Irish Pub Will Pay Restitution To Employees After Wage Theft Investigation

Lexington, MA (WorkersCompensation.com) - Operators of a Massachusetts restaurant chain have been ordered to pay $125,000 to resolve allegations that the company engaged in an array of Massachusetts Wage and Hour Law violations, as well as retaliating against workers who had tried to defend their rights under state law.

Waxy's Modern Irish Pub, which does business as Waxy's, and its owners and managers Ashok Patel and Paul McKenna, and Jamsan Hotel Management Inc. were all issued 12 citations by the attorney general’s office. Jamsan Hotel is a hotel management company that acts as a joint employer. Waxy's Irish Pub has locations in Brookline, Foxborough, Kingston, Woburn, and currently in Lexington. The chain's operators were cited by the AG's office for failure to pay minimum wage, providing workers suitable paystubs, not offering earned sick time to their workers, failure to provide specific payroll records to the attorney general's investigation, and for striking back against their employees.

After receiving complaints from the Pub's employees alleging that their paychecks would frequently bounce, the AG's office began investigating the restaurant chain. After interviews with the workers and the review of their records, investigators discovered that Jamson Hotel Management, Patel, and McKenna were repeatedly bouncing checks given to their employees and had paid them beyond the statutorily required six-day period for timely payment of wages that date back as far as 2015.

The investigation also uncovered that the employees had been denied sick time. The company failed to pay the difference when their employees' tips and service rate pay did not bring them the required minimum wage. It was also revealed that certain employees, after they complained about the late payment of wages, were permanently removed from the work schedules and found themselves without a job.

Assistant Attorney General Drew Cahill and Senior Investigator Phan of the AG’s Fair Labor Division handled the case. When WorkersCompensation.com reached out to the Office of the Attorney General,  a spokesperson stated, “Every employer in Massachusetts is responsible for paying their workers the wages they have earned on time and in full. We are pleased this agreement will put money back in the pockets of workers.” 

Also, we were told that Jasman Hotel Management and Ashok Patel have already paid their citations, and Paul McKenna is in the process of doing so.  If a business fails to pay citations, a lien can and may be placed against the employer or business.

Share This Article: