San Carlos Restaurant Settles Wage Theft Probe for $4 Million

SAN CARLOS, CA --A total of 380 workers for a Bay Area Burmese restaurant chain in San Carlos will receive about $4 million by the end of this year as part of a settlement of a state agency's wage theft investigation.

The settlement between the state Labor Commissioner's Office and restaurant owners Mike Lee and John Lee and their companies was signed on Jan. 7. It was announced by the commissioner's office this week.

The agreement concerns present and former workers at Rangoon Ruby restaurants in San Carlos, Palo Alto, San Francisco, Burlingame and Belmont, and the Burma Ruby restaurant in Palo Alto. The Belmont restaurant recently closed.

The settlement is for alleged failure to pay split shift premiums, overtime, minimum wage and sick leave. The bulk of the funds -- a total of $3.8 million -- will go to 89 cooks, according to agency spokesman Lucas Brown. They will receive an average of $35,659.

Other recipients, who will get an average of $2,639, include servers, dishwashers, bartenders, hosts and people who bus dishes.

"Workers deserve to be paid for their labor, and this settlement puts the earned wages back in their pockets," California Labor Commissioner Julie Su said.

The chain's owners also issued a statement Thursday.

"The settlement was a compromise and was reached without any admission of liability," the said. "We worked very hard with the Labor Commissioner's Office to resolve this matter on positive terms. We support the Labor Commissioner Office's efforts to see that all restaurant workers are paid appropriately."

The pact provides for a payment of $400,000 on Jan. 11, which has been made, $1.8 million by Aug. 8 and $1.8 million by Dec. 1. It includes $61,211 in civil penalties payable to the state.

Bay City News contributed to this report/Image via Shutterstock.