California restaurant used fake priest to hear workers’ confessions, feds say

A restaurant chain in California has been forced to pay out $140,000 after using a fake priest to hear workers’ confessions, according to the US Department of Labor.

Che Garibaldi Inc operates two Taqueria Garibaldi restaurants in Sacramento, along with another in Roseville, according to the Labor Department.

An employee testified that the 'priest' then urged workers to ‘get the sins out’, asking them if they had ever stolen from their employer, been late for work, had done anything to harm their employer, or if they had bad intentions towards their employer.

The employee of Che Garibaldi Inc. said the person identifying as a priest had been brought in to hear confessions during work hours.

A federal court has now ordered payment of $140,000 to 35 workers in back wages and damages.

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Regional Solicitor of Labor, Marc Pilotin, in San Francisco said: “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.

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

A press release from the Labor Department says the action follows an investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division, which found Taqueria Garibaldi ‘denied employees overtime pay for hours over 40 in a workweek, a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act’.

Investigators also learned the employer ‘paid managers from the employee tip pool illegally, threatened employees with retaliation and adverse immigration consequences for cooperating with the department, and fired one worker who they believed had complained to the department’.

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Judge William B. Shubb, in the US 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.

“The U.S. Department of Labor and its Solicitor’s Office will not tolerate workplace retaliation and will act swiftly to make clear that immigration status has no bearing on workers’ rights under the Fair Labor Standards Act,” Pilotin added.

Court documents show how a server at the restaurant testified that she found her conversation with the alleged priest ‘unlike normal confessions’, saying the ‘priest’ would ask questions in a bid to ‘get the sins out’ of her.

"He asked if I had ever got pulled over for speeding, if I drank alcohol or if I had stolen anything," she said.

"The priest asked if I had stolen anything at work, if I was late to my employment, if I did anything to harm my employer and if I had any bad intentions toward my employment."

UNILAD has reached out to the Taqueria Garibaldi chain for comment.