Friday, October 18th, 2024
We, the workers of Glu Hospitality—including those at Almost Home, Bagels & Co, Chika Ramen, Figo Italian, Izakaya Fishtown, 1225Raw, Peabody, Vesper, Brewerytown Foodhall, and Añejo Philly—stand united in demanding fair treatment, safe working conditions, and the immediate correction of wage theft. After enduring ongoing issues, we present the following demands to ensure a just workplace and compliance with legal standards.
1. Immediate Payment of Owed Wages
• Glu Hospitality must immediately pay all back wages owed to workers, including tips and proper overtime compensation.
• This payment should be made in full within 14 days of receiving this notice to avoid further escalation.
• Full payment of all hours worked that have been excluded from paychecks due to the manual alteration of clock-out times in 7shifts must be provided. Any manipulation of work hours to underreport time must stop immediately.
2. Transparency in Payroll and Tip Distribution
• Provide clear and detailed breakdowns of all hours worked, wages, and tips for each employee.
• Ensure accurate and honest reporting through 7shifts, and stop any manipulation of time records or tips.
• End the practice of clocking out workers while they are still working and ensure that all hours worked are paid in full.
• Implement regular audits by a third-party payroll service to ensure continued transparency and fairness.
3. Safe and Fair Working Conditions
• Address chronic understaffing, which has placed undue strain on workers and forced them to take on unreasonable workloads without proper compensation.
• Ensure that all workers are provided with adequate breaks and reasonable shift hours to avoid burnout and overwork.
• Conduct regular workplace safety assessments, ensuring compliance with local and state labor laws.
4. Timely Payment and Regular Payroll Schedule
• Establish and enforce a consistent and timely payroll schedule that pays workers according to state-mandated timeframes.
• Address the frequent occurrences of bounced checks and consistently late pay, which have caused financial hardship for many employees. These issues must be resolved immediately, with assurances of reliable and timely payments going forward.
• Guarantee that all wages earned in a pay period are paid out in full by the agreed-upon payday, with no more delays or discrepancies.
5. End to Unlawful Labor Practices
• Cease all practices of wage theft, including unpaid overtime, failure to pay workers the minimum wage, and mishandling of tips.
• Provide training for management on fair labor practices and compliance with labor laws.
6. Implementation of Workers’ Grievance Procedure
• Establish a formal grievance process to allow workers to report violations of labor laws, harassment, or unsafe conditions without fear of retaliation.
• Ensure that all complaints are addressed promptly and fairly, with a timeline for resolution provided to the affected workers.
7. Respect for Workers’ Rights to Organize
• Recognize and respect workers’ rights to organize and advocate for better conditions without retaliation or intimidation.
• Facilitate open communication between management and workers to resolve issues in good faith.
8. Investigation into Management Practices
• Initiate an independent investigation into the management’s handling of wages, tips, and general workplace practices.
9. Assurance of Tip Escrow
• Establish a system to ensure that all tips earned by workers are held in escrow until proper distribution can be confirmed. This will protect employees’ earnings and guarantee that tips are disbursed fairly and transparently.
• Any managers found guilty of misconduct, including wage theft, harassment, alteration of time records in 7shifts, or clocking out workers while they are still on duty, should be held accountable and removed from their positions.
10. Missing W-2 Forms from 2023
• It has come to our attention that many staff members at 1225Raw, Leda and the Swan, and Vesper have not received their W-2 forms from 2023. The failure to provide these tax documents not only violates employee rights but also creates complications for filing taxes and receiving accurate compensation records.
• We demand that the appropriate W-2 forms be issued promptly to all affected employees and that systems are put in place to prevent this from happening in the future.
By making these demands, we seek to protect the rights of both current and past workers and hold Glu Hospitality accountable for its treatment of employees. Many former staff members are still owed compensation, and we will continue to pursue all available legal and organizing avenues to achieve justice for everyone affected. While we hope for a prompt resolution, we are prepared to escalate our efforts—including filing formal complaints, pursuing legal action, and launching public campaigns—if these demands are not met.
Signed,
The Workers of Glu Hospitality
