My employeers aren't paying us cooks!

It started two and a half weeks ago when some of the paychecks started bouncing. Now they are currently a week late on the payroll. They haven't given anyone a date when they will issue the checks. When asked, the managers either "don't know whats going on" or brush us off. Otherwise they don't say anything about the situation.

In addition, they have been shorting me a dollar an hour, for last three pay periods and only made good on one of them. They owe about $130 in arrairs.

So basically, they're sitting on one month of payroll.

I fear they are about to go under, and I have no idea what options I have to collect that pay. I might go to work someday soon, only to find the place boarded up.

Anybody got any ideas?

Thanks for the advice, everyone! I'm currently hitting Craigslist and will be pounding the pavement soon. I'm also having trouble finding the information I need on the CA Labor and EDD websites. I'll have to wait until monday when I can talk to a real person.

UPDATE!

The Chef and the GM had a meeting with us saturday afternoon and told us the story. Apperantly, one of the partners had left the country to Columbia without putting any money into the restaurant's account. Supposedly, one of the other partners is going to transfer money into the account on Monday, and they will issue checks 2-3 days after that. They also claimed they were going to pay us out of the till today (mothers' day), which never happened.

I am not very opptamistic about the situation. I'm planning on staying on for at least this week, because I figure if I leave I will never get paid. The job hunt begins again! I'm mostly dissapointed that I will have another brief job on my resume.

Mother's Day was pretty crazy. The bosses had neglected to schedule a dish washer. They'll put a dishwasher on Monday nights with zero on the books, but not put one on when they know they have 75 reservations on the books.
I got to do gardmanger and dishdogging at the same time (chef helped with the dishes for ~15 min). I almost walked out when I found out that the GM's idea of expediting was to tell me when my plates where late. (The gardmanger is in the back kitchen so I can't see the dining room and know the pace of service.)

After we shut down for service, one of the hot line guys (everyone else had left) and I were stuck with moutains of pots, hotel pans, and cambros. We ended up leaving most of it because we were heading 1 hour into OT (like they're going to pay for RT). We also didn't want to set a precendent. I felt pretty bad for leaving that mess, but I'm sick of being taken advantage of.

BWAHAHAHAHA!

UPDATE!

I quit today! I also found out they hadn't paid the medical bill's for my on-the-job injury. "Trust us to handle the bills" :rolleyes:

So, I spent much of the day filing with the Labor board, unemloyment, and writing them a letter, detailing how much they owed in back pay, arrears, and unpaid bills, and terminating my employment. They were upset.

Additionally, I had taken the recipe bible I had written and printed on my on dime and on my own time, home with me. The chef was PO'd. Dispite the fact I had given him copies of Mastercook and the recipe files to him and the then souschef. He insist's that it was wrong for me to have taken HIS recipes, and now they have nothing to work with.

Maybe, I'm missing the point here. I spent a lot of time and effort compiling those recipes. Not only did they need to be standardized, but I also had to track down any changes people had made to the food, and had not recorded. I also spent a lot of time exporting them into MasterCook. I had really wanted the original 'used' copy for my portfolio.

On the other hand, I already had all the recipes on my computer anyway. I could have just taken the book out of vindictivness. Also, the chef claims not to have access to the CD I gave him.

The chef wants the book back first thing tomorrow. My dad thinks that I should use this for leverage, (I'll give you the book, if you give me my pay).

I think the heart of this issue, is that chef is deeply pissed that I have
"absconded" with his intellectual property. (He related that when he left his last restaurant, he didn't take the recipe book, even though they where HIS recipes)

So, am I right or wrong in keeping the book? What's the right thing to do in this situation? On the philosphical bent, is it right to use other peoples recipes (even if they just adapted them from another book)?

Speaking of theft:

Chef called about couple hours ago to find out when I could bring the notebook, mentioned that somebody stole his vita-prep blender last night. I hope he doesn't try to pin that on me.

Poor chef though, I think he is getting cheated out of his investment. I think the other owners are running a pyramid scheme on him, so I think that he is going to be out his investment, plus what he spent out of pocket for groceries etc.

Sigh another update.

The bosses said they had my termination checks ready. When I got there to collect, the chef hassled me for my copy of the recipes. I told him he could have my copy as soon as the check cleared. Turns out they had the check, but they admitted they had no funds in the account to cover it.

What a waste of time. I also found out they have no workers comp carrier!

The upshot is, I still have not gotten paid, and I still have my copy of the recipes.

I wonder if they have paid all the withholding taxes on what they did pay me.

UPDATE!

Went by the restaurant yesterday to drop off a letter a lawer friend of mine helped to prepare. The place was closed up. They had posted signs in all the windows saying that they would be closed for two weeks for "kitchen remodeling." Sounds like they're done for good and just a week after I left.

Also, I was going through all the paperwork I have for this mess, and I noticed that the D.B.A. name on their business liscence doesn't match the name of the restaurant. Is that a bad sign, for future reference?

UPDATE!

Called back one of the partners today. They are offering to pay us 50 cents on the dollar of our back wages because they are such nice guys and they want to make their employees happy.

I am shaking with teh rage!

The guy claimed to have payed the hospital and claimed that he will pay it. So get stiffed. Claims he can provide proof that he paid, but the hospital still has the entire balance outstanding when I called them this afternoon. I'm going to see if I can't settle for 50 cents on the dollar cash for the bill.


Thank God I wasn't carrying liability the chef was/is.