State seeks more data on wage theft claim
Workforce Solutions asks judge to order Santa Fe Bar and Grill owner to provide more payroll info
The New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions says it is trying to determine whether a Santa Fe restaurateur engaged in wage theft against some of his employees.
The department filed a writ in First Judicial District Court on Monday asking a judge to force Rob Day, owner of Santa Fe Bar and Grill, to comply with a request to provide more payroll data.
But Day said Wednesday he has turned over all requested documentation to the department — “6,000 or 7,000 pages” — and that the department’s Cabinet secretary, Bill McCamley, is “a J. Edgar Hoover type” who is “kind of harassing me.”
The department’s Labor Relations Division said in its court filing that the case began in March 2018 when it received complaints from five employees of the restaurant alleging violations of the state’s wage laws. The division began an investigation that month. In May 2018, the five employees withdrew their complaints after they “reached a confidential settlement agreement,” according to the document.
But the division continued with an investigation and, according to the court petition, found “numerous violations of the state Minimum Wage Act. … Failure to pay employees for all hours work and failure to pay employees for overtime worked.”
Day’s lawyer, Marshall J. Ray, told the division that its audit findings were faulty because the business “frequently recycled worker timecards, leading to a misreading of payroll data” by the state agency. In addition, Ray said, some workers were not included in the payroll data because they were short-term employees who were paid with checks “outside of the normal payroll system.”
Day said Wednesday he has signed
releases from all of his employees saying they have no wage complaints or concerns. In April, he sent a public records requests to the labor division asking for all “assignments of wage claims” at the restaurant and all communication between the department and any person claiming wages owed. In an April 24 response, the department said it had “no records responsive to your request.” Day provided copies of both emails to The New Mexican.
McCamley said by phone Wednesday he did not want to comment on this case as it makes its way through the courts other than to reiterate that a departmental investigation “found there was evidence of numerous other violations of New Mexico law regarding wage theft and we have requested documentation so we can figure out what happened.”
McCamley said his department is going to be aggressive in investigating claims of wage theft and other unfair practices. While he believes most businesses pay employees what they earn, he said, the two biggest industries about which his department receives complaints are the restaurant and home-health businesses.
Day said he does not shortchange his employees. “I’m not some Joe Blow who is torturing his employees,” he said. “I opened this business in 1984. People know me.”