SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A federal court ordered the owners of 14 Subway locations north of San Francisco to pay employees nearly $1 million in damages and back pay — and also sell their stores or close their jobs.
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 unfunded ones Checks and illegal storage of tips from customers.
The Labor Department also accused the Mezas of coercing employees to prevent them from cooperating with the investigation and that one employee, Hamza Ayesh, played a role in those efforts, including by threatening an employee who was complained about receiving a bad check.
According to Arkady Itkin, their attorney, the Mezas did not admit to threatening or coercing employees, adding that they admitted to writing bad checks and violating some labor standards. He added that Ayesh did not admit to threatening an employee but agreed to settle what Itkin described as a “he said, she said” situation to end the matter.
Itkin added that the Mezas are people of modest means who are most likely unable to pay the amount agreed upon in the court order. “The settlement agreement might make it seem like they’re just coughing up a million dollars,” he said. “That will not happen.”