Bay Area restaurant owners to pay $1 million in lost pay to staff

Prosecutors say owners of mango-themed restaurants in the Bay Area must pay their workers more than $1 million in wage-theft restitution.|
ASSOCIATED PRESS
BY ASSOCIATED PRESS

SAN FRANCISCO - Prosecutors say owners of mango-themed Chinese-Malaysian restaurants in the San Francisco Bay Area must pay their workers more than $1 million in wage-theft restitution.

Alameda County District Attorney Nancy E. O'Malley said Thursday that Hai Jie Chen and Hak Chun Ng were sentenced this week and placed on probation.

They owe back wages to 56 restaurant workers at Mango Garden, Mango Jungle and Mango Blaze.

An investigation found that the victims worked up to 12 hours a day, six days a week, for as little as $2 dollars an hour. The workers were denied overtime pay and some were denied medical treatment.

Chen was convicted of felony violations of wage theft conspiracy, and tax and insurance fraud. Ng was convicted of a misdemeanor violation of failing to pay minimum wage.

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