Five Horses — Davis Square Settles With Employees for Wage Theft

The Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office has settled with a Somerville restaurant after two dozen workers complained of wage theft. Five Horses Tavern, with locations in Somerville and Boston, has agreed to pay more than $15,000 to settle violations of state labor law.

“I worked there for two years,” said Jabari Morgan. “They never paid overtime, and if we made a mistake, they would charge us for the cost of the mistake. One time I was forced to pay $150 to the restaurant because a table walked out on their check. This settlement feels like justice.”

Along with complaints of “paying for mistakes”, Five Horses workers complained to the Attorney General of unpaid training shifts, unpaid overtime, no meal breaks, and minimum wage violations.

“We’re happy with the result,” said Allison Belanger, an attorney in Boston who worked at Five Horses while in law school. “Working in this restaurant opened my eyes to just how rampant the practice of wage theft is. There is a shocking imbalance in power between workers and management, and it’s difficult for restaurant workers to understand, let alone fight for, their rights.”

“We did this to educate people. Wage theft is a massive problem in Boston restaurants,” said Allison Frost. “We want servers at other restaurants to know that they can fight back, and we will help them.”

“We need to fix this at the state level,” said Marcus Cella. “Fewer than one-in-five wage theft complaints from restaurant workers are investigated in Massachusetts, and most workers never file a complaint when they experience wage theft. Everyone should get paid for the work they do, and the state doesn’t equip the Attorney General’s Office with enough resources to actually enforce the laws. We could not have won our back-pay without Maura Healey’s office taking a stand, and the tireless work of Investigator Christina Lopez and Assistant Attorney General Lisa Price.”

Brian Kazalski, a former server from the Boston location, said he is creating a short documentary of how the workers organized. “The way everyone came together was really inspiring. People need to know this is a problem everywhere in Boston. They aren’t taking nickels and dimes. It’s much worse,” he said.

“We estimate the restaurant was taking more than $10,000 each year, just in requiring that employees pay for ‘mistakes.’ That doesn’t include the unpaid overtime, lack of breaks, unpaid training and cleaning shifts, managers taking tips, and everything else,” said Maya Tatro, a complainant.

Labor-rights organizer Rand Wilson from Good Jobs Somerville added, “Wage theft has been a major problem in Boston restaurants for a long time. What happened at Five Horses is happening every day in America and all too often in Somerville.”

“Our next step is to seek assistance from the city of Somerville and settle our individual claims,” said Jabari Morgan.