CALIFORNIA, USA – A federal court has ordered a California-based restaurant chain, Che Garibaldi Inc., to pay $140,000 in back wages and damages after hiring a fake priest to extract “confessions” from its employees.
The company owns Taqueria Garibaldi, which has branches in Sacramento and Roseville.
The litigation, led by the U.S Department of Labor, revealed on Wednesday, June 21, 2023, that the “priest” encouraged workers to “get the sins out” and interrogated them about possible theft, tardiness, or harmful intentions towards their employer, according to the department’s news release.
The investigation, spurred by employee complaints and an independent report from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento denying affiliation with the purported pastor, also uncovered that the restaurant had failed to pay overtime to its workers.
This led to the imposing of the hefty fine.
The Department of Labor condemned the restaurant’s tactics as “shameless,” stating that the employer’s actions were an attempt to “silence workers, obstruct an investigation, and prevent the recovery of unpaid wages.”
