The announcement of the settlement in the suit brought by State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer was made at the Mexican consulate here. Most of the employees in this and several related cases are Mexican, and the Mexican government worked on the case.

One of the plaintiffs, Mr. Ramirez, told the press that the workers "finally achieved something. There was justice, finally recouping what we deserve for all the time we worked there." From the Mexican state of Puebla, he said he put in 84 hours a week and earned $200 before receiving a raise to $250.

State investigators determined that the workers were paid between $180 and $360 for 12-hour shifts, six or seven days a week. The back-pay settlement is the largest reached among the city's 2,000 greengrocers.  
 
 
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