A former valet service for the Lexington restaurant on Grand Avenue in St. Paul must pay $21,658 in restitution after underpaying its workers for two years.
St. Paul’s Department of Human Rights and Equal Economic Opportunity investigated an employee complaint that Class A Valet paid workers $1 to $2 less than the city’s required hourly minimum wage and failed to give employees annual notice of the minimum wage, or their right to report wage violations. The employee said he was paid $12 per hour instead of the promised $14 per hour, and shared screenshots of text message exchanges where the employer told him, “Sorry, that’s the wage.”
Class A Valet employed seven workers to provide contracted valet services to the restaurant from February 2024 to March 1 of last year.
Following unreturned letters, phone calls and emails and the execution of an administrative search warrant in a fruitless pursuit of employee records, HREEO sent the company a violation notice and a notice of proposed restitution March 23. The company did not respond by the April 13 deadline.
The employer failed to attend two scheduled interviews but eventually returned an email, saying, “We were paying $12 an hour until I saw the rate was $14 an hour,” according to HREEO.
On Wednesday, interim HREEO director Andrea Ledger asked the St. Paul City Council to adopt the department’s findings and impose the full restitution amount of $21,658, which includes $10,829 in back pay and an equivalent amount in liquidated damages, to be paid to the seven employees.
Libby Kantner, an assistant city attorney, told the council Wednesday that most cases involving violations of the city’s minimum wage ordinance are resolved through negotiated settlement agreements, “but in this case we have a situation where the employer has not been willing to work with HREEO.”
The council approved the resolution 7-0. Class A Valet has the right to challenge the restitution order in small claims court. If it remains unpaid, the employees can use the council order to take the matter to court. Kantner said the city will look into other options to gain compliance, such as licensing.
“I think it’s critical that we are daylighting the fact that this company … which is no longer operating in St. Paul, but is operating in Minneapolis, is acting in this fashion,” said council President Rebecca Noecker. “I think it’s really important to hold these companies accountable.”
Class A Valet did not return a reporter’s call Friday.
St. Paul adopted a minimum wage ordinance in November 2018 and adjusts it annually for inflation. Effective July 1, the hourly minimum wage is $14.25 for businesses with no more than five employees and $16.37 for larger businesses. Full-time, part-time and temporary employees all are covered under the ordinance, but independent contractors are not.
Dining and Cooking