Saravanaa Bhavan to pay $2.2 million in wages withheld from California workers

The California Labour Commissioner’s Office has reached a $2.2 million settlement with the owners of three Saravanaa Bhavan restaurant franchises in Fremont, Milpitas and Sunnyvale.

The settlement secures compensation to 317 employees at the three restaurant locations.

The Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) news release says that hundreds of employees between three franchised South Bay locations of Saravanaa Bhavan were subjected to “unpaid minimum wage, overtime, meal premiums, split shift premiums, and inaccurate wage statements,” including an allegation that the restaurant kept tips from workers, too.

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$7000 for each worker

With the $2.2 million settlement that was reached, each worker will receive about $7,000 and an apology from their employers, as per media reports.

Saravanaa Bhavan — with locations throughout New York, New Jersey and Texas — is the largest South Indian restaurant chain in the world.

The settlement follows an investigation by the Labour Commissioner’s Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) Unit, which found Labour Code violations that affected the 317 employees including servers, bussers, hosts, kitchen staff and cooks who worked at the three restaurants between February 23, 2016 and September 8, 2019.

Based on its investigation, the PAGA Unit issued a citation for wages and penalties on October 18, 2019, for a total of $6,108,099.

Settlement terms

The settlement requires that the restaurants’ owners personally apologize to workers for the violations, allow a one-hour training about labour laws on paid time, and post a notice about employees’ rights regarding tips.

The trainings will be interpreted into Tamil, Spanish and Nepali at the employer’s expense.

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Under California law, tips belong to workers alone.

“Wage theft not only affects workers economically, but can also affect them psychologically,” California Labour Commissioner Lilia García-Brower said in the organization’s press release. “My office is working to provide restorative justice to those who have suffered harm.”