Global Courant
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A federal court has ordered the owners of 14 Subway locations north of San Francisco to pay employees nearly $1 million in damages and back pay — and also to sell or close their businesses, saying the any sales proceeds go to the Ministry of Justice. Work.
Federal investigators said franchise owners John and Jessica Meza instructed children as young as 14 to operate dangerous machinery, assigned minors work hours that violated federal law, and failed to pay their employees regularly, including by issuing hundreds of bad checks and illegally withholding tips left by them. customers.
The Labor Department also accused the Mezas of pressuring employees in an attempt to prevent them from cooperating with the investigation and that an employee, Hamza Ayesh, played a role in these efforts, including threatening an employee who complained about receiving an incorrect check.
According to Arkady Itkin, their lawyer, the Mezas did not admit to threatening or coercing employees. She added that they did admit to issuing bad checks and violating certain labor standards. He added that Ayesh did not admit to threatening an employee, but agreed to settle what Itkin called a “he said, she said situation” to put the situation to rest.
Itkin added that the Mezas are people of modest means and it is very unlikely that they will be able to pay the amount agreed upon in the court order. “The settlement agreement could make it look like they’re just going to fork out a million dollars,” he said. “It’s not going to happen.”
