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Latest post 02-08-2010 5:23 PM by Cica. 8 replies.
  • 02-08-2010 12:27 AM

    • Mystyyk
      Consumer
    • Not Ranked
    • Joined on 09-26-2008
    • TX
    • Posts 6

    Please Help

    From : A Private Citizen of Texas , Employee of [name removed]Restaurant

    Feburary 1, 2010

     

     

    Dear ,

    The [names removed],

    Indecent Exposure , Sexual Assault

    On or about November 17, 2009 , [name removed], owner of Restuarant [name removed], unzipped his pants and exposed his genitals to a female employee. In fear of retaliation , she has confided in me to request help. She also verbally warned all other female employees of the occurance.

    [the owner] grabs the wait staff' (all white female) in a lude manner, touching their inner thigh's by means of grabbing from behind and reaching between the legs. During many of these occurences there are customers and other employees present. I witnessed [name removed] , owner of the restaurant [name removed] grab a waitress by the upper rear portion of the leg, and laugh. The Waitress looked at me in horror . I encouraged her to file a complaint and she replied , "I'll lose my job".

     

     

    Texas Penal Code:

    Sec. 21.08

    . INDECENT EXPOSURE. (a) A person commits an offense if he exposes his anus or any part of his genitals with intent to arouse or gratify the sexual desire of any person, and he is reckless about whether another is present who will be offended or alarmed by his act.

    Sexual assault is usually considered a more serious crime and may be classified as a felony,

    Sexual Harassment

    An employer may be liable to an employee for instances of "sexual harassment" which can include unwelcome sexual advances, conduct or other physical or verbal acts of a sexual nature, which occur in the workplace. The following conduct is generally considered sexual harassment.

    (1) Direct sexual conduct--an employer makes sexual advances or statements

    (2) "Quid pro quo" - job-related benefits are offered in exchange for sexual conduct

    (3)Hostile work environment--an employer maintains an overly sexual work environment

     

    Non-Compliance of Federal Wage Laws .

    Not one single hour of my overtime has been paid . Some employees are working strait double shifts without recieving proper compensation. Payroll checks bounce due to insuffucient bank funds. Employees are recieving cash from the till and being asked to endorse their payroll checks due to insufficient bank funds. On one occasion I requested a paystub and was reprimanded verbally. Payday for me was cash in an envelope with no record or tax information included. Sometimes, I would have to wait for the next day's till to recieve my weeks pay.

    The [name removed] restaurant reports exactly the same amount each shift for each waitress no matter how much is earned. An overnight waitress caclulated she earned an average of $3.13 per hour. Far below the Federal minimum wage.

    Sec. 62.051.

    MINIMUM WAGE. An employer shall pay to each employee the federal minimum wage under Section 6, Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. Section 206).

    There are many claims that [name removed] restaurant is deducting money from paychecks weekly. This money is being deducted because the till count is short at the end of thier shift. Some waitresses refuses to work if the initial count shows them to be short at the start of the shift. Still they find ways to take their small $80.00 paycheck. One waitress works 7 nights a week because she only makes just over $3.00 per hour.

    Sec. 61.018

    . DEDUCTION FROM WAGES. An employer may not withhold or divert any part of an employee's wages unless the employer:

    (1) is ordered to do so by a court of competent jurisdiction;

    (2) is authorized to do so by state or federal law; or

    (3) has written authorization from the employee to deduct part of the wages for a lawful purpose.

     

    Pornography being displayed in the lounge to Employess and Customers by Owner/Manager of [name removed] Restaurant

     

    I'm sure that City Officials would have a few choice words about this matter. Several witnesess to these occurances claim that [the owner] displays pornography to unwilling bystanders that includes employees and customers via laptop computer. The female employees felt very uncomfortable when a scene of a woman performing oral sex was called to their attention by [the owner] during a viewing of the pornography.

    A known prostitute is currently employed at [name removed] Restaurant. According to several insiders, a customer caught a sexually transmitted disease from a prostitute during his visit at the [name removed] Restaurant. [the owner] could not deny these claims becuase he walked in on the sexual act as it was happening in the men's room. The infected husbands spouse threatened to alert the media and Local Law enforcement and demanded money to keep it quiet. The restaurant paid the angry spouse and deducted payments from the employee's weekly paycheck. The employee is still employed at the restaurant.

    City Ordinance:

    Sec. 36-2.

    Certain businesses and conduct prohibited.

    (a) A person commits an offense if the person intentionally or knowingly operates or conducts any business in the city in an adult encounter parlor, escort agency, or adult modeling studio.(Code 1961, § 21.04.02; Ord. No. 97-21, 6-3-1997; Ord. No. 98-31, 11-17-1998)

    Sec. 36-13.

    Authority to file suit.

    (a) A person who violates these regulations is subject to a suit to enjoin operation of the SOB under V.T.C.A., Local Government Code § 243.010 and is also subject to prosecution for criminal violations.

    (b) The city attorney is hereby authorized to file suit to enjoin the violation of this division. A suit may be initiated upon information received from private citizens or any law enforcement agency.

    (Code 1961, § 21.04.27; Ord. No. 97-21, 6-3-1997; Ord. No. 98-31, 11-17-1998)

    Discrimination - Racism at the [name removed]Restaurant

    African American workers verbally complain openly to the managment about the white people getting the better jobs. They claim that [name removed] Restaurant is not only racist , but verbally abusive and often use the racial word [racial slur removed]. I have heard this word very often while employed there, especially by [name removed]. In fact one was refered to as a [expletive removed] by [name removed] during a conversation at the employee table regarding an overnight black cook. Comments like "what do you expect out of a [racial slur] are a daily occurence. Having an African Amercian Sister , I was deeply offended by [name removed] remarks.

    Important Facts:

    99% of the full time wait and management staff are white , there are no Black cashiers, waiters, or any other publicly viewed positions.

    99% of the kitchen staff are black and part time and are assigned to non public work stations. Dishwasher , prepcook, Cook.

    Money Laundering / Embezzlement / Fraud

    Co-owner [name removed] fraudulantly records false profits. Below I will state provable motives. There are witnesess to these occurances. They claim [name removed] will pocket a large sum of the till and report far less than actually earned.

    (1) She fraudulantly recieved disability and continued to do so after gaining ownership of the restaurant. Built the financial structure using her spouse's name to facilitate this.

     

    (2) Her lease agreement requires her to pay a percentage or adjustment if her said profit margin does not reach expectations. Therefore, she reports far less.

    (3) Records fraudulant profit data to avoid Federal , State, and Local Taxes.

     

     

    (5) A Recent promotion of an hourly waitress to General Manager resigned the position due to financial discrepencies. She was expected to sign off on financial reports she absolutly knew were fraudulant. 14 days after the promotion , the Mananger requested to be demoted for nopayment , and did not want any involvment in the fraud that was occuring.

     

     

    Any thoughts or pearls of wisdom regarding this letter before i send it to everyone?

  • 02-08-2010 12:37 AM In reply to

    • Mystyyk
      Consumer
    • Not Ranked
    • Joined on 09-26-2008
    • TX
    • Posts 6

    Re: Please Help

    Excuse the grammer errors, rough draft's only intention was to get great dvice from this great website.

  • 02-08-2010 6:28 AM In reply to

    Re: Please Help

    Yes:  hire a lawyer and expect to get sued for slander, defamation of character, and any other infringement of business or damage to it.  As well as fired. 

    The employees who were sexually harassed can file a complaint with corporate HR and the EEOC.  YOU have no cause of action in this unless YOU witnessed it directly OR you are the manager. 

    If pay is being illegally witheld, deducted, or minimum wage laws violated (which don't apply to waitstaff by the way) then THOSE affected employees can file a complaint with the Wage and Hour division of the Texas DOL for free and they will handle it.  If they are terminated for doing so then they have a lawsuit for retaliation and wrongful termination.  Same goes for employees who feel they are racially discriminated against.  If you aren't one of them you have no case.

    City Officials will not get involved in internal matters in a restaurant.  If the affected employee want to file a complaint with the EEOC regarding the pornography issue they can.  YOU have no cause of action.

    It is up to the police to handle prostitution issues.  If you know there is criminal conduct then report it.  Otherwise what you are discussing is rumor.

    Same goes for tax fraud, disability fraud etc.  Report it to the proper government agencies otherwise it is just rumors.

    You should also have the moderators delete the names from your post.  It violates site rules and the post alone could get you sued.

     

    "That's just my opinion, then again I might be wrong."  Dennis Miller

     

  • 02-08-2010 9:37 AM In reply to

    Mystyyk - Pls review posting Rules

    Your post was edited per the Rules and Regulations of the site to omit individual and company names, as well as, racial slurs and foul language.

    Please review the Rules of the site prior to posting again.

    http://community.lawye...

    Thanks,

    Sharon

  • 02-08-2010 9:54 AM In reply to

    • Drew
      Consumer
    • Top 10 Contributor
    • Joined on 03-30-2000
    • PA
    • Posts 37,827

    Re: Mystyyk - Pls review posting Rules

    You are NUTS to write any such letters.

    The individual victims of the employers sexual advances need to contact appropriate law enforcement!

    I agree, the immediate reaction to contacting law enforcement is likley to get fired for the next possible  thing like failing to wash hands or not wearing purple T shirts  or ones with too little cleavage showing.  So given that one can expect immediate reprisal, the women involved would be smart to contact a womens advoacy law group or an activist labor lawyer FIRST.



  • 02-08-2010 10:00 AM In reply to

    • LG81
      Consumer
    • Top 25 Contributor
    • Joined on 01-03-2010
    • Posts 2,958

    Re: Please Help

    ClydesMom:
    If pay is being illegally witheld, deducted, or minimum wage laws violated (which don't apply to waitstaff by the way) then THOSE affected employees can file a complaint with the Wage and Hour division of the Texas DOL for free and they will handle it.

    ClydesMom - You are sorely mistaken.  Minimum wage laws DO apply to waitstaff, but the minimum wage is calculated differently than for non-tipped professions.  Below is a summary of the Federal reg on this, and then each state has its own requirement on offsetting tips. For example, in Oregon, tip credit against wage is not allowed, so waitstaff must be paid the Oregon minimum wage regardless of how much they make in tips.  In TX, the OP's state, the regulations pretty much mirror the federal regs.

    A tip is wage according to the Fair Labor Standard Act (FLSA). You are a tipped employee - that's for example a waitress or bellboy - if you receive regularly and costomarily more than $30 a month in tip. If so, your employer is only required to pay $2.13 an hour in direct wages if that amount plus the tips received equals at least the federal minimum wage of $6.55 per hour. Your employer can only do that if you are informed about the tip credit allowance, if your employer is able to show that you earn at least the minimum wage when direct wage and tip are combined and allows you to retain all tips.

    In the sweetest and kindest way I can say it, please be more careful in your sweeping generalizations that I see all over the various boards on this site.  This particular string is a good example where you state something that clearly does not line up with the law.  While nothing on this site is to be intended as legal advice, folks do go here seeking help and insight.  Please avoid making statements about things for which you have no knowledge.

     

  • 02-08-2010 12:22 PM In reply to

    • Mystyyk
      Consumer
    • Not Ranked
    • Joined on 09-26-2008
    • TX
    • Posts 6

    Re: Please Help

     

     

    The YOU caps are funny. But to clarify, I have not been payed overtime. I am still waiting on a full weeks pay. It's now 4 days after payday.

    To clarify again , I witnessed the sexual advances/sexual assault by the employer.

     Reading the rules of this website might have been a good idea. My mistake. I am not out to sue, only make it a better place to work. I am requesting guidance or semi-advice as to a course of action to help the things I can help, not wanting to Sue, beat , or torture anyone. Calling and reporting all this will only get me fired. Why I came here first.

    As to the cause of action regarding pornography , city ordinace forbids any such activity. But catching him do it would be very hard.

    Thanks in advance.

    OKay , so i should not send out letters. Gotcha , now what.

  • 02-08-2010 12:32 PM In reply to

    Re: Please Help

    The victim should contact the EEOC asap and they will investigate and perhaps give her permission to sue.

  • 02-08-2010 5:23 PM In reply to

    • Cica
      Consumer
    • Top 25 Contributor
    • Joined on 09-23-2003
    • Posts 5,620

    Re: Please Help

    Mystyyk:
    To clarify again , I witnessed the sexual advances/sexual assault by the employer.

    Then you have basis to file complaint:

    http://www.eeoc.gov/fa...

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