A US federal court has ordered a restaurant to pay US$140,000 in back wages and damages to 35 employees after management pulled an unexpected stunt.
According to the US Department of Labour, an employee of Taqueria Garibaldi restaurants testified that the restaurant offered employees “a person identified as a priest” to hear confessions during work hours.
The employee told the court workers were urged to “get the sins out.” The priest asked them if they had been late for work, stolen something from or done anything to harm the employer, and even if they had “bad intentions” towards the employer.
“Federal wage and hour investigators 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,” officials of the federal labour agency wrote in a statement on June 12.
A consent judgment was reached on May 8, and the owners and operators of Che Garibaldi Inc. were ordered to make monetary amends. The company runs three Taqueria Garibaldi restaurants in Sacramento and Roseville.
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The investigation
During an investigation by the US Labour Department’s Wage and Hour Division, it was found that the priest drama was one of many concerning issues at Taqueria Garibaldi.
It appeared that employees were denied overtime pay, violating federal labour standards, and managers were getting paid from the employee pool tip illegally.
During the investigations, employees were “threatened with retaliation and adverse immigration consequences” for cooperating with the Department of Labour. They even fired a worker on suspicion of complaining to the department.
“This employer’s despicable attempts to retaliate against employees were intended to silence workers, obstruct an investigation and prevent the recovery of unpaid wages,” said Marc Pilotin, Regional Solicitor of Labour in San Francisco.
He added that the department will not tolerate workplace retaliation and will “act swiftly to make clear that immigration status has no bearing on workers’ rights.”
The employer was also ordered not to interfere with investigations, threaten to terminate employees or discriminate against them on suspicion of speaking with investigators, and take action against employees asserting their rights.
Maybe they can vent to a priest about it. 🤷‍♀️
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