A Restaurant Owes More Than $100K for Hiring a Fake Priest to 'Get the Sins Out' and Force Workers to Fess Up to Workplace Misconduct The fake priest allegedly asked employees if they had been late for work and stolen money from the restaurant.
By Sam Silverman Edited by Jessica Thomas
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A California restaurant owner has a lot of atoning to do after forcing employees to confess their workplace sins.
Che Garibaldi, who owns two Taqueria Garibaldi locations in northern California, allegedly hired a fake priest to trick workers into confessions to "get the sins out" and fess up to any wrongdoing during work hours, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. The faux priest reportedly asked staffers several workplace-related questions, including if they have been late for work, stolen from their employer or had "bad intentions" toward their boss.
An investigation by the Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor found that the restaurant violated the Fair Labor Standards Act for denying workers overtime pay. Additionally, the employer illegally paid managers from the employee tip pool and threatened other workers with "adverse immigration consequences" for cooperating with the investigation, according to the press release.
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After an employee testified in federal court detailing the context of the confessions, a judge ordered Garibaldi and operators Eduardo Hernandez, Hector Manual Martinez Galindo and Alejandro Rodriguez to pay a total of $140,000 in back wages and damages.
"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," prosecutors said.
The priest's identity is still unknown.
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