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Beverly Hills luxury restaurant Urasawa cited for worker exploitation and wage theft

KIWA and organizations citywide demand celebrity sushi chef Urasawa pay stolen wages

Los Angeles, CA, March 14, 2013 – Beverly Hills restaurant Urasawa, owned by famed sushi chef Hiroyuki Urasawa, has been cited by the California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement for labor law violations involving wage theft: the illegal underpayment or withholding of wages that employees have earned. Specifically, the citations are for failure to pay overtime wages, failure to provide employees with meal and rest breaks and failure to provide wage statements required by law.

Urasawa is known for running the most expensive eatery in Los Angeles (second-most expensive in the United States), where he charges hundreds of dollars per plate. But the restaurant routinely breaks multiple labor laws and denies employees their basic rights. Urasawa’s luxurious Two Rodeo Drive address and celebrity clientele stand in stark contrast to its exploitation of low-income workers.

Last June, the chef abruptly fired employee Heriberto Zamora when Zamora asked to go home after working for several days, and nine hours into his shift, preparing food with a severe flu and high fever. “I was expected to handle the raw fish while I was sick and coughing,” said Zamora, who began working for Urasawa as a 17-year-old. In addition to subjecting his customers, who usually pay a minimum of $400 each for an exclusive dinner, to alarming health hazards, Urasawa stole his worker’s wages. For more than five years, Zamora worked reliably, usually for more than 11 hours a day. But when he was fired and his final paycheck withheld, the Koreatown resident turned to KIWA (Koreatown Immigrant Workers Alliance) for help. After Zamora filed his wage claim with the State of California’s Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, the agency also opened a field investigation into the restaurant. Even though Urasawa was cited by the agency, Zamora is still waiting for payment of the wages he is owed.

KIWA’s executive director, Alexandra Suh, explains, “Chef Urasawa’s actions are not an isolated incident; wage theft is common all over the L.A. region and throughout the nation.” In a comprehensive study, UCLA’s Institute for Research on Labor and Employment found that Los Angeles is the wage-theft capital of the country with violations averaging $26 million per week or $1.4 billion per year – more than in New York City or Chicago. Currently state, federal and local governments investigate and adjudicate claims but resources for enforcement remain inadequate.

“Workers in low-wage industries are most exposed to wage theft and exploitation,” said Victor Narro, Project Director at the UCLA Downtown Labor Center. “Governor Brown signed the Wage Theft Prevention Act of 2010 into law, but agencies like the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement lack resources and tools for enforcement. This is where organizations such as KIWA come in; they help bring justice about for low-wage workers.”

To call attention to Urasawa’s illegal labor practices and the issue of wage theft in all of greater Los Angeles, KIWA is holding a press conference with workers and supporters on:

• Thursday, March 14, 2013 at 11:00 a.m.
• Location: At the northeast corner of Wilshire Blvd. and N. Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills, CA 90210
• Speakers (list in formation): Alexandra Suh (KIWA), Heriberto Zamora (former Urasawa worker), Kevin Kish (Bet Tzedek), Victor Narro (UCLA Downtown Labor Center)

The group is demanding that Urasawa pay all wages and penalties owed to Zamora and commit to complying with labor laws. As part of a broader campaign to fight wage theft in L.A. and California, KIWA is also asking the City of Los Angeles to pass the Wage Theft Ordinance and is working for the adoption of a statewide wage lien as a tool to ensure compliance with existing labor laws. To this end, the organization encourages the general public and in particular Urasawa customers to sign the online petition at kiwa.org.

Interviews available with:

• Heriberto Zamora, former Urasawa worker: On the day of the press conference: Thursday, March 14, 2013
• KIWA’s Executive Director Alexandra Suh at anytime
• Kevin Kish, Employment Rights Project Director, Bet Tzedek
• Victor Narro, Project Director, UCLA Downtown Labor Center

Video and photo opportunity available at press conference:

• Latino and Korean immigrant workers (including Zamora and all other speakers), KIWA members and representatives of partner organizations at Two Rodeo Drive. Participants will have Korean drums, giant puppets (more than three yards tall) and other colorful props for “guerilla street theater.”
• Individual photos of Ms. Suh and Mr. Zamora.

About KIWA:

Founded in 1992, KIWA builds the power of low-wage immigrant workers for dignity and respect in the workplace and community. KIWA serves more than 5,000 workers, tenants and families each year throughout Los Angeles. KIWA’s work includes organizing campaigns, policy advocacy, workers’ and tenants’ rights services, community-led green space projects, affordable housing development, education programs, civic engagement and leadership development. KIWA’s members are mostly Spanish- and Korean-speaking low-income immigrants who live or work in Koreatown and beyond.

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1. What is wage theft?

Wage theft refers to any time an employee earns less money than his or her employer is legally required to pay. Most commonly this includes making less than the minimum wage, less than time-and-a-half for overtime, working without the required meal and rest breaks or off the clock, and being denied pay altogether.

2. Why is wage theft a pressing issue for Los Angeles?

UCLA’s Institute for Research on Labor and Employment’s report Wage Theft and Workplace Violations in Los Angeles (2010) found Los Angeles to be the wage theft capital of the country. Violations amount to $26 million per week or $1.4 billion per year—more than twice that of New York City or Chicago. Thirty per cent of sampled workers reported serious minimum wage violations, almost 80% were denied legally required overtime pay, and more than 80% of respondents entitled to rest and meal breaks experienced violations of this law.

3. Who is most affected by wage theft?

• Approximately 17% of all workers in L.A. County work in low-wage industries and frequently experience violations of minimum wage, overtime and break-time laws;
• Wage theft affects two thirds of the 750,000 low-wage workers in L.A. County;
• The average worker loses more than $2,600 to wage theft – 15% of their annual income;
• Workers in low-wage industries are most exposed to wage theft, including those employed by garment, cafeteria, fast-food, retail and residential construction businesses as well as those working as janitors and in restaurants or households.

4. What is being done?

Around the country, people are striving to improve working conditions:

• State, federal and local governments investigate and adjudicate claims and educate the public, but resources for enforcement remain inadequate;
• Unions fight for wages and working conditions in unionized workplaces;
• Research institutions document and analyze the problem;
• Advocates seek to increase worker protections at the policy level;
• Legal services centers provide assistance to workers experiencing wage theft;
• Worker centers organize to build power for change at the grassroots level.

5. What are key policy solutions?

• The Los Angeles Coalition Against Wage Theft, of which KIWA is a member, advocates for adoption of the Los Angeles Wage Theft Ordinance. A motion to order the City Attorney to draft this ordinance was passed in 2009. The issue has been languishing for three years in his office and the Coalition is demanding progress.

• One of the biggest challenges to overcoming wage theft is the difficulty in collecting judgments that workers have justly won through the courts or the Labor Commission (Division of Labor Standards and Enforcement). A state wage lien is a potentially powerful legal tool that enables workers to place a lien on the property of an employer who has stolen wages. Currently on the books only for the building trades in the form of a mechanics lien, KIWA and many other organizations support its expansion to other industries.

Founded in 1992, KIWA builds the strength of low-wage immigrant workers and tenants with the aim of bringing about more just and livable workplaces and neighborhoods. KIWA’s pioneering worker center model combines grassroots organizing, education, services, cultural expression, and policy advocacy. KIWA has a base of more than 3,000 residents and workers and reaches over 5,000 annually. KIWA has won tens of millions of dollars for low-wage workers in Los Angeles and assists workers to file over $3.5 million in claims for illegally withheld wages each year.

History and Accomplishments: KIWA was created just before the Los Angeles civil unrest broke out in 1992. In a city torn with racism, poverty and inequality, KIWA dedicated itself to address the exploitation of Korean and Latino workers in Koreatown and to struggling for a more equitable Los Angeles.

KIWA’s first campaign won the inclusion of displaced workers in a relief fund set up by business owners after the unrest. In 1997 KIWA helped win over two million dollars for workers from retailers and manufacturers connected with the infamous El Monte “slave shop” operators.

KIWA’s strategic campaigns changed the landscape of restaurant and market work in Koreatown. Its restaurant workers campaign dramatically improved adherence to labor law, raising the number of Koreatown food establishments observing basic minimum-wage laws from two to over 50%. KIWA’s supermarket living wage campaign pioneered living-wage agreements in the industry, improving wages and conditions for Koreatown’s 1,500 market workers.

KIWA also addresses people’s lives outside the workplace, organizing tenants to advocate against habitability violations and co-developing 52 units of affordable housing, offering English, computer, and Korean drumming classes, and advocating for a greater community voice in development decisions that affect us all.

KIWA’s policy work includes original research culminating in publication, including an April 2012 report co-authored with USC’s Program in Environmental and Regional and Equity (PERE) as well as policy and advocacy campaigns for immigrants,’ workers,’ and tenants’ rights.

Programs, Projects and Services: Worker Empowerment Clinic; Leadership Academy; English and computer classes; Korean drumming classes; Ktown Tenants’ Defense Network clinic; KIWA Art of the Heart: A Community Leadership and Economic Development Initiative; Summer Activist Training; Annual May Day march; Ktown Farms and Gardens: A Green Corridor for Social Interaction and Organic Food Production; KIWA Voter Council; Handol Family and Community Housing (with Little Tokyo Service Center)

Current Campaigns and Coalitions: L.A. Coalition Against Wage Theft; Right to the City Alliance; California State Wage Lien Campaign; Employer Education Campaign; Raw Deal Campaign; ACT-LA; California Immigrant Policy Center; Asian Pacific American Legal Center.

http://kiwa.org/?attachment_id=1294

January 29, 2013, Los Angeles – In anticipation of President Obama’s statement on immigration reform expected in Las Vegas today and in response to the Senate’s “Gang of Eight’s” immigration overhaul proposal put forth yesterday, KIWA’s executive director Alexandra Suh released the following statement:

“The Senate’s bipartisan “Gang of Eight” framework for immigration reform includes some key improvements, but lacks some of the essential elements that real, comprehensive, and humane immigration reform must include. Today, President Obama will reveal his own much-anticipated plans for fixing our immigration system. KIWA believes that an immigration reform true to our members, our community, and the values of our country must address several key issues.

Keep families together. We demand an immediate suspension of deportations. Deportations increased during President Obama’s first term. Most deportations have been for non-violent offenses. One KIWA member’s husband was deported, leaving her alone with a pre-school-age child. Her job as a domestic worker making less than the minimum wage means that there is no way she can afford childcare. It is within the President’s powers and we must all demand that he stop the deportations.

Protection from workplace violence, discrimination, and exploitation. KIWA believes that justice for the millions of easily exploited low-wage workers is essential to a successful immigration overhaul. We call on the President and Congress to strengthen workplace protections for ALL workers. Employee verification requirements have not ended the unauthorized employment of immigrants because businesses recognize that these workers’ skills and contributions are essential to our economy’s recovery. However, programs such as e-verify have been used as threats and excuses to fire workers who attempt to achieve fundamental labor rights in their workplaces. We need an immigration reform that ensures workers’ rights.

A pathway to citizenship. Community members already living in and contributing to our society need a real and immediate path towards citizenship. All those friends, neighbors and co-workers who have put down roots, who work hard and have become Americans in all but legal status, must have a realistic chance at achieving American citizenship, with its full rights and responsibilities. This is humane, economically sound and, as many polls have shown, what the voters want.

Immigration reform concerns all Americans and aspiring Americans. Some think of immigration as only a Latino issue. KIWA’s membership is approximately half Latino and half Korean. Foreign-born Koreans are the seventh-largest group of immigrants to the U.S. They also make up an estimated two percent of those 11 million immigrants currently in the U.S. and seeking a path to citizenship–almost a quarter of a million individuals. This winter, a Korean immigrant who volunteers at KIWA suffered the sudden death of her father in Korea. Her grief at losing her father was doubled because she was not able to attend her father’s funeral. Immigration affects all our communities viscerally and we are uniting all our voices in support of a humane and just immigration policy.

KIWA stands with our allies in demanding comprehensive and just immigration reform now.”

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KIWA empowers Koreatown’s low-wage immigrant workers and residents to develop a progressive constituency and leadership in the Koreatown community that can work locally, nationally, and internationally for social and economic justice.

KIWA is a multi-racial Community Union with a base of mostly Latino and Korean members.