When Khadengra Subedi immigrated to the U.S., he said, the first job he was offered was at a Subway sandwich shop in San Francisco. Subedi, a Nepali father of two, needed to get on his feet, so he took it.
In the nine months he worked there last year, he said, he never received a pay stub. Instead, he was paid $14 an hour in cash, and some months those payments didn’t come on time. Running the restaurant by himself for large chunks of his 10-hour days, he said, he often couldn’t take breaks, even to use the bathroom.
“I am first time in the U.S.,” he told NBC News. “I did not know about the minimum wage, overtime, sick pay. … I came here with my family. I must work any job.”
Now, the California Labor Commissioner’s Office is investigating the franchise where he worked and six other Subways under the same ownership in connection with allegations of several labor law violations against their mostly immigrant employees, many of whom say they were paid well below San Francisco’s $18.67-an-hour minimum wage — or not paid at all.
Fast-food and service jobs are part and parcel of new immigrant life in the U.S., especially for those who don’t speak English fluently.
Previous lawsuits and investigations highlight what advocates say is a pattern of abuse against immigrant workers at Subway franchises nationwide.
Their situations came to light when, last year, one of the workers approached representatives at Trabajadores Unidos Workers United (TUWU), a San Francisco-based worker center, which partnered with the nonprofit organization Legal Aid at Work, a group that provides free legal services to workers. Ten workers have come forward to them so far, they said, and based on their accounts, the group estimates 25 have been affected over the last three years.
The seven Subway restaurants, all in San Francisco, are owned by one couple, Christopher Van Buren and Marta Gebreslasie, who operate two corporations that together own the seven franchises.
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