Date of action: Aug. 4, 2022
Type of action: Joint stipulation, order for preliminary injunction
Employer name: Che Garibaldi doing business as Taqueria Garibaldi
1841 Howe Ave.
Sacramento, CA 95825
Names of defendants: Che Garibaldi doing business as Taqueria Garibaldi, Hector Manual Martinez Galindo, Eduardo Hernandez & Alejandro Rodriguez
Allegations: The employer failed to pay an overtime rate of one-and-a-half times the regular rate and instead paid overtime hours at a rate of $14 per hour and in cash, a Fair Labor Standards Act violation. Investigators also found the employer illegally paid managers and supervisor from the employee tip pool. After the Secretary filed the lawsuit, investigators discovered the employer threatened employees with retaliation and immigration consequences for cooperating with representatives of the U.S. Department of Labor. The employer fired one employee who was perceived to have complained to the department.
Resolution: Taqueria Garibaldi, its owners and one of its managers have agreed, and the U.S. District Court has ordered, that the restaurant’s owners and managers will not retaliate against, intimidate, attempt to influence or in any way threaten employees for providing information to the department or participating in the litigation as a witness. The employer cannot contact or threaten to contact immigration authorities or inform employees that another party will. The employer will not ask about any employee’s immigration status because such employee spoke or was perceived to have spoken with a representative of the Department of Labor, or otherwise cooperated or perceived to have cooperated with the department’s investigation or this litigation. Finally, in any meeting it holds with employees regarding this case, the employer must provide employees certain notices about this lawsuit, including that the department alleges that employees are owed back wages and that signing a statement for the employer may adversely affect the employee’s claim for those wages.
The Wage and Hour Division’s Sacramento District Office investigated this case. Trial attorneys Jennifer Sta. Ana and Bryan Lopez of the department’s Office of the Solicitor in San Francisco litigated the matter for the department.
Court: U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California
Docket Number: 2:22-CV-00756-WBS-KJN
