The owners of a restaurant in Sacramento have been ordered to pay $140,000 in back pay and damages to its 35 employees after an investigation revealed a fake priest was hired to encourage workers to make their work-related confessions.
According to the New York Times, an investigation found owners Eduardo Hernandez and Hector Manual Martinez Galindo of Taqueria Garibaldi—which has three locations in the city—not only withheld overtime pay from hourly workers, but also told them to lie to investigators about the matter. Alejandro Rodriguez, a manager, was involved in the coercion attempts.
Workers said in sworn declarations that they were forced to work extra hours without pay and denied breaks, with one employee saying they saw their co-workers hiding in the walk-in refrigerator in order to take a break and get some food. Managers "would not let us sit down and eat” and “would pressure you to get up and work," the employee added.
One worker said they worked between 50 and 60 hours per week, but were only paid for 40 hours.
The workers could receive as much as $14,826 in back pay and damages stemming from unpaid wages from 2018 to 2021.
In a supposed effort to "help with mental health," a purported priest was brought in for confession. Maria Parra, an employee, said it was "more like an interrogation," as the questions consisted mostly of work-related matters.
"The priest asked if I had stolen anything at work, if I was late to my employment, if I did anything to harm my employer and if I had any bad intentions toward my employment," Parra said.
"Multiple employees" spoke with the man, who was being used to extract information from workers and intimidate them, according to Labor Department officials. It also appears unlikely that he was actually a priest.
"The person in question is not a priest of the Diocese of Sacramento," Bryan Visitacion, a spokesman for the diocese, said in a statement.
