Restaurant settles with ex-waiter for $265

Pickets reduced business at Vittoria Trattoria

The owners of Vittoria Trattoria restaurant have reached an agreement with a former employee who said he was wrongfully dismissed.

David Wightman, who worked as a server at the popular eatery, argued he was owed two weeks of wages plus the tips he would have earned over that period. Domenic Santaguida, co-owner of the establishment, said Wightman was fired for insubordination, and that he owed him nothing. But a two-day picket last week by the Ottawa-Outaouais Industrial Workers of the World outside the restaurant’s By Ward Market location in support of Wightman pushed both parties to come to an agreement. On Friday, Wightman accepted Santaguida’s offer of $265.38: the equivalent of two weeks pay, or what is required in lieu of two weeks’ notice by the Employment Standards Act in circumstances of wrongful dismissal.

“It was something that I was prepared for,” said Wightman. “I didn’t expect to win tips, and this was not about the money; it was about the principle of the fair treatment of workers, myself included.”

Wightman said he stopped the action “for the welfare of my former co-workers.”

Despite continuing to deny any wrongdoing, Santaguida said that it was “well worth paying him, so that everyone working for us could get back to normal and start to make a living.” Santaguida estimated the restaurant saw a 25-per-cent drop in business both days of the picket, which impacted tips. “Not only did my brother and I suffer,” he said of his fellow co-owner, “but every single one of my staff suffered.”

Some Vittoria Trattoria employees posted comments of support for the restaurant on Facebook and Twitter, while others denounced their former colleague for his approach to the conflict.

Just hours after the Friday meeting, Wightman posted a message on Facebook apologizing to the restaurant’s employees. He also called out the owners on the “lies they told” and encouraged others to contact the IWW should they be wrongfully dismissed. Santaguida said the post violates a “confidentiality agreement” Wightman signed stating that he would not slander the business in a public forum. The former employee disagreed, telling the Citizen Monday that he doesn’t believe the post infringes on the agreement.

Santaguida would not comment on whether he’d pursue the breach further.