Employees at a once-hot Los Angeles restaurant took to the streets this week to protest missing wages.
Workers at the shuttered fine-dining spot Otium say they haven’t received their final paychecks after the restaurant closed on September 8, Eater L.A. reported on Wednesday. That same day, they protested in front of the restaurant, holding signs that proclaimed “Wage theft is a crime, pay people for their time” and wearing tags that said “owe-tium.”
“Despite our commitment and hard work, we have not received our last two paychecks, which has created financial hardships for many of us,” Otium employees said in a statement to Eater. “We want to express our solidarity as a team and emphasize the importance of fair treatment in the workplace. We have made multiple attempts to communicate with management regarding this issue but have yet to receive a satisfactory resolution. Our goal is to resolve this matter amicably and ensure that all employees receive their due wages promptly.”
Otium, which opened back in 2015, was led by the former French Laundry chef de cuisine Timothy Hollingsworth, in partnership with the former CEO of Wolfgang Puck catering, Carl Schuster. Located next to the Broad art museum, it received investment from that entity as well, Eater noted. In August, Otium announced that it would be shutting down a month later due to “unprecedented challenges, making it increasingly difficult to sustain our operations,” the outlet wrote. That led to increased business in the month leading up to the shutdown, Rylee Ratcliff, a former barista at the restaurant, told Eater, meaning more work for the employees. She says she’s owed some $3,000 to $3,500 in wages, tips, overtime, and leftover vacation pay.
Hollingsworth and Schuster told Eater that they both knew about the delayed paychecks. Hollingsworth said that he was waiting to hear from Schuster, while Schuster said that he was hoping to have an update for employees on Friday.
“I’ve been doing this for my whole life, and never been in this situation,” Schuster said. “I can’t imagine the stress, the not knowing, and the waiting. . .I’m taking personal responsibility to make sure the employees get paid as fast as I can.”
Still, it’s only an update that Schuster is expecting, not the money owed to Otium’s employees. Several staffers also told Eater that this isn’t the first time they’ve had issues when it comes to pay; Jocelyn Cortez, a former manager who joined Otium in 2015, said that physical checks had bounced in the past. (Schuster has not yet responded to Eater’s request for comment on that point.)
Wednesday’s protest was meant to bring visibility to the employees’ plight, but it’s not something they were hoping to have to do.
“Why do we have to protest to get our last paycheck?” Melissa Mendoza, a server for eight years, told Eater. “That’s very unprofessional. I don’t think that we should have to do this. And I hope we’re not targeted for this.”
