A restaurant chain in California has been ordered to pay €127,000 ($140,000) to 35 workers affected by a wage theft scheme which involved the services of a fake priest hired to extract confessions.
The owners of Taqueria Garibaldi, a Mexican-food restaurant chain, were investigated by the US Department of Labour following allegations by employees that their employer denied overtime pay for hours over 40 in a work week.
Investigators also learned the rogue employer paid managers from the employee tip pool, threatened employees with retaliation and adverse immigration consequences for cooperating with the department, and fired one worker who they believed had complained the chain to department officials.
In perhaps one of the most bizarre cases of employer litigation, the restaurant offered employees a person identified as a 'priest' to hear 'sins' committed during work hours.
During litigation by the U.S. Department of Labor in a federal court, an employee of Che Garibaldi Inc., operator of Taqueria Garibaldi, testified that the priest urged workers to “get their sins out,” and asked employees if they had stolen from the employer, been late for work, had done anything to harm their employer, or if they had bad intentions toward their employer.
The court also heard that a manager falsely claimed that "immigration issues would be raised by the department’s investigation. “This employer’s despicable attempts to retaliate against employees were intended to silence workers, obstruct an investigation and prevent the recovery of unpaid wages, noted Regional Solicitor of Labor Marc Pilotin.
The Court's Judgement
Ultimately, the employer agreed to a consent judgment, and Judge William B. Shubb in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California ordered Che Garibaldi and owners and operators Eduardo Hernandez, Hector Manual Martinez Galindo and Alejandro Rodriguez to pay €127,000 ($140,000) in back wages and damages to 35 employees.
The court also ordered Taqueria Garibaldi not to take any action to stop employees from asserting their rights, interfere with any department investigation, or terminate, threaten or discriminate against any employee perceived to have spoken with investigators.
Commenting on the case, US federal wage and hour investigators said: "We have seen corrupt employers try all kinds of scams to shortchange workers and to intimidate or retaliate against employees but this northern California restaurant’s attempt to use an alleged priest to get employees to admit workplace “sins” may be among the most shameless."
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