An investigation is currently underway by federal authorities at a restaurant in Northern California, revealing a startling discovery regarding the restaurant owners' strategy to identify dishonest employees. To uncover any potential wrongdoing, the owners resorted to employing a phony priest.
These peculiar meetings would commence with a prayer led by the imposter priest, followed by inquiries regarding the employees' loyalty to the owner and any instances of theft from the establishment.
Ironically, it has come to light that the very same restaurant owes a substantial amount of $140,000 in unpaid overtime wages to its employees.
From The Washington Post:
Labor officials began looking into allegations that employees weren’t being paid overtime wages at the Sacramento-area chain Taqueria Garibaldi in May 2021. As investigators contacted employees, they learned that a man who purported to be a priest had been introduced by the owner “to get the sins out” of the restaurant workers, one former employee said in an affidavit filed in the case.
The priest began the meetings with a prayer, Labor Department investigator Raquel Alfaro testified last year. He then asked the employees whether they were loyal to owner Eduardo Hernandez and whether they had ever stolen from him.
“As soon as the confession started, I found the conversation to be strange and unlike normal confessions, where I would tell a priest about the sins I wanted to confess,” former employee Maria Parra said in her sworn declaration. “The priest mostly had work-related questions, which I thought was strange.”
Hernandez told another employee that they “needed to help him” by telling investigators they worked only eight hours each day, five days a week, according to court filings. Hernandez also asked the employee to manipulate timecards that suggested otherwise, filings stated. In reality, the employee said, they regularly worked more than 40 hours a week and had only one day off, according to a declaration the Labor Department filed in the case.
Restaurant management also threatened employees with “adverse immigration consequences” and used pooled tips to pay managers, the Labor Department said June 12. Another unnamed employee told investigators that manager Alejandro Rodriguez “would not let us sit down and eat,” forcing workers to hide in the refrigerator during meals.
This sounds like one heck of a crooked establishment.
Ironically, these owners should probably find a legitimate priest to confess their sins.
