investment Secu-rities and withdrew billions fromthe firm.

Picard yesterday added 24Fairfield Greenwich units and 19people who held managementpositions at the firm or marketedthe feeder funds.

Picard said Noel, a foundingpartner and director of FairfieldGreenwich, and the other de-fendants made millions of dollarsby ignoring red flags and helpingMadoff accomplish his fraud.

‘‘Noel and his immediate andextended family became excep-tionally wealthy due to FGG’s defacto partnership with Madoff,’’Picard said.

Suit to recoverMadoff fundsexpands scope

TrusteeIrvingPicard

seeks more than$3.6 billion indamages from theFairfield Greenwichdefendants.

COMPENSATIONFOR VICTIMS

By Jane Wardelland Emma Vandore

ASSOCIATED PRESS

FARNBOROUGH, England —Plane makers notched up ordersworth more than $28 billion atthe Farnborough InternationalAirshow by the close of theevent’s third day, underscoring arevival in commercial aviationeven as budget cuts keep the de-fense sector in the doldrums.

New deals announced yester-day included orders for Airbusjets from Berlin-based airlineGermania and Indonesian na-tional carrier Garuda, while Mid-dle Eastern airline Qatar agreedto a deal with Boeing to takeearlier delivery of the US compa-ny’s fuel-efficient 787 jetliner.

‘‘Air travel demand is continu-ing to rise in the Middle East,and it is becoming clear that in-ternational demand is returningas the global economy showssigns of recovery,’’ Akbar Al Bak-er, Qatar Airways chief executive,said at Farnborough, which endsSunday.

‘‘Commercial business travelis so dependent on innovationthat there will always be opportu-nities,’’ Baker added. ‘‘Eachdownturn is an upturn some-where else.’’

Orders at the show are well offthe record-breaking $88.7 billion

in deals announced at Farnbo-rough in 2008, but the gatheringhas exceeded the slow orders forcommercial planes, about $7 bil-lion worth, at its sister show LeBourget, near Paris, last year.

The International Air Trans-port Association recently forecastthat the global industry wouldmake a small profit of $2.5 bil-

lion this year, after a huge loss of$9.4 billion in 2009 — a quick im-provement from its predictionslast year of more losses this year.

‘‘The number of orders showsthat the economic recovery is onits way,’’ said Max Sukkhasanti-kul, Commercial Aviation Con-sulting analyst.

More than 1,000 exhibitors

from 38 countries are at Farnbo-rough, with delegations fromEgypt, Taiwan, and Morocco at-tending for the first time. Organ-izers also cited stronger interestfrom China and Russia.

Boeing confirmed deals withAir Austral, a French airline, andQatar worth just over $1 billiontotal.

Farnborough Airshow orders top $28b

SANG TAN/ASSOCIATED PRESS

The Red Devils parachute regiment performed at the Farnborough International Airshow, inFarnborough, England, yesterday. The show features exhibitors from 38 countries.

By Candice ChoiASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK — A late creditcard payment will cost you. It’sjust not always clear how much.

Despite new reforms that re-quire more transparent billingpractices, about half of creditcards do not disclose in market-ing materials the penalty interestrates customers can incur.

Penalty rates can be as high as29.99 percent. That’s on top ofthe $39 fee a late payment oftentriggers.

A study by the Pew Safe CreditCards Project found that card is-suers are complying with a newlaw this year that prohibits nu-merous deceptive practices. Pre-viously, all card issuers trackedby Pew used at least one practicethat is now illegal.

Many major card issuers, in-cluding Chase and Capital One,disclose their penalty rates. ButBank of America does not and,because it’s one of the largestcard issuers, accounted for the 50percent of cards in the Pew studythat do not specify penalty rates.

Federal regulations only re-quire that set penalty rates aredisclosed in marketing materials.

A Bank of America spokes-woman, Betty Riess, said thecompany does not have a set pen-alty rate. Instead, accounts thatare 60 days past due are flaggedfor review.

‘‘It’s not predetermined,’’ she

said. If Bank of America decidesto hike a rate, it must provide thecustomer with a 45-day noticeunder the new law.

That 45-day notice is requiredfor any rate hikes on new bal-ances, even if customers are toldof the penalty rate upfront.

The new 45-day notices areintended to give cardholders achance to stop using their cardsor close their accounts.

There is another recoursefrom penalty fees. Under the newlaw, cardholders are entitled totheir original rates if they makesix straight on-time payments,starting from immediately after apenalty rate is imposed.

Other costs tied to creditcards are rising too, the Pewstudy found.

Cash advance and balancetransfer fees rose on averagefrom 3 percent of transactions to4 percent since July of last year.

For cards with annual fees,the median fee increased from$50 to $59. Median interest ratesalso rose to between 13 percentto 21 percent, compared with 10percent to 16 percent at the endof December 2008. Interest ratesand fees at credit unions rosemore moderately.

The good news for consumersis that over-the-limit fees are be-coming less common, with lessthan 25 percent of cards now im-posing them, versus 80 percent ayear ago.

Credit cards not alwaysclear on penalty rates

August were told they had to quittheir jobs if they wanted to keepthe checks, or effectively give themoney back by taking a pay cut.The former manager — who re-quested anonymity because theinvestigation is ongoing — saidthe employees, who were mostlyBrazilian immigrants and rou-tinely worked 70 to 80 hours aweek, were also changed fromhourly staff to salaried employeesso the company could avoid pay-ing overtime.

‘‘These were guys rolling pizzaand making dough,’’ the formermanager said of the Brazilianworkers. ‘‘There’s no accountabil-ity for anything.’’ The owners‘‘did whatever they wanted to

make money,’’ he said.Jordan Tobins, one of the

chain’s owners, confirmed in ane-mail to the Globe last week thatpay rates were scaled back lastAugust because Upper Crustneeded to reduce payroll. But healso added that the two formercooks who filed the lawsuit lastweek in Suffolk Superior Courtwere promoted from hourlyworkers to kitchen managers lastsummer.

Valdeir Pereira Pinto, one ofthe former cooks suing UpperCrust, said he was not a kitchenmanager. Pinto, who worked atthe Upper Crust restaurant onCommonwealth Avenue in Bos-ton, said he discussed with Matosat the US Department of Laborhow the company, after making

the lump restitution paymentsfor overtime, deducted hundredsof dollars from his weekly pay-check and fired him after UpperCrust recovered its money.

‘‘I spoke to [Matos] about themoney they took back,’’ Pintosaid.

The initial investigation,which looked at pay practices at

Upper Crust from April 2007through April 2009, found hourlyworkers were paid straight timeeven after they exceeded 40hours in a week. For example,Pinto received two checks for theweek ending Jan. 5, 2008, earn-ing $400 at $10 an hour for thefirst 40 hours and $305 for an ad-ditional 30.5 hours, according tocopies of paychecks provided byhis lawyers.

A time card for the week end-ing Sept. 27, 2009, a month afterthe overtime payments, showsPinto worked 72 hours. But hereceived only one check, for$455. He earned the sameamount for the week ending Dec.6, 2009, even though he workedlonger — 80.5 hours, accordingto records supplied by his law-

yers.Lydia Edwards, a volunteer

attorney at the Brazilian Immi-grant Center in Brighton, saidthe office has referred at least fivecurrent and former Upper Crustemployees to the US Departmentof Labor to aid in its most recentinvestigation.

‘‘This is an unfortunate situa-tion that many immigrant work-ers and workers in general haveto face to get paid a decent wage,’’Edwards said. ‘‘It also demon-strates that even in situationswhen you are willing to workwith an employer, some employ-ers insist on exploiting theirworkers.’’

Jenn Abelson can be reached [email protected].

Suit against Upper Crust sets off new federal inquiryº UPPER CRUSTContinued from Page B7

The employees weremostly Brazilianimmigrants androutinely worked 70to 80 hours a week.

subscribers can see six seasons’worth of shows whenever theywant.

In addition, Hulu Plus offershigher video resolution, up tothe high-definition standard of720p. It is also compatible withlots of video-capable devices.That includes your living roomTV if you buy one of the newestsets by Samsung Corp. You canalso get Hulu Plus through Sam-sung’s Blu-ray disk players.

Sony Corp. will offer accessthrough its PlayStation 3 videogame console. But there is acatch: You must pay $50 a yearfor Sony’s new PlayStation Plusonline service, an attempt tomimic the success of Xbox Live,Microsoft Corp.’s popular sub-scription service for the Xbox360. Hulu Plus also runs on theApple iPhone, iPod Touch, andiPad, and of course, on a PC orMacintosh computer.

I ran Hulu Plus on an iPad,and found it quite an acceptableTV substitute. Shows look verygood on the big, bright Appletablet, and the iPad’s portabilitymade it easy to watch anywherein the house.

But here’s the thing: I alreadypay $13.99 a month for the vid-eo subscription service Netflix.That gets me two DVDs at a timemailed to my house, as well asthe ability to stream thousandsof movies and TV shows straightto my iPad.

For me, Netflix is the betterdeal. Hulu is no haven for moviebuffs; its selection is tiny and al-most entirely dreadful. It isaimed at TV addicts, after all.

Apart from the current line-up of ABC, NBC, and Fox shows,Hulu Plus does have thousandsof older programs, scrolling backto the 1950s. An old episode ofthe ‘‘Alfred Hitchcock Hour’’ thatfrightened me terribly as a childstill scared me four decades lat-

er.But there is a hit-or-miss

quality to the collection. The ab-sence of CBS from the Hulu part-nership means that the net-work’s current shows are notthere. That means no ‘‘NCIS’’ or‘‘CSI.’’ Even when shows are list-ed, you do not always get everyepisode. For instance, the entireeight-year run of the Fox series‘‘24’’ can be streamed over Net-flix, but Hulu Plus offers onlyseason eight.

Many shows are not streama-ble on Netflix. But you can getthem on DVD at no extra cost.Around here, the disks usuallyhit your mailbox in two days.Surely you can hold out thatlong. The Netflix disk library isfull of shows Hulu lacks, includ-ing classic HBO series like ‘‘TheSopranos’’ and ‘‘The Wire.’’

And there is the matter ofcommercials. Netflix figures thata monthly subscription entitlesyou to ad-free viewing. Not so

with Hulu Plus. Its videos are lit-tered with ads. The ads are usu-ally brief and often clever, butyou cannot fast-forward throughthem.

In the iPad version, each addisplays a hyperlink in one cor-ner of the screen. Touch it, andthe video pauses while you aretaken to the advertiser’s website.It is a well-designed interactivemarketing gimmick, but at $10 amonth, I expect to watch my re-runs in peace.

Netflix makes more sense foroccasional viewers like me. ButHulu Plus, ads and all, couldprove irresistible to those whocannot get enough of ‘‘Bones’’ or‘‘Lost’’ or ‘‘Family Guy.’’ Hulu’sown commercials depict theservice as a plot to soften ourbrains through nonstop TVviewing. It might just work —just not on me.

Hiawatha Bray can be reachedat [email protected].

TV gurus will enjoy Hulu’s new pay serviceº TECH LABContinued from Page B7

GL B9 21:35 1ST

T H U R S D A Y , J U L Y 2 2 , 2 0 1 0 Business B9T H E B O S T O N G L O B E

Equal Housing Lender. MA Lender/Broker License #MC0022 - 52 Second Avenue, Waltham, MA 02451; NH Lender/Broker License # 11360 MB “Licensed by the New Hampshire Banking Department”; RI Licensed Lender: License #20052011LL; RI Licensed Loan Broker License: # 20052012LB; ME Lender License #SLM2431; ME Lender License #SLB4665; CT Lender/Broker License #8731; CT Second Mortgage Lender/Broker License #11581.

ASK ABOUT OUR FHA STREAMLINE REFINANCING!

FOR MORE INFORMATION:Visit our website

www.NEMMortgage.comto fi nd a loan offi cer in your area.

or

Call: 800-762-6385and ask for John Tighe.

An Affi liate of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage

• FREE PRE-APPROVALS

RATES AT HISTORIC LOWS

By Casey RossGLOBE STAFF

A Boston developer is shrink-ing the size of a residential towerit wants to build in the city’s FortPoint Channel neighborhood.

Archon/Goldman Propertieslatest version of the plan for 319A St. rear is a 21-story buildingwith 184 rental apartments andfour levels of above-ground park-ing. It previously had wanted tobuild a 25-story building with232 apartments.

The building will replace afive-story warehouse currentlyused as artists’ work space. Afterconsultation with city planners,Archon/Goldman opted to mar-ket the units as modestly ap-pointed apartments attractive toyoung professionals or graduatestudents.

‘‘The goal has always been tocreate something that is afford-able and can also get developed,’’said John Matteson, regional di-rector for Archon Group, which

is working with Goldman Prop-erties in the joint venture. ‘‘Wewant a building that young pro-fessionals can live in.’’

The city is trying to lureyounger residents to the FortPoint neighborhood as part of abroader effort to create a so-called innovation district, withtechnology and medical firmsthat typically employ large num-bers of students and younger re-searchers. Matteson said 15 per-cent of the units will be set asidefor affordable housing.

Archon/Goldman said it isstill considering a version of theplan that would include 20 stu-dio units built around sharedkitchens, living rooms, and laun-dry facilities.

The plan needs approval fromthe Boston Redevelopment Au-thority. Construction would be-gin in 2012.

Casey Ross can be reached [email protected].

Fort Point building plan scaled back

ADD INC. ARCHITECTS

A joint venture of Archon Group and Goldman Properties isproposing to build a 21-story residential tower at 319 A St. rear(rendering above). The building would contain 184 rentalapartments and four levels of above-ground parking.

By Bob Van VorisBLOOMBERG NEWS

NEW YORK — The trusteeoverseeing the liquidation of Ber-nard Madoff ’s firm yesterdaysued 43 new defendants, includ-ing the cofounder of FairfieldGreenwich Group, in an effort torecoup some of the money forswindled investors.

Cofounder Walter Noel andthe other defendants workedwith Madoff and his firm ‘‘tocommit, and exponentially ex-pand, the single largest financialfraud in history,’’ trustee IrvingPicard said in the complaint inUS Bankruptcy Court in NewYork. ‘‘Every dollar the defend-ants purportedly earned, and ev-ery dollar they kept to unjustlyenrich themselves, was stolenmoney.’’

Madoff, 72, is serving a 150-year term in federal prison inNorth Carolina after pleadingguilty to orchestrating history’sbiggest Ponzi scheme. FairfieldGreenwich was a marketing andinvestor-relations arm for Ber-nard L. Madoff Investment Secu-rities LLC, helping to enable thescheme, Picard said.

Picard seeks more than $3.6billion in damages from the Fair-field Greenwich defendants.

A company spokesman,Thomas Mulligan, reading froma statement, said the decision toexpand the lawsuit was ‘‘incom-prehensible’’ because the compa-ny is involved in good-faith nego-tiations with Picard.

‘‘The Madoff trustee’s amend-ed complaint is replete with false,misleading and rehashed accusa-tions,’’ Fairfield Greenwich said

in the statement.Top Fairfield Greenwich exec-

utives invested in Madoff alongwith their clients, according tothe statement. They lost morethan $70 million the fraud, Fair-field Greenwich said.

In May 2009, Picard suedthree Fairfield Greenwich ‘‘feederfunds’’ that channeled $4.7 bil-lion to Madoff Investment Secu-rities and withdrew billions fromthe firm.

Picard yesterday added 24Fairfield Greenwich units and 19people who held managementpositions at the firm or marketedthe feeder funds.

Picard said Noel, a foundingpartner and director of FairfieldGreenwich, and the other de-fendants made millions of dollarsby ignoring red flags and helpingMadoff accomplish his fraud.

‘‘Noel and his immediate andextended family became excep-tionally wealthy due to FGG’s defacto partnership with Madoff,’’Picard said.

Suit to recoverMadoff fundsexpands scope

TrusteeIrvingPicard

seeks more than$3.6 billion indamages from theFairfield Greenwichdefendants.

COMPENSATIONFOR VICTIMS

By Jane Wardelland Emma Vandore

ASSOCIATED PRESS

FARNBOROUGH, England —Plane makers notched up ordersworth more than $28 billion atthe Farnborough InternationalAirshow by the close of theevent’s third day, underscoring arevival in commercial aviationeven as budget cuts keep the de-fense sector in the doldrums.

New deals announced yester-day included orders for Airbusjets from Berlin-based airlineGermania and Indonesian na-tional carrier Garuda, while Mid-dle Eastern airline Qatar agreedto a deal with Boeing to takeearlier delivery of the US compa-ny’s fuel-efficient 787 jetliner.

‘‘Air travel demand is continu-ing to rise in the Middle East,and it is becoming clear that in-ternational demand is returningas the global economy showssigns of recovery,’’ Akbar Al Bak-er, Qatar Airways chief executive,said at Farnborough, which endsSunday.

‘‘Commercial business travelis so dependent on innovationthat there will always be opportu-nities,’’ Baker added. ‘‘Eachdownturn is an upturn some-where else.’’

Orders at the show are well offthe record-breaking $88.7 billion

in deals announced at Farnbo-rough in 2008, but the gatheringhas exceeded the slow orders forcommercial planes, about $7 bil-lion worth, at its sister show LeBourget, near Paris, last year.

The International Air Trans-port Association recently forecastthat the global industry wouldmake a small profit of $2.5 bil-

lion this year, after a huge loss of$9.4 billion in 2009 — a quick im-provement from its predictionslast year of more losses this year.

‘‘The number of orders showsthat the economic recovery is onits way,’’ said Max Sukkhasanti-kul, Commercial Aviation Con-sulting analyst.

More than 1,000 exhibitors

from 38 countries are at Farnbo-rough, with delegations fromEgypt, Taiwan, and Morocco at-tending for the first time. Organ-izers also cited stronger interestfrom China and Russia.

Boeing confirmed deals withAir Austral, a French airline, andQatar worth just over $1 billiontotal.

Farnborough Airshow orders top $28b

SANG TAN/ASSOCIATED PRESS

The Red Devils parachute regiment performed at the Farnborough International Airshow, inFarnborough, England, yesterday. The show features exhibitors from 38 countries.

By Candice ChoiASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK — A late creditcard payment will cost you. It’sjust not always clear how much.

Despite new reforms that re-quire more transparent billingpractices, about half of creditcards do not disclose in market-ing materials the penalty interestrates customers can incur.

Penalty rates can be as high as29.99 percent. That’s on top ofthe $39 fee a late payment oftentriggers.

A study by the Pew Safe CreditCards Project found that card is-suers are complying with a newlaw this year that prohibits nu-merous deceptive practices. Pre-viously, all card issuers trackedby Pew used at least one practicethat is now illegal.

Many major card issuers, in-cluding Chase and Capital One,disclose their penalty rates. ButBank of America does not and,because it’s one of the largestcard issuers, accounted for the 50percent of cards in the Pew studythat do not specify penalty rates.

Federal regulations only re-quire that set penalty rates aredisclosed in marketing materials.

A Bank of America spokes-woman, Betty Riess, said thecompany does not have a set pen-alty rate. Instead, accounts thatare 60 days past due are flaggedfor review.

‘‘It’s not predetermined,’’ she

said. If Bank of America decidesto hike a rate, it must provide thecustomer with a 45-day noticeunder the new law.

That 45-day notice is requiredfor any rate hikes on new bal-ances, even if customers are toldof the penalty rate upfront.

The new 45-day notices areintended to give cardholders achance to stop using their cardsor close their accounts.

There is another recoursefrom penalty fees. Under the newlaw, cardholders are entitled totheir original rates if they makesix straight on-time payments,starting from immediately after apenalty rate is imposed.

Other costs tied to creditcards are rising too, the Pewstudy found.

Cash advance and balancetransfer fees rose on averagefrom 3 percent of transactions to4 percent since July of last year.

For cards with annual fees,the median fee increased from$50 to $59. Median interest ratesalso rose to between 13 percentto 21 percent, compared with 10percent to 16 percent at the endof December 2008. Interest ratesand fees at credit unions rosemore moderately.

The good news for consumersis that over-the-limit fees are be-coming less common, with lessthan 25 percent of cards now im-posing them, versus 80 percent ayear ago.

Credit cards not alwaysclear on penalty rates

August were told they had to quittheir jobs if they wanted to keepthe checks, or effectively give themoney back by taking a pay cut.The former manager — who re-quested anonymity because theinvestigation is ongoing — saidthe employees, who were mostlyBrazilian immigrants and rou-tinely worked 70 to 80 hours aweek, were also changed fromhourly staff to salaried employeesso the company could avoid pay-ing overtime.

‘‘These were guys rolling pizzaand making dough,’’ the formermanager said of the Brazilianworkers. ‘‘There’s no accountabil-ity for anything.’’ The owners‘‘did whatever they wanted to

make money,’’ he said.Jordan Tobins, one of the

chain’s owners, confirmed in ane-mail to the Globe last week thatpay rates were scaled back lastAugust because Upper Crustneeded to reduce payroll. But healso added that the two formercooks who filed the lawsuit lastweek in Suffolk Superior Courtwere promoted from hourlyworkers to kitchen managers lastsummer.

Valdeir Pereira Pinto, one ofthe former cooks suing UpperCrust, said he was not a kitchenmanager. Pinto, who worked atthe Upper Crust restaurant onCommonwealth Avenue in Bos-ton, said he discussed with Matosat the US Department of Laborhow the company, after making

the lump restitution paymentsfor overtime, deducted hundredsof dollars from his weekly pay-check and fired him after UpperCrust recovered its money.

‘‘I spoke to [Matos] about themoney they took back,’’ Pintosaid.

The initial investigation,which looked at pay practices at

Upper Crust from April 2007through April 2009, found hourlyworkers were paid straight timeeven after they exceeded 40hours in a week. For example,Pinto received two checks for theweek ending Jan. 5, 2008, earn-ing $400 at $10 an hour for thefirst 40 hours and $305 for an ad-ditional 30.5 hours, according tocopies of paychecks provided byhis lawyers.

A time card for the week end-ing Sept. 27, 2009, a month afterthe overtime payments, showsPinto worked 72 hours. But hereceived only one check, for$455. He earned the sameamount for the week ending Dec.6, 2009, even though he workedlonger — 80.5 hours, accordingto records supplied by his law-

yers.Lydia Edwards, a volunteer

attorney at the Brazilian Immi-grant Center in Brighton, saidthe office has referred at least fivecurrent and former Upper Crustemployees to the US Departmentof Labor to aid in its most recentinvestigation.

‘‘This is an unfortunate situa-tion that many immigrant work-ers and workers in general haveto face to get paid a decent wage,’’Edwards said. ‘‘It also demon-strates that even in situationswhen you are willing to workwith an employer, some employ-ers insist on exploiting theirworkers.’’

Jenn Abelson can be reached [email protected].

Suit against Upper Crust sets off new federal inquiryº UPPER CRUSTContinued from Page B7

The employees weremostly Brazilianimmigrants androutinely worked 70to 80 hours a week.

subscribers can see six seasons’worth of shows whenever theywant.

In addition, Hulu Plus offershigher video resolution, up tothe high-definition standard of720p. It is also compatible withlots of video-capable devices.That includes your living roomTV if you buy one of the newestsets by Samsung Corp. You canalso get Hulu Plus through Sam-sung’s Blu-ray disk players.

Sony Corp. will offer accessthrough its PlayStation 3 videogame console. But there is acatch: You must pay $50 a yearfor Sony’s new PlayStation Plusonline service, an attempt tomimic the success of Xbox Live,Microsoft Corp.’s popular sub-scription service for the Xbox360. Hulu Plus also runs on theApple iPhone, iPod Touch, andiPad, and of course, on a PC orMacintosh computer.

I ran Hulu Plus on an iPad,and found it quite an acceptableTV substitute. Shows look verygood on the big, bright Appletablet, and the iPad’s portabilitymade it easy to watch anywherein the house.

But here’s the thing: I alreadypay $13.99 a month for the vid-eo subscription service Netflix.That gets me two DVDs at a timemailed to my house, as well asthe ability to stream thousandsof movies and TV shows straightto my iPad.

For me, Netflix is the betterdeal. Hulu is no haven for moviebuffs; its selection is tiny and al-most entirely dreadful. It isaimed at TV addicts, after all.

Apart from the current line-up of ABC, NBC, and Fox shows,Hulu Plus does have thousandsof older programs, scrolling backto the 1950s. An old episode ofthe ‘‘Alfred Hitchcock Hour’’ thatfrightened me terribly as a childstill scared me four decades lat-

er.But there is a hit-or-miss

quality to the collection. The ab-sence of CBS from the Hulu part-nership means that the net-work’s current shows are notthere. That means no ‘‘NCIS’’ or‘‘CSI.’’ Even when shows are list-ed, you do not always get everyepisode. For instance, the entireeight-year run of the Fox series‘‘24’’ can be streamed over Net-flix, but Hulu Plus offers onlyseason eight.

Many shows are not streama-ble on Netflix. But you can getthem on DVD at no extra cost.Around here, the disks usuallyhit your mailbox in two days.Surely you can hold out thatlong. The Netflix disk library isfull of shows Hulu lacks, includ-ing classic HBO series like ‘‘TheSopranos’’ and ‘‘The Wire.’’

And there is the matter ofcommercials. Netflix figures thata monthly subscription entitlesyou to ad-free viewing. Not so

with Hulu Plus. Its videos are lit-tered with ads. The ads are usu-ally brief and often clever, butyou cannot fast-forward throughthem.

In the iPad version, each addisplays a hyperlink in one cor-ner of the screen. Touch it, andthe video pauses while you aretaken to the advertiser’s website.It is a well-designed interactivemarketing gimmick, but at $10 amonth, I expect to watch my re-runs in peace.

Netflix makes more sense foroccasional viewers like me. ButHulu Plus, ads and all, couldprove irresistible to those whocannot get enough of ‘‘Bones’’ or‘‘Lost’’ or ‘‘Family Guy.’’ Hulu’sown commercials depict theservice as a plot to soften ourbrains through nonstop TVviewing. It might just work —just not on me.

Hiawatha Bray can be reachedat [email protected].

TV gurus will enjoy Hulu’s new pay serviceº TECH LABContinued from Page B7

GL B9 21:35 1ST

T H U R S D A Y , J U L Y 2 2 , 2 0 1 0 Business B9T H E B O S T O N G L O B E

Equal Housing Lender. MA Lender/Broker License #MC0022 - 52 Second Avenue, Waltham, MA 02451; NH Lender/Broker License # 11360 MB “Licensed by the New Hampshire Banking Department”; RI Licensed Lender: License #20052011LL; RI Licensed Loan Broker License: # 20052012LB; ME Lender License #SLM2431; ME Lender License #SLB4665; CT Lender/Broker License #8731; CT Second Mortgage Lender/Broker License #11581.

ASK ABOUT OUR FHA STREAMLINE REFINANCING!

FOR MORE INFORMATION:Visit our website

www.NEMMortgage.comto fi nd a loan offi cer in your area.

or

Call: 800-762-6385and ask for John Tighe.

An Affi liate of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage

• FREE PRE-APPROVALS

RATES AT HISTORIC LOWS

By Casey RossGLOBE STAFF

A Boston developer is shrink-ing the size of a residential towerit wants to build in the city’s FortPoint Channel neighborhood.

Archon/Goldman Propertieslatest version of the plan for 319A St. rear is a 21-story buildingwith 184 rental apartments andfour levels of above-ground park-ing. It previously had wanted tobuild a 25-story building with232 apartments.

The building will replace afive-story warehouse currentlyused as artists’ work space. Afterconsultation with city planners,Archon/Goldman opted to mar-ket the units as modestly ap-pointed apartments attractive toyoung professionals or graduatestudents.

‘‘The goal has always been tocreate something that is afford-able and can also get developed,’’said John Matteson, regional di-rector for Archon Group, which

is working with Goldman Prop-erties in the joint venture. ‘‘Wewant a building that young pro-fessionals can live in.’’

The city is trying to lureyounger residents to the FortPoint neighborhood as part of abroader effort to create a so-called innovation district, withtechnology and medical firmsthat typically employ large num-bers of students and younger re-searchers. Matteson said 15 per-cent of the units will be set asidefor affordable housing.

Archon/Goldman said it isstill considering a version of theplan that would include 20 stu-dio units built around sharedkitchens, living rooms, and laun-dry facilities.

The plan needs approval fromthe Boston Redevelopment Au-thority. Construction would be-gin in 2012.

Casey Ross can be reached [email protected].

Fort Point building plan scaled back

ADD INC. ARCHITECTS

A joint venture of Archon Group and Goldman Properties isproposing to build a 21-story residential tower at 319 A St. rear(rendering above). The building would contain 184 rentalapartments and four levels of above-ground parking.

By Bob Van VorisBLOOMBERG NEWS

NEW YORK — The trusteeoverseeing the liquidation of Ber-nard Madoff ’s firm yesterdaysued 43 new defendants, includ-ing the cofounder of FairfieldGreenwich Group, in an effort torecoup some of the money forswindled investors.

Cofounder Walter Noel andthe other defendants workedwith Madoff and his firm ‘‘tocommit, and exponentially ex-pand, the single largest financialfraud in history,’’ trustee IrvingPicard said in the complaint inUS Bankruptcy Court in NewYork. ‘‘Every dollar the defend-ants purportedly earned, and ev-ery dollar they kept to unjustlyenrich themselves, was stolenmoney.’’

Madoff, 72, is serving a 150-year term in federal prison inNorth Carolina after pleadingguilty to orchestrating history’sbiggest Ponzi scheme. FairfieldGreenwich was a marketing andinvestor-relations arm for Ber-nard L. Madoff Investment Secu-rities LLC, helping to enable thescheme, Picard said.

Picard seeks more than $3.6billion in damages from the Fair-field Greenwich defendants.

A company spokesman,Thomas Mulligan, reading froma statement, said the decision toexpand the lawsuit was ‘‘incom-prehensible’’ because the compa-ny is involved in good-faith nego-tiations with Picard.

‘‘The Madoff trustee’s amend-ed complaint is replete with false,misleading and rehashed accusa-tions,’’ Fairfield Greenwich said

in the statement.Top Fairfield Greenwich exec-

utives invested in Madoff alongwith their clients, according tothe statement. They lost morethan $70 million the fraud, Fair-field Greenwich said.

In May 2009, Picard suedthree Fairfield Greenwich ‘‘feederfunds’’ that channeled $4.7 bil-lion to Madoff Investment Secu-rities and withdrew billions fromthe firm.

Picard yesterday added 24Fairfield Greenwich units and 19people who held managementpositions at the firm or marketedthe feeder funds.

Picard said Noel, a foundingpartner and director of FairfieldGreenwich, and the other de-fendants made millions of dollarsby ignoring red flags and helpingMadoff accomplish his fraud.

‘‘Noel and his immediate andextended family became excep-tionally wealthy due to FGG’s defacto partnership with Madoff,’’Picard said.

Suit to recoverMadoff fundsexpands scope

TrusteeIrvingPicard

seeks more than$3.6 billion indamages from theFairfield Greenwichdefendants.

COMPENSATIONFOR VICTIMS

By Jane Wardelland Emma Vandore

ASSOCIATED PRESS

FARNBOROUGH, England —Plane makers notched up ordersworth more than $28 billion atthe Farnborough InternationalAirshow by the close of theevent’s third day, underscoring arevival in commercial aviationeven as budget cuts keep the de-fense sector in the doldrums.

New deals announced yester-day included orders for Airbusjets from Berlin-based airlineGermania and Indonesian na-tional carrier Garuda, while Mid-dle Eastern airline Qatar agreedto a deal with Boeing to takeearlier delivery of the US compa-ny’s fuel-efficient 787 jetliner.

‘‘Air travel demand is continu-ing to rise in the Middle East,and it is becoming clear that in-ternational demand is returningas the global economy showssigns of recovery,’’ Akbar Al Bak-er, Qatar Airways chief executive,said at Farnborough, which endsSunday.

‘‘Commercial business travelis so dependent on innovationthat there will always be opportu-nities,’’ Baker added. ‘‘Eachdownturn is an upturn some-where else.’’

Orders at the show are well offthe record-breaking $88.7 billion

in deals announced at Farnbo-rough in 2008, but the gatheringhas exceeded the slow orders forcommercial planes, about $7 bil-lion worth, at its sister show LeBourget, near Paris, last year.

The International Air Trans-port Association recently forecastthat the global industry wouldmake a small profit of $2.5 bil-

lion this year, after a huge loss of$9.4 billion in 2009 — a quick im-provement from its predictionslast year of more losses this year.

‘‘The number of orders showsthat the economic recovery is onits way,’’ said Max Sukkhasanti-kul, Commercial Aviation Con-sulting analyst.

More than 1,000 exhibitors

from 38 countries are at Farnbo-rough, with delegations fromEgypt, Taiwan, and Morocco at-tending for the first time. Organ-izers also cited stronger interestfrom China and Russia.

Boeing confirmed deals withAir Austral, a French airline, andQatar worth just over $1 billiontotal.

Farnborough Airshow orders top $28b

SANG TAN/ASSOCIATED PRESS

The Red Devils parachute regiment performed at the Farnborough International Airshow, inFarnborough, England, yesterday. The show features exhibitors from 38 countries.

By Candice ChoiASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK — A late creditcard payment will cost you. It’sjust not always clear how much.

Despite new reforms that re-quire more transparent billingpractices, about half of creditcards do not disclose in market-ing materials the penalty interestrates customers can incur.

Penalty rates can be as high as29.99 percent. That’s on top ofthe $39 fee a late payment oftentriggers.

A study by the Pew Safe CreditCards Project found that card is-suers are complying with a newlaw this year that prohibits nu-merous deceptive practices. Pre-viously, all card issuers trackedby Pew used at least one practicethat is now illegal.

Many major card issuers, in-cluding Chase and Capital One,disclose their penalty rates. ButBank of America does not and,because it’s one of the largestcard issuers, accounted for the 50percent of cards in the Pew studythat do not specify penalty rates.

Federal regulations only re-quire that set penalty rates aredisclosed in marketing materials.

A Bank of America spokes-woman, Betty Riess, said thecompany does not have a set pen-alty rate. Instead, accounts thatare 60 days past due are flaggedfor review.

‘‘It’s not predetermined,’’ she

said. If Bank of America decidesto hike a rate, it must provide thecustomer with a 45-day noticeunder the new law.

That 45-day notice is requiredfor any rate hikes on new bal-ances, even if customers are toldof the penalty rate upfront.

The new 45-day notices areintended to give cardholders achance to stop using their cardsor close their accounts.

There is another recoursefrom penalty fees. Under the newlaw, cardholders are entitled totheir original rates if they makesix straight on-time payments,starting from immediately after apenalty rate is imposed.

Other costs tied to creditcards are rising too, the Pewstudy found.

Cash advance and balancetransfer fees rose on averagefrom 3 percent of transactions to4 percent since July of last year.

For cards with annual fees,the median fee increased from$50 to $59. Median interest ratesalso rose to between 13 percentto 21 percent, compared with 10percent to 16 percent at the endof December 2008. Interest ratesand fees at credit unions rosemore moderately.

The good news for consumersis that over-the-limit fees are be-coming less common, with lessthan 25 percent of cards now im-posing them, versus 80 percent ayear ago.

Credit cards not alwaysclear on penalty rates

August were told they had to quittheir jobs if they wanted to keepthe checks, or effectively give themoney back by taking a pay cut.The former manager — who re-quested anonymity because theinvestigation is ongoing — saidthe employees, who were mostlyBrazilian immigrants and rou-tinely worked 70 to 80 hours aweek, were also changed fromhourly staff to salaried employeesso the company could avoid pay-ing overtime.

‘‘These were guys rolling pizzaand making dough,’’ the formermanager said of the Brazilianworkers. ‘‘There’s no accountabil-ity for anything.’’ The owners‘‘did whatever they wanted to

make money,’’ he said.Jordan Tobins, one of the

chain’s owners, confirmed in ane-mail to the Globe last week thatpay rates were scaled back lastAugust because Upper Crustneeded to reduce payroll. But healso added that the two formercooks who filed the lawsuit lastweek in Suffolk Superior Courtwere promoted from hourlyworkers to kitchen managers lastsummer.

Valdeir Pereira Pinto, one ofthe former cooks suing UpperCrust, said he was not a kitchenmanager. Pinto, who worked atthe Upper Crust restaurant onCommonwealth Avenue in Bos-ton, said he discussed with Matosat the US Department of Laborhow the company, after making

the lump restitution paymentsfor overtime, deducted hundredsof dollars from his weekly pay-check and fired him after UpperCrust recovered its money.

‘‘I spoke to [Matos] about themoney they took back,’’ Pintosaid.

The initial investigation,which looked at pay practices at

Upper Crust from April 2007through April 2009, found hourlyworkers were paid straight timeeven after they exceeded 40hours in a week. For example,Pinto received two checks for theweek ending Jan. 5, 2008, earn-ing $400 at $10 an hour for thefirst 40 hours and $305 for an ad-ditional 30.5 hours, according tocopies of paychecks provided byhis lawyers.

A time card for the week end-ing Sept. 27, 2009, a month afterthe overtime payments, showsPinto worked 72 hours. But hereceived only one check, for$455. He earned the sameamount for the week ending Dec.6, 2009, even though he workedlonger — 80.5 hours, accordingto records supplied by his law-

yers.Lydia Edwards, a volunteer

attorney at the Brazilian Immi-grant Center in Brighton, saidthe office has referred at least fivecurrent and former Upper Crustemployees to the US Departmentof Labor to aid in its most recentinvestigation.

‘‘This is an unfortunate situa-tion that many immigrant work-ers and workers in general haveto face to get paid a decent wage,’’Edwards said. ‘‘It also demon-strates that even in situationswhen you are willing to workwith an employer, some employ-ers insist on exploiting theirworkers.’’

Jenn Abelson can be reached [email protected].

Suit against Upper Crust sets off new federal inquiryº UPPER CRUSTContinued from Page B7

The employees weremostly Brazilianimmigrants androutinely worked 70to 80 hours a week.

subscribers can see six seasons’worth of shows whenever theywant.

In addition, Hulu Plus offershigher video resolution, up tothe high-definition standard of720p. It is also compatible withlots of video-capable devices.That includes your living roomTV if you buy one of the newestsets by Samsung Corp. You canalso get Hulu Plus through Sam-sung’s Blu-ray disk players.

Sony Corp. will offer accessthrough its PlayStation 3 videogame console. But there is acatch: You must pay $50 a yearfor Sony’s new PlayStation Plusonline service, an attempt tomimic the success of Xbox Live,Microsoft Corp.’s popular sub-scription service for the Xbox360. Hulu Plus also runs on theApple iPhone, iPod Touch, andiPad, and of course, on a PC orMacintosh computer.

I ran Hulu Plus on an iPad,and found it quite an acceptableTV substitute. Shows look verygood on the big, bright Appletablet, and the iPad’s portabilitymade it easy to watch anywherein the house.

But here’s the thing: I alreadypay $13.99 a month for the vid-eo subscription service Netflix.That gets me two DVDs at a timemailed to my house, as well asthe ability to stream thousandsof movies and TV shows straightto my iPad.

For me, Netflix is the betterdeal. Hulu is no haven for moviebuffs; its selection is tiny and al-most entirely dreadful. It isaimed at TV addicts, after all.

Apart from the current line-up of ABC, NBC, and Fox shows,Hulu Plus does have thousandsof older programs, scrolling backto the 1950s. An old episode ofthe ‘‘Alfred Hitchcock Hour’’ thatfrightened me terribly as a childstill scared me four decades lat-

er.But there is a hit-or-miss

quality to the collection. The ab-sence of CBS from the Hulu part-nership means that the net-work’s current shows are notthere. That means no ‘‘NCIS’’ or‘‘CSI.’’ Even when shows are list-ed, you do not always get everyepisode. For instance, the entireeight-year run of the Fox series‘‘24’’ can be streamed over Net-flix, but Hulu Plus offers onlyseason eight.

Many shows are not streama-ble on Netflix. But you can getthem on DVD at no extra cost.Around here, the disks usuallyhit your mailbox in two days.Surely you can hold out thatlong. The Netflix disk library isfull of shows Hulu lacks, includ-ing classic HBO series like ‘‘TheSopranos’’ and ‘‘The Wire.’’

And there is the matter ofcommercials. Netflix figures thata monthly subscription entitlesyou to ad-free viewing. Not so

with Hulu Plus. Its videos are lit-tered with ads. The ads are usu-ally brief and often clever, butyou cannot fast-forward throughthem.

In the iPad version, each addisplays a hyperlink in one cor-ner of the screen. Touch it, andthe video pauses while you aretaken to the advertiser’s website.It is a well-designed interactivemarketing gimmick, but at $10 amonth, I expect to watch my re-runs in peace.

Netflix makes more sense foroccasional viewers like me. ButHulu Plus, ads and all, couldprove irresistible to those whocannot get enough of ‘‘Bones’’ or‘‘Lost’’ or ‘‘Family Guy.’’ Hulu’sown commercials depict theservice as a plot to soften ourbrains through nonstop TVviewing. It might just work —just not on me.

Hiawatha Bray can be reachedat [email protected].

TV gurus will enjoy Hulu’s new pay serviceº TECH LABContinued from Page B7

GL B9 21:35 1ST

T H U R S D A Y , J U L Y 2 2 , 2 0 1 0 Business B9T H E B O S T O N G L O B E

Equal Housing Lender. MA Lender/Broker License #MC0022 - 52 Second Avenue, Waltham, MA 02451; NH Lender/Broker License # 11360 MB “Licensed by the New Hampshire Banking Department”; RI Licensed Lender: License #20052011LL; RI Licensed Loan Broker License: # 20052012LB; ME Lender License #SLM2431; ME Lender License #SLB4665; CT Lender/Broker License #8731; CT Second Mortgage Lender/Broker License #11581.

ASK ABOUT OUR FHA STREAMLINE REFINANCING!

FOR MORE INFORMATION:Visit our website

www.NEMMortgage.comto fi nd a loan offi cer in your area.

or

Call: 800-762-6385and ask for John Tighe.

An Affi liate of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage

• FREE PRE-APPROVALS

RATES AT HISTORIC LOWS

By Casey RossGLOBE STAFF

A Boston developer is shrink-ing the size of a residential towerit wants to build in the city’s FortPoint Channel neighborhood.

Archon/Goldman Propertieslatest version of the plan for 319A St. rear is a 21-story buildingwith 184 rental apartments andfour levels of above-ground park-ing. It previously had wanted tobuild a 25-story building with232 apartments.

The building will replace afive-story warehouse currentlyused as artists’ work space. Afterconsultation with city planners,Archon/Goldman opted to mar-ket the units as modestly ap-pointed apartments attractive toyoung professionals or graduatestudents.

‘‘The goal has always been tocreate something that is afford-able and can also get developed,’’said John Matteson, regional di-rector for Archon Group, which

is working with Goldman Prop-erties in the joint venture. ‘‘Wewant a building that young pro-fessionals can live in.’’

The city is trying to lureyounger residents to the FortPoint neighborhood as part of abroader effort to create a so-called innovation district, withtechnology and medical firmsthat typically employ large num-bers of students and younger re-searchers. Matteson said 15 per-cent of the units will be set asidefor affordable housing.

Archon/Goldman said it isstill considering a version of theplan that would include 20 stu-dio units built around sharedkitchens, living rooms, and laun-dry facilities.

The plan needs approval fromthe Boston Redevelopment Au-thority. Construction would be-gin in 2012.

Casey Ross can be reached [email protected].

Fort Point building plan scaled back

ADD INC. ARCHITECTS

A joint venture of Archon Group and Goldman Properties isproposing to build a 21-story residential tower at 319 A St. rear(rendering above). The building would contain 184 rentalapartments and four levels of above-ground parking.

By Bob Van VorisBLOOMBERG NEWS

NEW YORK — The trusteeoverseeing the liquidation of Ber-nard Madoff ’s firm yesterdaysued 43 new defendants, includ-ing the cofounder of FairfieldGreenwich Group, in an effort torecoup some of the money forswindled investors.

Cofounder Walter Noel andthe other defendants workedwith Madoff and his firm ‘‘tocommit, and exponentially ex-pand, the single largest financialfraud in history,’’ trustee IrvingPicard said in the complaint inUS Bankruptcy Court in NewYork. ‘‘Every dollar the defend-ants purportedly earned, and ev-ery dollar they kept to unjustlyenrich themselves, was stolenmoney.’’

Madoff, 72, is serving a 150-year term in federal prison inNorth Carolina after pleadingguilty to orchestrating history’sbiggest Ponzi scheme. FairfieldGreenwich was a marketing andinvestor-relations arm for Ber-nard L. Madoff Investment Secu-rities LLC, helping to enable thescheme, Picard said.

Picard seeks more than $3.6billion in damages from the Fair-field Greenwich defendants.

A company spokesman,Thomas Mulligan, reading froma statement, said the decision toexpand the lawsuit was ‘‘incom-prehensible’’ because the compa-ny is involved in good-faith nego-tiations with Picard.

‘‘The Madoff trustee’s amend-ed complaint is replete with false,misleading and rehashed accusa-tions,’’ Fairfield Greenwich said

in the statement.Top Fairfield Greenwich exec-

utives invested in Madoff alongwith their clients, according tothe statement. They lost morethan $70 million the fraud, Fair-field Greenwich said.

In May 2009, Picard suedthree Fairfield Greenwich ‘‘feederfunds’’ that channeled $4.7 bil-lion to Madoff Investment Secu-rities and withdrew billions fromthe firm.

Picard yesterday added 24Fairfield Greenwich units and 19people who held managementpositions at the firm or marketedthe feeder funds.

Picard said Noel, a foundingpartner and director of FairfieldGreenwich, and the other de-fendants made millions of dollarsby ignoring red flags and helpingMadoff accomplish his fraud.

‘‘Noel and his immediate andextended family became excep-tionally wealthy due to FGG’s defacto partnership with Madoff,’’Picard said.

Suit to recoverMadoff fundsexpands scope

TrusteeIrvingPicard

seeks more than$3.6 billion indamages from theFairfield Greenwichdefendants.

COMPENSATIONFOR VICTIMS

By Jane Wardelland Emma Vandore

ASSOCIATED PRESS

FARNBOROUGH, England —Plane makers notched up ordersworth more than $28 billion atthe Farnborough InternationalAirshow by the close of theevent’s third day, underscoring arevival in commercial aviationeven as budget cuts keep the de-fense sector in the doldrums.

New deals announced yester-day included orders for Airbusjets from Berlin-based airlineGermania and Indonesian na-tional carrier Garuda, while Mid-dle Eastern airline Qatar agreedto a deal with Boeing to takeearlier delivery of the US compa-ny’s fuel-efficient 787 jetliner.

‘‘Air travel demand is continu-ing to rise in the Middle East,and it is becoming clear that in-ternational demand is returningas the global economy showssigns of recovery,’’ Akbar Al Bak-er, Qatar Airways chief executive,said at Farnborough, which endsSunday.

‘‘Commercial business travelis so dependent on innovationthat there will always be opportu-nities,’’ Baker added. ‘‘Eachdownturn is an upturn some-where else.’’

Orders at the show are well offthe record-breaking $88.7 billion

in deals announced at Farnbo-rough in 2008, but the gatheringhas exceeded the slow orders forcommercial planes, about $7 bil-lion worth, at its sister show LeBourget, near Paris, last year.

The International Air Trans-port Association recently forecastthat the global industry wouldmake a small profit of $2.5 bil-

lion this year, after a huge loss of$9.4 billion in 2009 — a quick im-provement from its predictionslast year of more losses this year.

‘‘The number of orders showsthat the economic recovery is onits way,’’ said Max Sukkhasanti-kul, Commercial Aviation Con-sulting analyst.

More than 1,000 exhibitors

from 38 countries are at Farnbo-rough, with delegations fromEgypt, Taiwan, and Morocco at-tending for the first time. Organ-izers also cited stronger interestfrom China and Russia.

Boeing confirmed deals withAir Austral, a French airline, andQatar worth just over $1 billiontotal.

Farnborough Airshow orders top $28b

SANG TAN/ASSOCIATED PRESS

The Red Devils parachute regiment performed at the Farnborough International Airshow, inFarnborough, England, yesterday. The show features exhibitors from 38 countries.

By Candice ChoiASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK — A late creditcard payment will cost you. It’sjust not always clear how much.

Despite new reforms that re-quire more transparent billingpractices, about half of creditcards do not disclose in market-ing materials the penalty interestrates customers can incur.

Penalty rates can be as high as29.99 percent. That’s on top ofthe $39 fee a late payment oftentriggers.

A study by the Pew Safe CreditCards Project found that card is-suers are complying with a newlaw this year that prohibits nu-merous deceptive practices. Pre-viously, all card issuers trackedby Pew used at least one practicethat is now illegal.

Many major card issuers, in-cluding Chase and Capital One,disclose their penalty rates. ButBank of America does not and,because it’s one of the largestcard issuers, accounted for the 50percent of cards in the Pew studythat do not specify penalty rates.

Federal regulations only re-quire that set penalty rates aredisclosed in marketing materials.

A Bank of America spokes-woman, Betty Riess, said thecompany does not have a set pen-alty rate. Instead, accounts thatare 60 days past due are flaggedfor review.

‘‘It’s not predetermined,’’ she

said. If Bank of America decidesto hike a rate, it must provide thecustomer with a 45-day noticeunder the new law.

That 45-day notice is requiredfor any rate hikes on new bal-ances, even if customers are toldof the penalty rate upfront.

The new 45-day notices areintended to give cardholders achance to stop using their cardsor close their accounts.

There is another recoursefrom penalty fees. Under the newlaw, cardholders are entitled totheir original rates if they makesix straight on-time payments,starting from immediately after apenalty rate is imposed.

Other costs tied to creditcards are rising too, the Pewstudy found.

Cash advance and balancetransfer fees rose on averagefrom 3 percent of transactions to4 percent since July of last year.

For cards with annual fees,the median fee increased from$50 to $59. Median interest ratesalso rose to between 13 percentto 21 percent, compared with 10percent to 16 percent at the endof December 2008. Interest ratesand fees at credit unions rosemore moderately.

The good news for consumersis that over-the-limit fees are be-coming less common, with lessthan 25 percent of cards now im-posing them, versus 80 percent ayear ago.

Credit cards not alwaysclear on penalty rates

August were told they had to quittheir jobs if they wanted to keepthe checks, or effectively give themoney back by taking a pay cut.The former manager — who re-quested anonymity because theinvestigation is ongoing — saidthe employees, who were mostlyBrazilian immigrants and rou-tinely worked 70 to 80 hours aweek, were also changed fromhourly staff to salaried employeesso the company could avoid pay-ing overtime.

‘‘These were guys rolling pizzaand making dough,’’ the formermanager said of the Brazilianworkers. ‘‘There’s no accountabil-ity for anything.’’ The owners‘‘did whatever they wanted to

make money,’’ he said.Jordan Tobins, one of the

chain’s owners, confirmed in ane-mail to the Globe last week thatpay rates were scaled back lastAugust because Upper Crustneeded to reduce payroll. But healso added that the two formercooks who filed the lawsuit lastweek in Suffolk Superior Courtwere promoted from hourlyworkers to kitchen managers lastsummer.

Valdeir Pereira Pinto, one ofthe former cooks suing UpperCrust, said he was not a kitchenmanager. Pinto, who worked atthe Upper Crust restaurant onCommonwealth Avenue in Bos-ton, said he discussed with Matosat the US Department of Laborhow the company, after making

the lump restitution paymentsfor overtime, deducted hundredsof dollars from his weekly pay-check and fired him after UpperCrust recovered its money.

‘‘I spoke to [Matos] about themoney they took back,’’ Pintosaid.

The initial investigation,which looked at pay practices at

Upper Crust from April 2007through April 2009, found hourlyworkers were paid straight timeeven after they exceeded 40hours in a week. For example,Pinto received two checks for theweek ending Jan. 5, 2008, earn-ing $400 at $10 an hour for thefirst 40 hours and $305 for an ad-ditional 30.5 hours, according tocopies of paychecks provided byhis lawyers.

A time card for the week end-ing Sept. 27, 2009, a month afterthe overtime payments, showsPinto worked 72 hours. But hereceived only one check, for$455. He earned the sameamount for the week ending Dec.6, 2009, even though he workedlonger — 80.5 hours, accordingto records supplied by his law-

yers.Lydia Edwards, a volunteer

attorney at the Brazilian Immi-grant Center in Brighton, saidthe office has referred at least fivecurrent and former Upper Crustemployees to the US Departmentof Labor to aid in its most recentinvestigation.

‘‘This is an unfortunate situa-tion that many immigrant work-ers and workers in general haveto face to get paid a decent wage,’’Edwards said. ‘‘It also demon-strates that even in situationswhen you are willing to workwith an employer, some employ-ers insist on exploiting theirworkers.’’

Jenn Abelson can be reached [email protected].

Suit against Upper Crust sets off new federal inquiryº UPPER CRUSTContinued from Page B7

The employees weremostly Brazilianimmigrants androutinely worked 70to 80 hours a week.

subscribers can see six seasons’worth of shows whenever theywant.

In addition, Hulu Plus offershigher video resolution, up tothe high-definition standard of720p. It is also compatible withlots of video-capable devices.That includes your living roomTV if you buy one of the newestsets by Samsung Corp. You canalso get Hulu Plus through Sam-sung’s Blu-ray disk players.

Sony Corp. will offer accessthrough its PlayStation 3 videogame console. But there is acatch: You must pay $50 a yearfor Sony’s new PlayStation Plusonline service, an attempt tomimic the success of Xbox Live,Microsoft Corp.’s popular sub-scription service for the Xbox360. Hulu Plus also runs on theApple iPhone, iPod Touch, andiPad, and of course, on a PC orMacintosh computer.

I ran Hulu Plus on an iPad,and found it quite an acceptableTV substitute. Shows look verygood on the big, bright Appletablet, and the iPad’s portabilitymade it easy to watch anywherein the house.

But here’s the thing: I alreadypay $13.99 a month for the vid-eo subscription service Netflix.That gets me two DVDs at a timemailed to my house, as well asthe ability to stream thousandsof movies and TV shows straightto my iPad.

For me, Netflix is the betterdeal. Hulu is no haven for moviebuffs; its selection is tiny and al-most entirely dreadful. It isaimed at TV addicts, after all.

Apart from the current line-up of ABC, NBC, and Fox shows,Hulu Plus does have thousandsof older programs, scrolling backto the 1950s. An old episode ofthe ‘‘Alfred Hitchcock Hour’’ thatfrightened me terribly as a childstill scared me four decades lat-

er.But there is a hit-or-miss

quality to the collection. The ab-sence of CBS from the Hulu part-nership means that the net-work’s current shows are notthere. That means no ‘‘NCIS’’ or‘‘CSI.’’ Even when shows are list-ed, you do not always get everyepisode. For instance, the entireeight-year run of the Fox series‘‘24’’ can be streamed over Net-flix, but Hulu Plus offers onlyseason eight.

Many shows are not streama-ble on Netflix. But you can getthem on DVD at no extra cost.Around here, the disks usuallyhit your mailbox in two days.Surely you can hold out thatlong. The Netflix disk library isfull of shows Hulu lacks, includ-ing classic HBO series like ‘‘TheSopranos’’ and ‘‘The Wire.’’

And there is the matter ofcommercials. Netflix figures thata monthly subscription entitlesyou to ad-free viewing. Not so

with Hulu Plus. Its videos are lit-tered with ads. The ads are usu-ally brief and often clever, butyou cannot fast-forward throughthem.

In the iPad version, each addisplays a hyperlink in one cor-ner of the screen. Touch it, andthe video pauses while you aretaken to the advertiser’s website.It is a well-designed interactivemarketing gimmick, but at $10 amonth, I expect to watch my re-runs in peace.

Netflix makes more sense foroccasional viewers like me. ButHulu Plus, ads and all, couldprove irresistible to those whocannot get enough of ‘‘Bones’’ or‘‘Lost’’ or ‘‘Family Guy.’’ Hulu’sown commercials depict theservice as a plot to soften ourbrains through nonstop TVviewing. It might just work —just not on me.

Hiawatha Bray can be reachedat [email protected].

TV gurus will enjoy Hulu’s new pay serviceº TECH LABContinued from Page B7

GL B9 21:35 1ST

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RATES AT HISTORIC LOWS

By Casey RossGLOBE STAFF

A Boston developer is shrink-ing the size of a residential towerit wants to build in the city’s FortPoint Channel neighborhood.

Archon/Goldman Propertieslatest version of the plan for 319A St. rear is a 21-story buildingwith 184 rental apartments andfour levels of above-ground park-ing. It previously had wanted tobuild a 25-story building with232 apartments.

The building will replace afive-story warehouse currentlyused as artists’ work space. Afterconsultation with city planners,Archon/Goldman opted to mar-ket the units as modestly ap-pointed apartments attractive toyoung professionals or graduatestudents.

‘‘The goal has always been tocreate something that is afford-able and can also get developed,’’said John Matteson, regional di-rector for Archon Group, which

is working with Goldman Prop-erties in the joint venture. ‘‘Wewant a building that young pro-fessionals can live in.’’

The city is trying to lureyounger residents to the FortPoint neighborhood as part of abroader effort to create a so-called innovation district, withtechnology and medical firmsthat typically employ large num-bers of students and younger re-searchers. Matteson said 15 per-cent of the units will be set asidefor affordable housing.

Archon/Goldman said it isstill considering a version of theplan that would include 20 stu-dio units built around sharedkitchens, living rooms, and laun-dry facilities.

The plan needs approval fromthe Boston Redevelopment Au-thority. Construction would be-gin in 2012.

Casey Ross can be reached [email protected].

Fort Point building plan scaled back

ADD INC. ARCHITECTS

A joint venture of Archon Group and Goldman Properties isproposing to build a 21-story residential tower at 319 A St. rear(rendering above). The building would contain 184 rentalapartments and four levels of above-ground parking.

By Bob Van VorisBLOOMBERG NEWS

NEW YORK — The trusteeoverseeing the liquidation of Ber-nard Madoff ’s firm yesterdaysued 43 new defendants, includ-ing the cofounder of FairfieldGreenwich Group, in an effort torecoup some of the money forswindled investors.

Cofounder Walter Noel andthe other defendants workedwith Madoff and his firm ‘‘tocommit, and exponentially ex-pand, the single largest financialfraud in history,’’ trustee IrvingPicard said in the complaint inUS Bankruptcy Court in NewYork. ‘‘Every dollar the defend-ants purportedly earned, and ev-ery dollar they kept to unjustlyenrich themselves, was stolenmoney.’’

Madoff, 72, is serving a 150-year term in federal prison inNorth Carolina after pleadingguilty to orchestrating history’sbiggest Ponzi scheme. FairfieldGreenwich was a marketing andinvestor-relations arm for Ber-nard L. Madoff Investment Secu-rities LLC, helping to enable thescheme, Picard said.

Picard seeks more than $3.6billion in damages from the Fair-field Greenwich defendants.

A company spokesman,Thomas Mulligan, reading froma statement, said the decision toexpand the lawsuit was ‘‘incom-prehensible’’ because the compa-ny is involved in good-faith nego-tiations with Picard.

‘‘The Madoff trustee’s amend-ed complaint is replete with false,misleading and rehashed accusa-tions,’’ Fairfield Greenwich said

in the statement.Top Fairfield Greenwich exec-

utives invested in Madoff alongwith their clients, according tothe statement. They lost morethan $70 million the fraud, Fair-field Greenwich said.

In May 2009, Picard suedthree Fairfield Greenwich ‘‘feederfunds’’ that channeled $4.7 bil-lion to Madoff Investment Secu-rities and withdrew billions fromthe firm.

Picard yesterday added 24Fairfield Greenwich units and 19people who held managementpositions at the firm or marketedthe feeder funds.

Picard said Noel, a foundingpartner and director of FairfieldGreenwich, and the other de-fendants made millions of dollarsby ignoring red flags and helpingMadoff accomplish his fraud.

‘‘Noel and his immediate andextended family became excep-tionally wealthy due to FGG’s defacto partnership with Madoff,’’Picard said.

Suit to recoverMadoff fundsexpands scope

TrusteeIrvingPicard

seeks more than$3.6 billion indamages from theFairfield Greenwichdefendants.

COMPENSATIONFOR VICTIMS

By Jane Wardelland Emma Vandore

ASSOCIATED PRESS

FARNBOROUGH, England —Plane makers notched up ordersworth more than $28 billion atthe Farnborough InternationalAirshow by the close of theevent’s third day, underscoring arevival in commercial aviationeven as budget cuts keep the de-fense sector in the doldrums.

New deals announced yester-day included orders for Airbusjets from Berlin-based airlineGermania and Indonesian na-tional carrier Garuda, while Mid-dle Eastern airline Qatar agreedto a deal with Boeing to takeearlier delivery of the US compa-ny’s fuel-efficient 787 jetliner.

‘‘Air travel demand is continu-ing to rise in the Middle East,and it is becoming clear that in-ternational demand is returningas the global economy showssigns of recovery,’’ Akbar Al Bak-er, Qatar Airways chief executive,said at Farnborough, which endsSunday.

‘‘Commercial business travelis so dependent on innovationthat there will always be opportu-nities,’’ Baker added. ‘‘Eachdownturn is an upturn some-where else.’’

Orders at the show are well offthe record-breaking $88.7 billion

in deals announced at Farnbo-rough in 2008, but the gatheringhas exceeded the slow orders forcommercial planes, about $7 bil-lion worth, at its sister show LeBourget, near Paris, last year.

The International Air Trans-port Association recently forecastthat the global industry wouldmake a small profit of $2.5 bil-

lion this year, after a huge loss of$9.4 billion in 2009 — a quick im-provement from its predictionslast year of more losses this year.

‘‘The number of orders showsthat the economic recovery is onits way,’’ said Max Sukkhasanti-kul, Commercial Aviation Con-sulting analyst.

More than 1,000 exhibitors

from 38 countries are at Farnbo-rough, with delegations fromEgypt, Taiwan, and Morocco at-tending for the first time. Organ-izers also cited stronger interestfrom China and Russia.

Boeing confirmed deals withAir Austral, a French airline, andQatar worth just over $1 billiontotal.

Farnborough Airshow orders top $28b

SANG TAN/ASSOCIATED PRESS

The Red Devils parachute regiment performed at the Farnborough International Airshow, inFarnborough, England, yesterday. The show features exhibitors from 38 countries.

By Candice ChoiASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK — A late creditcard payment will cost you. It’sjust not always clear how much.

Despite new reforms that re-quire more transparent billingpractices, about half of creditcards do not disclose in market-ing materials the penalty interestrates customers can incur.

Penalty rates can be as high as29.99 percent. That’s on top ofthe $39 fee a late payment oftentriggers.

A study by the Pew Safe CreditCards Project found that card is-suers are complying with a newlaw this year that prohibits nu-merous deceptive practices. Pre-viously, all card issuers trackedby Pew used at least one practicethat is now illegal.

Many major card issuers, in-cluding Chase and Capital One,disclose their penalty rates. ButBank of America does not and,because it’s one of the largestcard issuers, accounted for the 50percent of cards in the Pew studythat do not specify penalty rates.

Federal regulations only re-quire that set penalty rates aredisclosed in marketing materials.

A Bank of America spokes-woman, Betty Riess, said thecompany does not have a set pen-alty rate. Instead, accounts thatare 60 days past due are flaggedfor review.

‘‘It’s not predetermined,’’ she

said. If Bank of America decidesto hike a rate, it must provide thecustomer with a 45-day noticeunder the new law.

That 45-day notice is requiredfor any rate hikes on new bal-ances, even if customers are toldof the penalty rate upfront.

The new 45-day notices areintended to give cardholders achance to stop using their cardsor close their accounts.

There is another recoursefrom penalty fees. Under the newlaw, cardholders are entitled totheir original rates if they makesix straight on-time payments,starting from immediately after apenalty rate is imposed.

Other costs tied to creditcards are rising too, the Pewstudy found.

Cash advance and balancetransfer fees rose on averagefrom 3 percent of transactions to4 percent since July of last year.

For cards with annual fees,the median fee increased from$50 to $59. Median interest ratesalso rose to between 13 percentto 21 percent, compared with 10percent to 16 percent at the endof December 2008. Interest ratesand fees at credit unions rosemore moderately.

The good news for consumersis that over-the-limit fees are be-coming less common, with lessthan 25 percent of cards now im-posing them, versus 80 percent ayear ago.

Credit cards not alwaysclear on penalty rates

August were told they had to quittheir jobs if they wanted to keepthe checks, or effectively give themoney back by taking a pay cut.The former manager — who re-quested anonymity because theinvestigation is ongoing — saidthe employees, who were mostlyBrazilian immigrants and rou-tinely worked 70 to 80 hours aweek, were also changed fromhourly staff to salaried employeesso the company could avoid pay-ing overtime.

‘‘These were guys rolling pizzaand making dough,’’ the formermanager said of the Brazilianworkers. ‘‘There’s no accountabil-ity for anything.’’ The owners‘‘did whatever they wanted to

make money,’’ he said.Jordan Tobins, one of the

chain’s owners, confirmed in ane-mail to the Globe last week thatpay rates were scaled back lastAugust because Upper Crustneeded to reduce payroll. But healso added that the two formercooks who filed the lawsuit lastweek in Suffolk Superior Courtwere promoted from hourlyworkers to kitchen managers lastsummer.

Valdeir Pereira Pinto, one ofthe former cooks suing UpperCrust, said he was not a kitchenmanager. Pinto, who worked atthe Upper Crust restaurant onCommonwealth Avenue in Bos-ton, said he discussed with Matosat the US Department of Laborhow the company, after making

the lump restitution paymentsfor overtime, deducted hundredsof dollars from his weekly pay-check and fired him after UpperCrust recovered its money.

‘‘I spoke to [Matos] about themoney they took back,’’ Pintosaid.

The initial investigation,which looked at pay practices at

Upper Crust from April 2007through April 2009, found hourlyworkers were paid straight timeeven after they exceeded 40hours in a week. For example,Pinto received two checks for theweek ending Jan. 5, 2008, earn-ing $400 at $10 an hour for thefirst 40 hours and $305 for an ad-ditional 30.5 hours, according tocopies of paychecks provided byhis lawyers.

A time card for the week end-ing Sept. 27, 2009, a month afterthe overtime payments, showsPinto worked 72 hours. But hereceived only one check, for$455. He earned the sameamount for the week ending Dec.6, 2009, even though he workedlonger — 80.5 hours, accordingto records supplied by his law-

yers.Lydia Edwards, a volunteer

attorney at the Brazilian Immi-grant Center in Brighton, saidthe office has referred at least fivecurrent and former Upper Crustemployees to the US Departmentof Labor to aid in its most recentinvestigation.

‘‘This is an unfortunate situa-tion that many immigrant work-ers and workers in general haveto face to get paid a decent wage,’’Edwards said. ‘‘It also demon-strates that even in situationswhen you are willing to workwith an employer, some employ-ers insist on exploiting theirworkers.’’

Jenn Abelson can be reached [email protected].

Suit against Upper Crust sets off new federal inquiryº UPPER CRUSTContinued from Page B7

The employees weremostly Brazilianimmigrants androutinely worked 70to 80 hours a week.

subscribers can see six seasons’worth of shows whenever theywant.

In addition, Hulu Plus offershigher video resolution, up tothe high-definition standard of720p. It is also compatible withlots of video-capable devices.That includes your living roomTV if you buy one of the newestsets by Samsung Corp. You canalso get Hulu Plus through Sam-sung’s Blu-ray disk players.

Sony Corp. will offer accessthrough its PlayStation 3 videogame console. But there is acatch: You must pay $50 a yearfor Sony’s new PlayStation Plusonline service, an attempt tomimic the success of Xbox Live,Microsoft Corp.’s popular sub-scription service for the Xbox360. Hulu Plus also runs on theApple iPhone, iPod Touch, andiPad, and of course, on a PC orMacintosh computer.

I ran Hulu Plus on an iPad,and found it quite an acceptableTV substitute. Shows look verygood on the big, bright Appletablet, and the iPad’s portabilitymade it easy to watch anywherein the house.

But here’s the thing: I alreadypay $13.99 a month for the vid-eo subscription service Netflix.That gets me two DVDs at a timemailed to my house, as well asthe ability to stream thousandsof movies and TV shows straightto my iPad.

For me, Netflix is the betterdeal. Hulu is no haven for moviebuffs; its selection is tiny and al-most entirely dreadful. It isaimed at TV addicts, after all.

Apart from the current line-up of ABC, NBC, and Fox shows,Hulu Plus does have thousandsof older programs, scrolling backto the 1950s. An old episode ofthe ‘‘Alfred Hitchcock Hour’’ thatfrightened me terribly as a childstill scared me four decades lat-

er.But there is a hit-or-miss

quality to the collection. The ab-sence of CBS from the Hulu part-nership means that the net-work’s current shows are notthere. That means no ‘‘NCIS’’ or‘‘CSI.’’ Even when shows are list-ed, you do not always get everyepisode. For instance, the entireeight-year run of the Fox series‘‘24’’ can be streamed over Net-flix, but Hulu Plus offers onlyseason eight.

Many shows are not streama-ble on Netflix. But you can getthem on DVD at no extra cost.Around here, the disks usuallyhit your mailbox in two days.Surely you can hold out thatlong. The Netflix disk library isfull of shows Hulu lacks, includ-ing classic HBO series like ‘‘TheSopranos’’ and ‘‘The Wire.’’

And there is the matter ofcommercials. Netflix figures thata monthly subscription entitlesyou to ad-free viewing. Not so

with Hulu Plus. Its videos are lit-tered with ads. The ads are usu-ally brief and often clever, butyou cannot fast-forward throughthem.

In the iPad version, each addisplays a hyperlink in one cor-ner of the screen. Touch it, andthe video pauses while you aretaken to the advertiser’s website.It is a well-designed interactivemarketing gimmick, but at $10 amonth, I expect to watch my re-runs in peace.

Netflix makes more sense foroccasional viewers like me. ButHulu Plus, ads and all, couldprove irresistible to those whocannot get enough of ‘‘Bones’’ or‘‘Lost’’ or ‘‘Family Guy.’’ Hulu’sown commercials depict theservice as a plot to soften ourbrains through nonstop TVviewing. It might just work —just not on me.

Hiawatha Bray can be reachedat [email protected].

TV gurus will enjoy Hulu’s new pay serviceº TECH LABContinued from Page B7

GL B9 21:35 1ST15