The owner of the defunct Green Café in Collegetown has been fined nearly one million dollars by the New York State Department of Labor for unfair treatment of workers at both his Ithaca establishment and a still-operating deli in New York City, the Tompkins County Workers’ Center announced Thursday.

Amidst rough economic times, New York State’s deficit will grow to $44 billion over the next five years, according to Gov. David Paterson’s budget office’s mid-year report released Friday. The state recession will not end until the second half of 2010, according to budget officials.

Taste of Thai and Tamarind, two Ithaca restaurants owned by Ariya Pancharoen, were found to have violated numerous labor laws following an investigation conducted by the New York State Labor Department, according to a press release issued by the Department of Labor yesterday.

The DOL, working in conjunction with the Tompkins’ County Workers’ Center, discovered that 36 workers were affected by these violations and were cumulatively underpaid $28, 388.

In addition to being fined for these violations, Pancharoen has agreed to pay each of the workers in three monthly payments. The Taste of Thai workers received their first payments on Nov. 15, 2008, and the Tamarind workers collected theirs on Jan. 15, 2009.