LOS ANGELES — A California taco chain used a faux priest to attempt to get staff to admit office “sins” like being late for his or her shift, the US Department of Labor has stated.
A person launched as a minister on the Taqueria Garibaldi chain inspired employees to unburden their consciences about when they might have performed something to hurt their employer.
In litigation introduced by the Department of Labor, a employee testified that the ersatz man of God had urged employees to “get their sins out,” asking if that they had ever stolen from the corporate, or performed something to hurt it.
The operator of the eating places in Sacramento and close by Roseville was ordered to pay 35 employees $140,000 in again wages and damages, the division stated in a press launch this month.
The court docket motion got here after an investigation discovered Taqueria Garibaldi denied staff extra time pay.
It additionally discovered managers have been paid illegally from the worker tip pool and employees have been threatened with “immigration consequences” in the event that they co-operated with the Department of Labor’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,” stated Regional Solicitor of Labor Marc Pilotin in San Francisco.
A spokesman for the Catholic Diocese of Sacramento informed the Catholic News Agency the person introduced as a minister was not linked to them.
“While we don’t know who the person in question was, we are completely confident he was not a priest of the Diocese of Sacramento,” he stated. —Agence France-Presse
Source: www.gmanetwork.com
