ROCKY ROAD:Salvatore and Patricia Piazza sued their son, accusing him of trying to “sabotage” their ice-cream company.
ROCKY ROAD:Salvatore and Patricia Piazza sued their son, accusing him of trying to “sabotage” their ice-cream company.
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He’s suing mom and pop — literally!
A Staten Island man has filed suit against his father and stepmother, claiming they never paid him overtime for working at the family ice-cream company.
Nicholas Piazza, 29, of Tottenville, says that because the ice-cream business is seasonal, he often was required to work as many as 80 hours at Piazza’s Ice Cream & Ice House. But he claims he earned only $10 an hour at the ice-cream distribution firm.
His dad, Salvatore Piazza, and stepmom, Patricia — co-owners of the Staten Island-based business — say Nicholas’ Brooklyn federal suit is an icy dagger to their hearts and counter that his allegations of being underpaid are laughable given Nicholas was their firm’s vice president.
They say the suit is a smoke screen for a grab at control of the family business.
“I love Nicky, but he went behind our backs and bought an ice-cream truck, and then he lied to all our customers. He told our customers we were dead or we were retired,” Patricia Piazza told The Post.
“This is very hurtful,” she said as she began to cry.
Salvatore Piazza says he’s devastated by his son’s actions and charged that Nicholas tried to lure away as many as 200 customers.
“Do you believe a son would put a knife in his father’s back like this?” Salvatore Piazza said.
“He tried to sabotage our business.”
So, Salvatore said, he fired his son early this year, and he and his wife sued Nicholas in state court on Staten Island in February.
In retaliation, they say, Nicholas filed his federal wage suit, making labor-law claims about his dad’s business.
The company distributes a variety of ice-cream brands, including Ben & Jerry’s, Haagen-Dazs, Breyers, Good Humor, Popsicle, Klondike, Blue Bunny and Perry’s, to delis, hotels, movie theaters, schools, carnivals, catering halls, churches and nursing homes.
The Mariners Harbor firm also distributes elaborate ice sculptures, party ice and dry ice and focuses on customers in Brooklyn and Staten Island.
Nicholas Piazza told The Post that the allegations that he tried to take over his family’s firm were “all untrue.”
He said his dad and stepmom fired him after he complained that he was working long hours without getting paid overtime.
He flatly denied he ever was an executive of the family company, insisting he was simply an employee.
“I broke my back for this business, building it up,” Nicholas said.
The son said he had worked for nearly a dozen years in the family business before he was terminated.
After being fired, Nicholas said, he started his own ice-cream business in direct competition with the family enterprise.
Salvatore Piazza said his son’s countersuit is nothing more than an attempt at intimidation.
“He’s trying to scare me,” the dad said. “And it’s not going to work.”