For Immediate Release?
March 16, 2016?
Contact: Cal Soto, csoto@ndlon.org
Pasadena Resident, Florentino Ceron, Demands End of Wage Theft at Chris’ Korean BBQ in Pasadena
Florentino Ceron was deprived of wages from local restaurant, Gaon, now called Chris’ Korean BBQ located at 2063 East Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena, CA.
What: A public demand for unpaid wages
When: Wednesday, March 16th, 7:00pm
Where: Chris’ Korean BBQ located at 2063 East Colorado Boulevard, Pasadena, CA
Why: To retrieve Florentino Ceron’s unpaid earned wages; to highlight the need for strong enforcement of the newly approved minimum wage ordinance; to end wage theft in Pasadena, CA.
Who: The Pasadena Community Job Center, National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON), Pasadenans for a Livable Wage (PLW), Local supporters
PASADENA, CA— On Wednesday, March 16, worker rights activists, community leaders and residents from Pasadena will accompany Florentino Ceron as he demands that his former employer, the owners of Gaon, pay him for the work he performed. The restaurant is located at 2063 East Colorado Boulevard, and is now called Chris’ Korean BBQ.
Florentino Ceron is a Pasadena resident who was deprived of wages for two weeks of work at the restaurant. Mr. Ceron had worked at Gaon for approximately two years, from October 2013 to October 2015, earning $9 per hour as a cleaner at the restaurant. In late Spring 2015, the restaurant was closed for business while the management performed renovations. Casey Park, the restaurant manager at the time, enlisted Mr. Ceron’s help in the renovations.
Mr. Ceron worked for four nine-hour days during this period. Ms. Park never paid Mr. Ceron for this work—36 hours in total. Mr. Ceron repeatedly, and unsuccessfully, sought to be paid for these two weeks of employment at Gaon during the renovations. For six months the owners of Gaon regularly assured Mr. Ceron that his payment for the renovation work would be included in a future paycheck. This never happened.
What Mr. Ceron has experienced can be described as wage theft. Wage theft is the illegal underpayment of workers, and it affects millions of people across the country. It is particularly prevalent in low wage industries such as retail, restaurants, ity, day-labor, warehouse and construction. In the City of Pasadena, the number of workers who have begun to report and challenge instances of wage theft has been growing as workers become more informed about their rights and find others who have gone through the same labor abuse.
Unfortunately, the concept of wage theft is not new for Mr. Ceron, who said : “This isn’t the first time I’ve had to fight for wages that I’ve earned. But I’ll continue to fight for what’s right – for myself and for my community. We need to change whatever it is that causes employers to feel they can exploit hardworking people in Pasadena.”
Pablo Alvarado, Executive Director of the National Day Labor Organizing Network (NDLON) says: “Florentino’s case highlights the need for the City of Pasadena to protect all workers as it embarks on the path to $15.00 by 2020. A robust program, along with strong enforcement mechanisms to implement the City’s newly approved minimum wage ordinance, is needed.” On March 7, 2016 the City of Pasadena unanimously passed a $15.00 dollar minimum wage ordinance which will be implemented on July 1, 2016.
On Wednesday March 15th 2016, Florentino along with his fellow colleagues, lawyers and supporters, plans to visit Mr. Kim at his restaurant to continue to demand that he pay.
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