HOBOKEN, NJ – Taco Truck has until Dec. 23 to answer a lawsuit accusing it of overworking and underpaying a Hoboken employee.

Former Taco Truck employee, Jonathan Velazquez, lobbed a proposed collective action against the business alleging he logged upwards of 70 hours per week without being paid overtime, according to court records. Velazquez filed the suit Oct.14 in New Jersey federal court, which names the Taco Truck, CEO Jason Scott and COO Chris Viola.

The most recent court filings indicate that the restaurant has until Dec. 23 to file a response to the complaint.

Velazquez alleges in the suit that he routinely worked six days a week for 70 to 80 hours without being properly paid for the overtime hours, in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act and the New Jersey State Wage and Hour Law. Sometimes Velazquez had to sleep in the restaurant’s food truck because he worked too many hours, his attorney, Andrew Glenn, said Monday.

According to the complaint, he worked as a salaried cashier, driver and cook from February 2013 to September 2013. Velazquez made roughly $615 a week, Glenn said.

CEO Jason Scott said that Velazquez was fired after a series of breaches of company policy. Glenn said that his client believes that he was wrongfully terminated for complaining he needed to sleep in the company’s truck because he worked so many hours.

In a statement, Scott and Viola said that Taco Truck complies with state and federal wage and hour laws. They also said that the company sets high standards for employee policies and gauges Taco Truck’s success through “happy and loyal” customers and employees.

“We find it regrettable that one former manager has decided to file a lawsuit against our company,” they said in a statement. “We dispute his claims, which we believe have no merit.”

They declined to comment further, as the lawsuit is ongoing.

Find the entire article by Kathryn Brenzel at nj.com <here>