Restaurant accused of withholding pay
Former employees of a South Portland restaurant are suing the eatery claiming they were underpaid and forced to work long hours and pay kickbacks to management.
The nine ex-employees, all Chinese immigrants, of the Super Great Wall Buffet near the Maine Mall claim they are owed at least half a million dollars in back wages, the Portland Press Herald reported. Their lawyer said the restaurant's owners could face more than $2.5 million in state penalties for failing to let workers take mandated 30-minute breaks. Young filed the lawsuit Thursday in U.S. District Court in Portland, naming Ren Qi Chen, Siow Wooi Chang and their son, Xue Wen Chen, as defendants, the paper reported.
The workers were told all of their wages would come from tips, and were promised housing in homes owned by Chen and Chang that turned out to be overcrowded and "squalid." The suit also alleges that Chang and her buffet manager collected cash kickbacks from the wait staff ranging from $210 to $250 every two weeks, according to the paper.
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