Employer Uses Fake Priest to Scam Employees
PUBLISHED: Fri, JUL 7th 2023 @ 8:15 am EDT by Jared Culver
We have some more worker exploitation news, and this one is a doozy. Che Garibaldi Inc., operator of Taqueria Garibaldi, brought in a ‘priest’ for employees during work hours. This ‘priest’ would hear confessions and encourage employees to “get the sins out.” He seemed very focused on getting out the real seven deadly sins–namely whether they came in late or took their employer’s name in vain.
The Department of Labor (DOL) press release announcing this atrocity said:
“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 a northern California restaurant’s attempt to use an alleged priest to get employees to admit workplace “sins” may be among the most shameless.”
It is particularly notable that the DOL does not definitively state this is the most shameless example of employer chicanery. How low is the bar for employer behavior when this is only arguably the most shameless tactic? The owners behind this scam, Eduardo Hernandez, Hector Manual Martinez Galindo, and Alejandro Rodriguez, were fined $140,000 in back pay and damages to 35 employees/victims. These scammers failed to pay overtime, illegally stole from the tip pool, and also threatened immigration consequences to employees if they cooperated with the DOL investigation.
https://www.numbersusa.com/blog/employer-uses-fake-priest-scam-employees
