Restaurant workers rally vs. wage theft at Peninsula Malaysian Restaurant

A dozen people, including aggrieved worker Francisco Domingo Sanchez and allies, marched chanting “justice” and bearing signs on Nicollet Avenue to protest Peninsula Malaysian Restaurant at 1pm on August 27.

The protest, organized by Workers Interfaith Network (WIN), called attention to the concerns of two former restaurant employees, Sanchez and Raymundo Espinosa Moreno who have brought allegations of wage theft to the Department of Labor. “We filed a complaint, but it goes very slowly,” said Sanchez

“We’re trying to get fair wages. We weren’t getting overtime or even minimum wage,” said Sanchez, a former dishwasher. “We worked 11 am to 11pm, six days a week. We were making $750 a paycheck. That’s about $4.00 hour. We’re doing this so this doesn’t keep happening to other people.” Federal minimum wage was $6.55 at the time of the alleged violation.

WIN organizer Brian Payne says, “In addition to these serious allegations of violations of federal labor law, the company has violated the workers’ rights as defined by Minnesota State Law by not providing important information from their personnel files. We can only wonder what the company has to hide.”

When asked what people in the community can do to aid the worker, Sanchez said they should call the restaurant at 612.871.8282 and ask the restaurant owners to “sit down with the former employees to resolve this issue.”