A restaurant chain in California enlisted a pretend priest to take confession from staff, with the supposed father urging them to “get the sins out” by telling him in the event that they’d been late for work or had stolen from their employer, in response to the U.S. Division of Labor.
The restaurant proprietor, Che Garibaldi, operates two Taqueria Garibaldi eating places in Sacramento and one in Roseville, in response to an announcement from the Labor Division. Attorneys for the restaurant firm did not instantly reply to a request for remark.
The alleged priest additionally requested staff in the event that they harbored “unhealthy intentions” towards their employer or in the event that they’d achieved something to hurt the corporate, mentioned the company, which known as it one of many “most shameless” scams that labor regulator had ever seen. The Diocese of Sacramento additionally investigated the problem and mentioned it “discovered no proof of connection” between the alleged priest and its jurisdiction, in response to the Catholic Information Company.
“Whereas we do not know who the particular person in query was, we’re utterly assured he was not a priest of the Diocese of Sacramento,” Bryan J. Visitacion, director of media and communications for the Diocese of Sacramento, advised the information company.
“Not like regular confessions”
Hiring an allegedly pretend priest to solicit confessions wasn’t the restaurant chain’s solely wrongdoing, in response to authorities officers. A court docket final month ordered Che Garibaldi’s homeowners to pay $140,000 in again wages and damages to 35 workers.
The restaurant chain’s proprietor allegedly introduced within the pretend priest after the Labor Division began investigating office points. In response to the Labor Division, its investigation discovered that the corporate had denied extra time pay to staff, paid managers from cash clients had left as worker ideas, and threatened staff with retaliation and “opposed immigration penalties” for working with the company, in response to the company.
The Labor Division mentioned an investigator discovered from some staff that the restaurant proprietor introduced within the priest, who mentioned he was a good friend of the proprietor’s and requested questions on whether or not they had harmed the chain or its proprietor.
In court docket paperwork, a server on the restaurant, Maria Parra, testified that she discovered her dialog with the alleged priest “not like regular confessions,” the place she would discuss what she wished to admit, in response to a court docket doc reviewed by CBS MoneyWatch. As an alternative, the priest advised her that he would ask questions “to get the sins out of me.”
“He requested if I had ever received pulled over for dashing, if I drank alcohol or if I had stolen something,” she mentioned. “The priest requested if I had stolen something at work, if I used to be late to my employment, if I did something to hurt my employer and if I had any unhealthy intentions towards my employment.”
The Labor Division additionally alleged that the employer sought to retaliate in opposition to staff and silence them, in addition to impede an investigation and stop the staff from receiving unpaid wages.