CA restaurant to pay $140K after making employees confess workplace ‘sins’ to ‘supposed’ priest

[Kamaji]

California restaurant to pay $140K after making employees confess workplace ‘sins’ to ‘supposed’ priest

By Jon Brown, Fox News
July 24, 2023

Owners of a restaurant in California are paying approximately $140,000 in back wages and damages to 35 employees after trying to use a “supposed” priest to have them confess their “workplace sins.”

Che Garibaldi Inc., which operates the Taqueria Garibaldi Mexican restaurant in Sacramento, will be forking over the cash after an investigation by the US Department of Labor.

“Under oath, an employee of Taqueria Garibaldi explained how the restaurant offered a supposed priest to hear their workplace ‘sins’ while other employees reported that a manager falsely claimed that immigration issues would be raised by the department’s investigation,” reads a press release from the DOL.

“This employer’s despicable attempts to retaliate against employees were intended to silence workers, obstruct an investigation and prevent the recovery of unpaid wages.”

The DOL says Garibaldi, as well as owners and operators Eduardo Hernandez, Hector Manual Martinez Galindo and Alejandro Rodriguez, consented to a judgment from Judge William B. Shubb in the US District Court for the Eastern District of California, and would compensate its employees in the wake of a federal investigation into its workplace practices.

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Source:  https://nypost.com/2023/07/24/california-restaurant-taqueria-garibaldi-mexican-to-pay-140k-after-making-employees-confess-workplace-sins-to-supposed-priest/

[Kamaji]

Should have done it under the rubric of DEI-based "race" training.  They probably could have gotten a subsidy from the CA state government instead of fines.

[PeteS in CA]

Sounds like a power play to control/manipulate employees went very south for the owners. IIRC, the area is a mature (= 1950s or 1960s) middle class neighborhood, so the restaurant should have been doing well if their quality was good. Their menu is pretty much NW Mexico (Sonoran Desert region) and Baja fare.