A Bay Area Subway owner was cited for violating the Fair Labor Standards Act numerous times over. John Michael Meza, who owns Subway locations through the North and East Bay, allegedly paid $265,000 worth of bounced checks to workers, coerced staff as young as 14 and 15 to work overtime, and failed to pay wages from staff on a regular basis. The Press Democrat broke the news in March of the child labor law violations, and SFGATE updated the story to include a preliminary injunction filed by the U.S. Department of Labor on May 25.
Initial reports detailed teenage staff alleging their checks bounced, were significantly delayed, or were withheld entirely. “The court has ordered the employer to stop jeopardizing the safety and well-being of minor-aged workers, to pay workers as the law requires and to ensure that workers can participate in our investigation without fear,” Assistant District Director Alberto Raymond with the Wage and Hour Division in San Francisco wrote in a statement. The court has ordered Meza, his wife Jessica Leyva Meza, and associate Hamza Ayesh to reimburse staff as far back as 2019.
Billionaire Charles B. Johnson owns the San Francisco Giants, bandstands for right-wing politicians, and, apparently, is doing everything in his considerable power to block Nantucket’s Straight Wharf Fish Kitchen from opening near his home. SFGATE reports Johnson owns multiple properties in the area, and...
Dangote Group has dismissed as false and malicious a publication alleging that its President, Aliko Dangote, distanced himself from Tony Elumelu, describing the report as entirely baseless. In a s...