A federal judge has ordered the operators of 14 Bay Area Subway sandwich shops to sell or shut down the businesses and pay employees nearly $1 million in back wages and damages, the U.S. Labor Department said.
John Michael Meza and his wife, Jessica L. Meza, have until Nov. 27 to dispose of the businesses in Antioch, Clayton (Downtown), Concord (Sunvalley Mall), Cotati, Napa, Petaluma, San Pablo, Santa Rosa, Vallejo and Windsor, the Labor Department said in a statement.
Investigators with the Wage and Hour Division determined the couple failed to pay wages regularly, bounced paychecks, stole tips left by customers, put children as young as 14 to work with dangerous equipment and scheduled minors for unlawful work hours, according to the department.
Under a consent judgment issued Wednesday, the Mezas were ordered to pay 184 workers $475,000 in wages, overtime and tips and another $475,000 in damages. The court also ordered them to pay $150,000 in penalties.
The investigation and litigation include the following 14 Subway franchise locations:
32 comments
You don’t see teeth used much in these wage theft cases. Nice to see
How can someone own that many Subways, and not either knowing the law or not care about it. Obviously there were succesful in having that many franchisees, which took, I’m sure, a lot work and money. Now it might all go down the drain because they ignored the labor laws etc. I’m always amazed how often people that are really successful also can be very self destructive.
P.S. I go to the one in Sun Valley Mall at times. I guess no more, and the MacDonalds at the mall closed.
@Hanne, some people get ahead by cutting or trimming corners here and there. Every corner cut is likely at someone else’s expense. It’s very rare that someone develops a system or method that allows them to do a job or create a product faster, easier, or with less materials, while maintaining the same quality or integrity as before.
Subway is such a hot mess. Im glad theyll get their compensation back.
Downtown Clayton location has been the worst for the past year maybe longer. Constantly new employees (now we know why) who don’t know what they’re doing, they obviously aren’t being trained properly. It doesn’t take a degree to make a sandwich. Their AC was out over the summer and had doors wide open even on very hot days, you would think the meat and veggies would spoil. If you order online your sandwich will be wrong 80% of the time. Worst subway around.
That Subway needs to go
I hope some of Stef Curry’s money will help them out!?! He’s a scammer too.
Who is Stef Curry?
Stef was hired by the Subway franchise, not by the local franchisee.
Owners and managers often think employees don’t know the California labor laws. I have had instances where I was asked to do something that is against those laws. when I would point it out, they would be very surprised. It was nothing really serious, that I knew the law. Retail employees are suppose to get a 30 minute breakafter being on the floor for 5 hours, sometimes that is inconvenient due to lack of coverage, but that is the law, you can agree to stay a little longer, but if you insist you have to get that 30 minute break. My blood sugar gets low, so I need to eat something.
Subway: Voyage to the bottom I see .
Looks like they bit off more than they could chew of a meatball sandwich.
Ahhh Baloney!!
… and thatsa lotsa mozzarella!!!
Subway is on the lower end of the scale when it comes to food and service.
It’s a great place to go when you are breaking up with someone.
You won’t feel put out after she throws her sandwich at you.
Every successful man sets the seeds of their own destruction.
Looking at the fast food industry. it’s easy to see that the fast food business model relies on cheap
labor. With a lot of turnover. We’re heading towards a $20/hr min wage for food workers, and that
will kill those businesses that poor people rely on. This subway issue with the Mezas will only be
the beginning of closures all over the state of various fast food outlets.
First of all if someone own several franchises they are making good money and can afford to pay their workers $20.00. If employees are making a decent wage and are treated well there will be less turn over, thus less training, which also cost money. For poor people to rely on fast food is not really a good idea, certainly eating there once in awhile is fine, but they would save more money by buying healthy food they can cook themselves. If the shop at Grocery Outlet, Walmart etc. where the prices are cheaper, or even Safeway, buying items on sale that would be much better.
Gosh PO’D, I had no idea all those fast food businesses are in such dire straits and about to go bankrupt. Doing a teeny bit of research we can see that in the United States Fast Food businesses made $331.41 billion in profit in 2022. That’s profit so just to be clear that’s after they paid their workers. They can afford to pay people a living wage.
Many subways in new York are closed too due to flooding!(lol)
I am fairly certain it is, a 30 minute break after shifts that are 6 hours. And those lunches do not have to be paid time.
No it is 5 hours, but you are right you don’t have to be paid.
Labor law says a paid 10 minute break every 2 or 3 hours (max 2 per 8 hour shift), ad an unpaid 30.minute meal break after 5 hours unless the employee signs a waiver to agree to work 6 hours without a lunch break. And only for non management employees.
Good … their ingredients are total crap … GMO … devoid of flavor and nutrients … fake food … give me a pre-1985 TOGO turkey avocado with the works … or a Luigi’s pastrami with potato salad side por favor.
Togo’s FTW!
I suspect Subway was the inspiration for Togo’s “breadwich” advertising campaign.
My wife worked for this couple at age 15 closing by herself late at night and also was a victim of these wage and overtime thefts at the Windsor location.
Does anyone know how to get included in this settlement?
Devin. https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases/whd/whd20230929 is the settlement announcement from the department of labor. At the bottom are several things that can help you such as the case number plus the phone numbers and e-mails for two media contacts. I would start by e-mailing or calling those contacts with your questions.
Finally some justice.
Subway sucks regardless. So many better sandwich places…..what’s up pickles… free cookie
The Subway in Clayton has been hit or miss for some time now. Not sorry to see it leave. Jersey Mike’s is supposed to be coming to the area, so there’ll be that.
Subway was never very selective in granting franchises. As a result, there is more market saturation than the business can sustain. Earlier this year, we took some backroads through some rural counties, and there weren’t any gas stations, but there was a Subway every mile or so.
Last August, Subway was acquired by Roark Capital, which owns Carl’s Jr, Jersey Mike’s, Arby’s, Buffalo Wild Wings, Sonic, and numerous other restaurants. Maybe, under new management, Subway can do some weeding in its franchise patch. And maybe they can stop hiring spokesmen who disgust most of their customers.
I’m trying to think of how much you’d have to pay me to eat at Subway. I came up with $US550. Cash. You can even take my picture eating it. No…$US1000. Just in case there’s an ER visit.
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