Swahili Village, a Kenyan-owned restaurant chain in the United States, will pay US$ 526,000 (Kshs. 68mn) as restitution after it entered a no-fault settlement agreement with Washington DC to settle a wage theft case it has been embroiled in since August 2023.
The restaurant owned by Kevin Onyona and Emad Shoeb will be required to pay US$ 260,000 to 72 workers it stole from, as well as US$ 197,600 in district penalties.Swahili village will also pay US$ 69,000 to a claims administrator who will contact the affected workers and distribute their settlement accordingly.According to the Washington Post, the restaurant was accused of paying its workers US$ 5 per hour, denying them overtime wages, tips, and sick leave as mandated by the district’s law.“These egregious and systematic violations, which persisted for years reveal that wage theft and worker abuse were no accident at Swahili village DC – they were part of the business plan,” Washington D.C Attorney General Brian Schwalb said in the lawsuit.
The lawsuit also specified that Swahili Village did not keep employment records such as workers’ hours, wage deductions, and net salaries – a practice that withheld information from the workers unaware they were being exploited.
In a statement, the restaurant blamed the situation on the COVID-19 pandemic, saying that it opened its DC location just two weeks before it was declared a public health emergency.
“While in no way admitting wrongdoing, we welcome the end of the matter and confirm we will adhere strictly to the agreement. We insist our workers are allowed to be part of our growth story. Our staff is critical to our success, and their well-being is our priority,” Swahili Village founder Kevin Onyana said in the statement.
According to a former bartender in the restaurant, Rowles Adams, he was never given any payroll that detailed the number of sales or tips he was due.
“Some people weren’t seeing paychecks or did not see a paycheck for a few weeks, or at all, while they were working there. They would write us Bank of America checks. I have never, ever seen that before in my life,” Adams lamented to the Washington Post. Onyona told the American press that he agreed to settle the claimants, but he would retrench half of his restaurant staff because he would need to borrow some money.
The Attorney General has also ordered that the restaurant provides necessary reports to prove it had complied with the settlement directive. Schwalb emphasized on the importance of businesses following set labour guidelines to fairly compensate workers. Underpaying workers not only exposes workers to hardships, but also worked against fair competition. The lawsuit confirms that many of the workers in the restaurant were African immigrants and people of colour who were easily exploited due to desperation.
“It is unacceptable, and illegal, for businesses to steal from their hardworking employees, depriving them of the full benefits they have earned and are legally entitled to. Employers that do so are not only exploiting their workers but are gaining an unfair advantage over their competitors who play by the rules,” said Schwalb.
Swahili Village is one of the most popular restaurants offering a Kenyan cuisine in the United States’ capital. According to Onyana, the eatery begun in a trailer in Beltsville, Maryland, in May 2009. It now has three restaurants, relocating its Washington DC branch to the current location in 2020, when the chain was valued at $3.5mn. It also opened an outlet in New Jersey state in 2021 where President William Ruto visited in September last year.
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