Federal wage and hour investigators say a northern California restaurant attempted to use an alleged priest to get employees to admit workplace “sins.”
During litigation by the U.S. Department of Labor in federal court, an employee of Che Garibaldi Inc., operator of Taqueria Garibaldi, testified that the restaurant offered employees a person identified as a priest to hear confessions during work hours.
The employee told the court the priest urged workers to “get the 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, according to investigators.
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 $140,000 in back wages and damages to 35 employees.
Che Garibaldi Inc. operates two Taqueria Garibaldi restaurants in Sacramento and one in Roseville.
The court’s May 8 action followed an investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division that found Taqueria Garibaldi denied employees overtime pay for hours over 40 in a workweek, a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act. They also learned the employer illegally paid managers from the employee tip pool, threatened employees with retaliation for cooperating with the department, and fired one worker who they believed had complained to the department.
In addition to recovering $70,000 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages, the judge ordered the restaurant and its owners to pay the department $5,000 in civil money penalties due to the willful nature of their violations.
The court also ordered the defendants permanently forbidden from FLSA violations. Specifically, the court 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.
Was this article valuable?
Here are more articles you may enjoy.
‘Great Resignation’ Enters Third Year as Workers Embrace AI, Upskilling, PwC Says 
Coverage Needed: Hundreds of Thousands in SE Now in Flood Zones With New Maps 
Allstate, Nationwide Post Dramatic Q12024 Homeowners Loss Ratio Drops: S&P 
As Rates Rise, Majority of Homeowners Say Insurance Industry Is in Crisis: Survey 
