{"id":64647,"date":"2025-03-19T08:19:04","date_gmt":"2025-03-19T15:19:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/?p=64647"},"modified":"2025-04-21T10:42:05","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T17:42:05","slug":"sf-subway-wage-theft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/en\/sf-subway-wage-theft\/","title":{"rendered":"They stole her tips. Now, this Subway worker is helping other S.F. immigrants recoup $1.7M in wage theft"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

All Ilsi wanted was her hard-earned tips.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At a Subway in San Francisco\u2019s Tenderloin, the 44-year-old worked 11-hour shifts, five days a week making sandwiches, ringing up orders and cleaning the floors. As the store\u2019s only employee, she handled the workload of two or three people, all for $18.07 an hour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One day, a customer offered a $50 tip, but only if she was guaranteed to receive it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ilsi said yes. But when she checked her paycheck, the money wasn\u2019t there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lea esta historia en espa\u00f1ol.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI had calculated that I had made around $400 in tips, but when my paycheck came, it only showed $180,\u201d she said. \u201cI thought maybe I had miscalculated. But then the next paycheck came, and it was the same.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ilsi, who asked to be identified by her nickname for privacy, is a Guatemalan immigrant who arrived in San Francisco in 2018. With limited English and few job options, work at a Subway seemed like a blessing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was happy that I had a lot of hours,\u201d Ilsi said. \u201cBut then I found out I had a right to receive overtime [pay].\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her fight for fair wages \u2014 and her courage under retaliation \u2014 helped spark an investigation into wage theft across seven Subway franchises in San Francisco, ultimately leading to a $1.7 million citation against her former bosses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christopher Van Buren and Marta Gebreslasie were cited by the California Labor Commissioner\u2019s office late last year. The business partners, who are simultaneously facing a court order to comply with labor laws, did not appeal the citation by Friday, locking in the amount.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ilsi is one of 81 current and former workers whom state investigators found were underpaid, denied overtime and paid sick leave and prevented from taking required meal and rest breaks between March 2021 and September 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI never wanted to cause them problems,\u201d Ilsi said. \u201cBut I want all workers to be well paid for their work, for their effort.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Ilsi wears her work uniform in front of her former Subway workplace in the Tenderloin neighborhood in San Francisco, Calif. on March 12, 2025. Photo: Erika Carlos<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

An immigrant worker speaks up<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Wage theft is rampant in California, where rising inequality and soaring costs of living have made precarious jobs common.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every year, thousands of workers file claims, amounting to hundreds of millions in stolen wages. A recent Rutgers study found some 1.5 million<\/a> low-wage workers in California were victims of minimum wage violations in 2023 \u2014 more than double the number a decade earlier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most vulnerable workers \u2014 immigrants, non-English speakers and those with limited legal protections \u2014 are often the hardest hit. In this San Francisco case, it\u2019s evident that Van Buren and Gebreslasie specifically targeted newly arrived, monolingual immigrants. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey wanted people who didn’t say anything, who didn’t talk about anything, who didn’t complain about anything,\u201d Ilsi said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Ilsi, the turning point came after a chance meeting with an organizer from Trabajadores Unidos Workers United<\/a> (TUWU), a San Francisco-based immigrant worker center. When Ilsi asked about the missing tips, TUWU explained her rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Together, Ilsi and TUWU visited another Subway location under the same ownership to talk to other workers about their paychecks. The pattern of underpayment was clear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI wasn’t even looking into the overtime, or the breaks, or the lunch, or the other things they were doing wrong. I just wanted to know about the tips,\u201d Ilsi said. \u201cThe very next day after I visited that store, my boss came and fired me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TUWU and its partner Legal Aid at Work<\/a> shared their findings with the Bureau of Field Enforcement, prompting investigators to inspect all seven Subway locations, interview staff, depose the owners and subpoena payroll records.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Miriam Medell\u00edn Myers, an organizer with TUWU, intervened and arranged a mediation with San Francisco\u2019s Office of Labor Standards Enforcement, forcing Ilsi\u2019s employer to reinstate her. But it wouldn\u2019t be her last time at City Hall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last summer, the Labor Commissioner\u2019s office issued a notice ordering Van Buren and Gebreslasie to halt labor violations. To draw attention<\/a> to the case, TUWU led workers in a rally on the steps of City Hall, and soon after, the Board of Supervisors passed a nonbinding resolution<\/a> urging the owners to pay their workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, Subway\u2019s real estate arm evicted the couple\u2019s companies, Marvan Enterprises and Van Buren Enterprises, from two locations, with the third in process, court records show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In January, the Labor Commissioner\u2019s office sought a court order to force the owners to comply with wage laws. Workers\u2019 declarations reveal how the owners and a manager manipulated payroll records to suppress wages, an apparent violation of Subway\u2019s franchise contract.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe owner-operators and store manager attempted to cover up the failure to pay overtime by manipulating the ADP point of service system by manually decreasing the hours worked, which was captured in the system,\u201d the Labor Commissioner\u2019s office told the court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In February, Van Buren, who did not respond to a request for comment, denied all allegations in a court filing. The case remains ongoing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Subway\u2019s corporate office, for its part, is examining the San Francisco franchises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe take these matters very seriously and are looking into the alleged claims,\u201d a spokesperson for Subway said. \u201cOur restaurants are independently owned and operated, and franchisees are required to follow federal, state and local laws.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wage theft persists in fast-food industry<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Despite the citation and lawsuits, workers are still accusing Van Buren and Gebreslasie of underpayment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe’ve continued to hear from workers that are still getting paid sub-minimum wages,\u201d said Kim Ouillette, director of Legal Aid at Work\u2019s wage protection program. \u201cIt’s just been really disappointing to see that the employer is still persisting with many of their unlawful practices.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ouillette said her staff has observed a pattern of abuse at other Subway franchises. In 2023, a court ordered a North Bay Subway operator to pay $1 million<\/a> in stolen wages. In Southern California, a Subway worker is currently suing for $54,000<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey try to cut costs and make profit is through labor violations,\u201d Ouillette said. \u201cWe hope that this citation is enough to show this Subway [franchise] and all other fast food franchises in the Bay Area that if you do not pay minimum wage to all of your workers, there will be consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Medell\u00edn Myers and company at TUWU, the Subway case has been a logistically challenging: Workers speak four different languages, requiring multiple Spanish, Nepali and Burmese interpreters at every monthly gathering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis case has been really amazing to see how people can organize despite linguistic barriers, and still support each other, even though they’re not from the same country,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The long road to back pay<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Holding wage thieves accountable isn\u2019t easy. Workers often wait years to recover stolen wages. Medell\u00edn Myers advises them it can take up to a decade to be fully repaid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under state law, the Labor Commissioner\u2019s process is supposed to take 135 days to have a hearing. Yet between 2017 and 2021, the average wait time was 505 days<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To speed up the process, Legal Aid at Work and California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation have teamed up with State Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) on new legislation. Senate Bill 310, introduced in February would allow workers to sue their employers for penalties without waiting on state agencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Ilsi, it\u2019s not just about money \u2014 it\u2019s about justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She now works at another Subway, where she gets meal and rest breaks covered by co-workers. Her paycheck adds up with tips and overtime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m there because I\u2019ve always liked customer service,\u201d Ilsi said. \u201c[My boss] is very exact in her payments.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But she knows the fight isn\u2019t over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI want them to pay,\u201d Ilsi said. \u201cNot just in money, but by stopping the exploitation of more workers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Erika Carlos contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Corrections: <\/strong>Christopher Van Buren and Marta Gebreslasie are business partners, not a married couple.<\/em> Ilsi was earning $18.07 per hour, not $18.67, when she discovered her former Subway employers were stealing her tips.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How a Subway worker\u2019s missing tips helped reveal a $1.7 million wage theft scandal in San Francisco.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88922,"featured_media":64650,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"large","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"coauthors":[25415],"class_list":["post-64647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","entry"],"yoast_head":"\nImmigrant worker exposes $1.7M in stolen wages at SF Subways<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"How a Subway worker\u2019s missing tips helped reveal a $1.7 million wage theft scandal in San Francisco.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/en\/sf-subway-wage-theft\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Immigrant worker exposes $1.7M in stolen wages at SF Subways\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"How a Subway worker\u2019s missing tips helped reveal a $1.7 million wage theft scandal in San Francisco.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/en\/sf-subway-wage-theft\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"El Tecolote\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ElTecoloteSF\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-03-19T15:19:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-04-21T17:42:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/03112025-SUBWAY-WAGE-THEFT-15-1-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1709\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Alexander Mullaney\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@eltecolotesf\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@eltecolotesf\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Alexander Mullaney\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eltecolote.org\\\/content\\\/en\\\/sf-subway-wage-theft\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eltecolote.org\\\/content\\\/en\\\/sf-subway-wage-theft\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Erika Carlos\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eltecolote.org\\\/content\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/98e31c3dda2abc936b778a5b89858b5b\"},\"headline\":\"They stole her tips. 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