‘I have a right to this money.’ Otium restaurant workers finally get paychecks, but some turn up short

After weeks of failing to pay their former workers unpaid wages, owners of now-shuttered Otium distributed checks over the weekend. But several workers say their last paycheck was short hundreds and in some cases thousands of dollars.

Maria Ramos Hernandez, a dishwasher at Otium, said the restaurant still owes her at least $2,000.

“This is unjust. I worked for them for seven years, washing dishes,” she said in Spanish. “I didn’t get paid for my vacation time. I didn’t get paid for the last day I worked.”

She wasn’t the only one. Two other workers also said their checks were short and they didn’t include the late penalties associated with the delay. Otium distributed the checks days after workers picketed in front of the empty restaurant, demanding to be paid after weeks of going without their final checks.

About a month before Otium closed on Sept. 8, the once-acclaimed restaurant announced on Instagram that it would close for good after nine years in business, stating that financial difficulties had led to the decision.

In 2015, Otium opened to much fanfare in an airy building in the Broad museum complex led by celebrity chef Timothy Hollingsworth. Hollingsworth, who was Thomas Keller’s chef de cuisine at the French Laundry, co-owned the restaurant with Carl Schuster, a founding partner of Wolfgang Puck catering and CEO and founder of Cast Iron Partners. The restaurant opened with partners that included philanthropist Eli Broad and restaurant entrepreneur Bill Chait, who owned Hollingsworth’s previous barbecue restaurant Barrel & Ashes.

Food

Otium opened to great acclaim. Now workers of the shuttered restaurant say owners won’t pay them

Protesting restaurant workers say they are due thousands in unpaid wages after Otium, the acclaimed restaurant opened as part of the Broad museum complex, shuttered this month.

Sept. 26, 2024

On Friday afternoon, Otium announced on Instagram that it would start paying workers over the weekend, telling workers the final checks were available for pickup at the restaurant.

Melissa Cristina Mendoza, a server for eight years at Otium, said Schuster was at the restaurant distributing checks when she realized her final payment was $600 short. “I’m missing money,” she said she told him.

She said Schuster directed her to speak with the general manager, who referred her human resources. She hasn’t heard back, Mendoza said.

In a prepared statement, Hollingsworth, referred questions to Schuster, who is in charge of payroll.

In an email to The Times, Schuster said he only had “two employees mention they thought there was a discrepancy ... I reached out to payroll service this morning.”

Schuster said they have yet to calculate the wait-time penalties and that they will distribute those checks at a later date but could not say when. “We wanted to get them paid that ASAP,” he said.

Schuster said he apologized if he “missed a few things.” He said he didn’t intend to shortchange workers and was working on rectifying the issue.

The payments over the weekend were made with bank checks from East West Bank. On Monday morning, Hernandez took a bus to one of the bank’s branches downtown, but she said the teller refused to cash her $1,723.12 check.

“They tell me they can’t verify that there are funds,” she said in Spanish. “They are telling me to return. What is happening? I really need this money. I have a right to this money. I already worked for this money. And they owe me more money.”