In 2018, the DOL recovered $831 in back wages from Miguel Chi-dzul, who was a victim of wage theft. Now, investigators have discovered that Chi-dzul committed wage theft at his own restaurant in Portland. He denied 31 workers a total of $94,177 in tips and overtime wages, according to the investigation. Loading Something is loading.
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In 2018, Miguel Chi-dzul’s employer was found to have altered records to hide repeated acts of wage theft, according to the Labor Department.
He was one of four reported victims and received $831 in back wages for unpaid overtime.
Chi-dzul now has his own restaurant in Portland, Oregon, and he seems to have copied his former employer’s playbook. DOL investigators say Chi-dzul stole a total of $94,177 in tips and overtime from 31 workers at his Casa Maya Taqueria & Cantina.
According to the investigation, Chi-dzul altered official records to hide his failure to pay legally required overtime wages. She also reportedly kept a portion of tips left to workers in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
The DOL said it recovered $188,354 in back wages and damages for the workers. It also assessed $11,292 in civil penalties due to the “deliberate nature” of the reported wage theft.
DOL representative Carrie Aguilar said in a press release: “Miguel Chi-dzul suffered wage theft as a restaurant worker, yet when he was in a position to do right by his own workers, he chose to inflict tremendous suffering. financially worse to the people who trusted him as their employer and then tried to cover it up.”
“Restaurant workers are often among the lowest wage earners in our nation, depending on every dollar they earn for hours worked and tips received for good service to their customers,” he added.
In an email to McClatchy News, reported by The Olympian, Chi-dzul disputed the DOL’s findings. He said he only agreed to a settlement because he did not have the funds to contest the matter, arguing that this was “in no way an admission of wrongdoing.”
He also told the newspaper that he felt DOL investigators were trying to “bully me into a deal.”
“They refused to share the basis of their findings with me or my lawyer so that we could effectively address them,” Chi-dzul said. “They even threatened me with more charges if I tried to contact my employees to be my witnesses.”
The Department of Labor, Casa Maya Taqueria & Cantina and Chi-dzul did not immediately respond to Insider’s requests for comment.
Source: news.google.com