The house owners of a pair of taco eating places in Northern California have been ordered to pay $140,000 in again pay and damages to 35 workers for bringing in a purported priest to extract confessions of office misconduct.

Eduardo Hernandez, Hector Galindo and Alejandro Rodriguez additionally didn't pay extra time for time labored previous a 40-hour workweek, illegally paid managers utilizing the pool of ideas given to workers, and implied that those that cooperated with federal investigators would face immigration points, the Department of Labor introduced final week.

The clerical caper was spurred by a Department of Labor investigation into extra time and record-keeping violations on the Taqueria Garibaldi places in Sacramento and Roseville, California.

In November 2021, a number of weeks after federal officers advised the restaurateurs that they had proof of the violations, Mr. Hernandez introduced in a person he stated was a Catholic priest to the Sacramento location through the afternoon shift.

Mr. Hernandez advised staff the priest had been introduced in to assist with worker psychological well being.

“I decided to talk to the priest, but as soon as the confession started I found the conversation to be strange … The priest asked if I had stolen anything at work, if I was late to my employment, if I did anything to harm my employer, and if I had any bad intentions toward my employer,” Maria Parra, then a Taqueria Garibaldi worker, advised the Sacramento Bee.

Ms. Parra could be fired three months later in retaliation for cooperating with the Department of Labor investigation.

The “priest” was not publicly recognized by the Department of Labor, however ecclesiastical authorities say he was not related to the native Diocese of Sacramento.

Under Catholic doctrine, any confession to a priest is sure by the sacramental seal of secrecy and thus couldn't be advised to the restaurant house owners, or anybody else.

In addition, whereas it isn't completely forbidden, clergymen are strongly discouraged from straight asking whether or not a penitent has dedicated this or that individual sin.

“Our own investigation found no evidence of any connection between the Diocese of Sacramento and the alleged priest in this matter,” Diocese of Sacramento spokesman Bryan Visitacion stated.

“While we don’t know who the person in question was, we are completely confident he was not a priest of the Diocese of Sacramento,” Mr. Visitacion advised the Catholic News Agency.

Judge William Shubb of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California ordered the house owners to pay $70,000 in again pay, $70,000 in damages and a $5,000 civil penalty for willful violations of federal labor legal guidelines.

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