Restaurant Ordered to Compensate Workers $140,000 for Allegedly Hiring a Fake Priest to Extract Conf

An order has been issued for a restaurant in California to pay $140,000 in back wages and damages to its employees. The order comes after the restaurant hired a priest to extract confessions from the workers.

According to the US Department of Labor, an employee testified that the restaurant’s owner, Che Garibaldi, who manages two Taqueria Garibaldi locations in northern California, hired a fake priest to hear confessions during work hours. The purpose was to “get the sins out,” which included questioning the workers about being late for work, stealing money from the restaurant, or harboring negative intentions towards their employer.

US Federal investigators labeled this action by the company as “the most shameless” display of corruption by an employer against its staff.

Regional Solicitor of Labor Marc Pilotin stated on Tuesday, June 20, that “Under oath, an employee of Taqueria Garibaldi explained how the restaurant offered a supposed priest to hear their workplace ‘sins’ while other employees reported that a manager falsely claimed that immigration issues would be raised by the department’s investigation.”

The Catholic Diocese of Sacramento confirmed that they found “no evidence of any connection” between the priest and their diocese.

A diocese spokesman informed the Catholic News Agency last week, stating, “While we don’t know who the person in question was, we are completely confident he was not a priest of the Diocese of Sacramento.”

Garibaldi and three other restaurant owners and operators were directed to compensate 35 employees with $140,000 in back wages and damages. Additionally, the restaurant will have to pay $5,000 in civil penalties.

Investigators also discovered that the restaurant had denied overtime pay to employees, paid managers bonuses from the employee tip pool, and imposed “adverse immigration consequences” on some employees for cooperating with investigators.

Pilotin remarked, “This employer’s despicable attempts to retaliate against employees were intended to silence workers, obstruct an investigation, and prevent the recovery of unpaid wages.”

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