US: Restaurant hires fake priest to extract confessions of workers’ ‘sins’, ordered to pay $14k in fines

In a bizarre incident, the owner ofa restaurant chain in California, USA hired a fake priest to take confessions from workers, with the 'father' urging them to "get the sins out", according to the US Department of Labor.

Che Garibaldi, the restaurant owner, operates twoTaqueria Garibaldi restaurants in Sacramento and one in Roseville. He reportedly hired the phoney priest who asked workers if they harboured bad intentions towards their employer or if they had done anything to harm the company.

The Department of Labor was as flabbergasted as anyone. In the official report, the department said its federal workers had seen all kinds of antics from corrupt employers over the years, but the trick pulled byGaribaldi was perhaps the "most shameless".

One of the employees revealed the shoddy practices used by Garibaldi to the Department ofLabor. The employee added that the companypaid managers from the employee tip pool illegally, threatened employees with retaliation and adverse immigration consequences for cooperating with the department, and fired one worker who they believed had complained to the department.

“Under oath, an employee of Taqueria Garibaldi explained how the restaurant offered a supposed priest to hear their workplace ‘sins’ while other employees reported that a manager falsely claimed that immigration issues would be raised by the department’s investigation,"said the Regional Solicitor of Labor Marc Pilotin in a release.

Court announces verdict

Afterwards, the case was taken to theDistrict Court for the Eastern District of California whereJudge William B. Shubb orderedChe Garibaldiand operators Eduardo Hernandez, Hector Manual Martinez Galindo and Alejandro Rodriguez to pay $140,000 in back wages and damages to 35 employees.

Maria Parra, a server at the restaurant testified in court that her conversation with the bogus priest was unlike normal confessions. Instead of confessing what she wanted, the priest told her that he wouldask questions to get the 'sins out'.

“He asked if I had ever got pulled over for speeding, if I drank alcohol or if I had stolen anything.The priest asked if I had stolen anything at work, if I was late to my employment, if I did anything to harm my employer and if I had any bad intentions toward my employment," said Parra, according to court documents.

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Meanwhile, theCatholic Diocese of Sacramento released a statement confirming the fake priest had no connection to their diocese.

“While we don’t know who the person in question was, we are completely confident he was not a priest of the Diocese of Sacramento,” a diocese spokesman said.

(With inputs from agencies)

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