“State investigators at the Department of Industrial Relations work to protect employees by investigating employers who engage in illegal acts such as wage theft. Wage theft causes financial harm to struggling families, to business competitors and to California’s economy.”
CSLEA President Alan Barcelona
Los Angeles—On November 2, 2023 the California Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) announced that the Labor Commissioner’s Office (LCO) Criminal Investigation Unit partnered with the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office in a prosecution of two Catalina Island business owners for grand theft of labor under Penal Code 487(a), a felony.
Jack Tucey and Yueh Mei “Nora” Tucey, owners of restaurant and hotel businesses on Catalina Island off the coast of Los Angeles, were arraigned on felony charges of grand labor and wage theft, conspiracy to commit grand labor theft, and unemployment insurance fraud.
According to a DIR press release, the total wages due to at least 18 affected workers is $1,032,684. This covers lost wages from July 2008 to October 15, 2022. There may be additional workers affected by the wage theft.
“These employers used sophisticated methods in a fraudulent scheme to pay their workers less than minimum wage, deprive them of essential labor protections and take unfair advantage over businesses that play by the rules,” said Labor Commissioner Lilia García-Brower. “My office will continue to work with the District Attorney to prosecute wage theft perpetrators and protect law-abiding employers.”
The LCO’s Bureau of Field Enforcement (BOFE) initiated the investigation and referred the case to LCO’s Criminal Investigation Unit (CIU) in January 2022. The investigation found the employer allegedly engaged in various fraudulent payroll schemes over the course of many years to avoid paying their workers the proper minimum wage and overtime requirements.
According to the investigation, workers—who were paid less than minimum wage—were required to clock out to avoid recording overtime. The employer did not accurately record the total number of hours employees worked and did not pay employees for all hours worked. Workers had to record their overtime hours separately on paper so that it was not included in the company’s payroll system. When workers were paid overtime, it was at a reduced rate using aliases rather than their name to hide the overtime hours worked. Employees were required to do preparation work and paperwork off the clock for no pay.
Many of the workers were also tenants of the Tuceys on Catalina Island. Most of the restaurant workers would work at multiple locations, finishing a shift at one restaurant and then going to a different eatery owned by the Tuceys to work the evening shift.
The Tuceys operated multiple businesses on Catalina Island under the following entities: El Galleon Restaurant, Inc., Mi Casita Authentic Mexican Restaurant, Inc., Antonio’s Pizzeria & Cabaret, Inc., Original Antonio’s Pizzeria, Inc., Food Brokers International, Inc., Catalina Hotel, Catalina Courtyard Hotel and Original Jack’s Restaurant and Bakery, Inc.
