Paseo lawsuit: Can undocumented workers sue and win?

There was actual shock and awe in Seattle when news broke that the city’s most beloved sandwich shop abruptly closed both of its locations. Paseo had achieved cult-like status with national recognition, because of its Cuban style sandwiches that sent an ever-present long line snaking down the block.

But Tuesday, signs were taped to the doors of Paseo’s Fremont and Ballard locations: “Due to unfortunate circumstances we are closing our doors.” Shortly after the sign hit the web, a lawsuit surfaced online. Four former employees, described as Hispanic and Mexican, filed a complaint against the owner, claiming they worked 80-hour weeks without overtime, worked 12-hour days without breaks and were treated differently than non-Hispanic workers. They were all fired back in March and in the complaint they say it was race related.

Suddenly, many sad sandwich lovers were enraged: How dare the owner of this impossibly successful sandwich shop not fairly pay their employees? Unfortunately, according to Seattle’s HKM Employment Attorney partner, Patrick McGuigan, wage theft happens all the time.

“It is so common, it’s hard to believe. It’s shocking that so many employers try to avoid the legal obligations they have to pay people for the work that they do. It’s very frequent. Unfortunately, in the likes of restaurants, it’s a bit more prevalent where you’ve got minority workers who employers would take advantage of because they’re paying them under the table and they’re afraid to complain.”

The complaint says the plaintiffs are Hispanic and Mexican, but are they undocumented workers? Their lawyer won’t comment on that, but Patrick says legally it doesn’t actually matter.

“You will get, sometimes, a defense council threatening, ‘Well, these guys are illegal and we’re going to make an issue out of that.’ But it doesn’t really wash because my understanding of the Washington Minimum Wage Act and the Washington Law Against Discrimination is it applies to undocumented workers also. It’s a public policy that type of argument too, you can’t have employers knowingly employing undocumented workers and then having them do slave labor. It doesn’t matter whether you’re undocumented or not, they’re entitled to protection of the law.”

Patrick says most undocumented workers don’t file a claim because they’re afraid they’ll be deported, or that their families will suffer. He says employers can control these workers by threatening to call the police and report them if they demand equal pay. In the end, Patrick says most of these cases end up settled out of court.

“Under the Washington Minimum Wage Act, the employer could be liable for double damages. So if an employer owes an employee, or a group of employees, ten, twenty, thirty, $40,000 over a period of time, if that’s found to be willful under the Washington Minimum Wage Act, then that doubles. Plus the attorney’s fees. So there’s a financial incentive for employers to try and resolve before a lawsuit’s filed because it could be very, very, very expensive for them.”

He says reporting stories like this one are good, because it can motivate other employees to speak out and demand fair pay from their employers.

As far as Paseo abruptly closing, before this case was settled or heard in court, keep in mind that Paseo only took cash, no credit cards. Patrick says there might be something else going on.

“You’re sort of jumping to some conclusions there. You see a sandwich shop, it’s very busy downtown, it seems to be a good crowd outside and the stores just close. I wouldn’t say that a lawsuit has immediately resulted in this sandwich shop shutting down. It could be a variety of other reasons and the lawsuit could contribute to that. Some businesses are badly run and some owners spend all the money and don’t pay their taxes. There are a multitude of various reasons why that business might have shut down.”