Illinois Restaurants Busted for Elaborate Exploitation

Imagine that feeling when you open up a check.  Yes, you might stare at the amount taken out for social security and wish that you could have that now.  Yes, you might envision it quickly being eaten up by rent or root canals.  But, at least for a minute, the money that appears on the check are yours.

For at least 64 employees in Illinois, this basic right was not theirs.  They would receive a check from the restaurants where they worked, El Matador Inc. and El Caporal Inc., and then be expected togive some portion of it back to the managers.  This outrageous labor abuse was just one way these restaurant owners exploited their workers.

Workers were instructed to punch in when the managers told them– long after they actually had begun work.  Wait staff were exclusively paid in tips, forced to return the money they received in hourly work.  Kitchen staff, busboys and dishwashers were not paid minimum wage nor did they receive overtime compensation.  Even then, they were required to give back much of their paychecks to their employers.

A federal judge in Urbana has ordered Dolores Onate, owner, and Ricardo Onate, manager, of the El Matador Inc. and El Caporal Inc. restaurants in Decatur to pay a total of $1,149,702.50 in back wages and damages to 64 workers employed as servers and kitchen staff.  This judgment resolves a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Labor following an investigation by its Wage and Hour Division that disclosed willful violations of the minimum wage, overtime pay and record-keeping provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act at three locations.

The judgment requires the defendants to pay $387,429.87 due to 34 employees at two restaurants operated by El Matador and $187, 421.41 due to 30 employees at one restaurant operated by El Caporal, plus an equal amount in liquidated damages. This case was litigated by the department’s regional solicitor in Chicago.

What kept workers enduring these conditions for as long as they did?  Undoubtedly, this story of corruption signals a need to protect immigrants’ rights, educate all workers of their rights as employees, and show lawmakers and law enforcers that they must hold businesses accountable– even if they serve delicious burritos.