Workplace sins: US restaurant used fake priest in ‘shameless’ wage theft scheme

California’s Taqueria Garibaldi fined for a host of alleged violations, including conducting ‘confessions’ on employees

A northern California restaurant chain will have to pay more than $140,000 in back pay after it ran a “shameless” wage theft scheme that involved a fake priest who had workers confess to any sins they committed while on the clock.

The owners and operators of Taqueria Garibaldi, a Sacramento-based restaurant chain, are also accused of threatening workers and fabricating timesheets as part of an effort to obstruct an investigation into the business. The US Department of Labor previously found that the company illegally denied workers overtime pay.