Back in 2020, former staff of Bobo’s Steakhouse and Bobo’s Burger Bar in San Francisco filed a class-action lawsuit alleging the restaurants’ owner, Andrea Froncillo, had committed wage theft. Now, workers are starting to see checks from the case’s $200,000 settlement, Eater has reported.
One of the main plaintiffs in the case was Khalid Lahlou, brother of famed San Francisco chef Mourad Lahlou (of Mourad), who worked as a server at Bobo’s Steakhouse from 2018 to 2019. He alleged he was “never provided a 10-minute rest break or a 30-minute meal period within the first five hours” of his work and that the scheduling and staffing at Bobo’s made it impossible to do so, according to court documents.
The case was settled on Oct. 25, 2022, without the restaurant admitting fault, and a San Francisco court approved the $200,000 settlement in November. One employee who worked at both restaurants, Wilson Trang, told Eater that he received a check from the settlement in February this year. Former employees should continue to see checks dispersed through November 2023.
“This is not a case of wage theft,” read a statement that Bobo’s lawyer Marie Trimble Holvick provided to SFGATE. “… Bobo’s was not strict in requiring employees to clock in and out for meal periods, which presented a record-keeping challenge. Given this challenge, Bobo’s made the reasonable business decision to settle this case rather than pay the steep price required for a small business to defend itself in court.”
Bobo’s Burger Bar closed in early 2020, but Bobo’s Steakhouse remains open at 1450 Lombard St. in the Marina District.
“The settlement amount and structure (payment in two parts) was designed to provide compensation for the workers but not bankrupt the business which, like many others, had fallen on hard times during the pandemic,” said Brian S. Conlon, one of the plaintiffs’ lawyers, in a statement to SFGATE. “… We hope this case and cases like it serve as a reminder to California [restaurateurs] to treat their workers fairly — staff restaurants to allow workers to reasonably take their breaks and compensate those workers consistent with California law.”