California Restaurant Fined For Making Staff Confess 'Sins' To A Fake Priest

Many people who have worked in the restaurant industry will tell you how thankless and challenging the work can be and that it can feel like begging for money from strangers. At the same time, the experience is something most claim they never forget. Working in the service industry allows people to learn valuable skills like multitasking, work ethic, and the ability to stay calm and collected when dealing with complex or demanding guests. You also have fun and often create a bond with your coworkers, which makes dealing with the stress bearable. But, like any other industry, food service has its fair share of restaurant scandals. However, the Department of Labor is calling the actions of a California restaurant owner some of the boldest and most brazen it has seen.

One restaurant, Taqueria Garibaldi, has been ordered to pay 35 employees damages and back wages of $140,000 after restaurant operator Eduardo Hernandez hired a fake priest to hear work-related confessions while the employees were working. In a news release, the Department of Labor (DOL) said that, while it has seen numerous scams and attempts by employers to threaten workers, jeopardize their pay or employment status, and other egregious behaviors, the fake priest fiasco takes the cake. 

Along with the payment to employees, Taqueria Garibaldi also has to pay the DOL $5,000 in civil penalties because the violations were done knowingly, according to CNN.   

One of the employees of Taqueria Garibaldi testified that, in November 2021, the priest was brought in during business hours to hear their confessions. "He asked if I ever got pulled over for speeding, if I drank alcohol, or if I had stolen anything," Maria Parra said in an affidavit via The Los Angeles Times. Parra also explained that the priest's questions involved work-related behaviors, like whether they were punctual when arriving for work, workplace-related theft, and other matters of personal intent. This was perhaps to determine whether employees were interested in seeking employment elsewhere or were thinking of quitting. 

The Wage and Hour Department was already investigating the restaurant for wage theft and denying overtime pay when Eduardo Hernandez decided to bring in the pseudo-priest. The Department of Labor also discovered Taqueria Garibaldi was taking money from the employees' tip pool to pay managers and threatening workers with immigration problems if they cooperated with the DOL's investigation. The restaurant even fired one employee they suspected of talking to the Labor Department. The Regional Solicitor of Labor, Marc Pilotin, called the restaurant's attempts at hindering the investigation and bullying employees "despicable."