David Herrera, the owner of La Hacienda restaurant on South Park Street, filed a lawsuit Friday against five former employees who claimed they were shorted overtime wages from several years of work.
A copy of the lawsuit names Jose Velasco and Francisco Garcia of Madison, and Gustavo Ferrer, Jose Luis Pioquinto and Luis Merino of Fitchburg as defendants. The five former employees claim to be owed between $3,000 and $10,000 each for unpaid overtime from their work at La Hacienda in recent years.
Herrera's lawsuit alleges the employees have failed or refused "to file a wage claim with the proper governmental entity and instead, have engaged (in conjunction with certain local groups) in disrupting plaintiffs' place of business." It also states that their claims of being shorted wages are untrue, and that a few of the former employees even signed releases with the U.S. Department of Labor stating that they have been paid in full. It asks the court to issue an order saying the employees have been paid what they are owed and awarding Herrera reimbursement for his costs and legal fees.
Protests have been held throughout the summer at the restaurant by local workers' rights groups, including the Workers' Rights Center, Interfaith Coalition for Worker Justice and Immigrant Workers Union. The lawsuit describes the protests as "mass picketing," and claims the picketers have blocked the driveway entrance to the restaurant's parking lot.
Patrick Hickey, director of the Workers' Rights Center and the Interfaith Coalition and a defendant in the injunction request, told The Capital Times last week that protesters are aware they are hurting Herrera's business, but that all protests have been done legally and no entrances to the restaurant were blocked.