WASHINGTON — A new lawsuit filed against a popular restaurant in Northwest D.C. alleges that the business stole wages and tips from its employees for years.
Swahili Village DC, also known as "The Consulate," is an East African fine-dining restaurant that advertises itself as a place for dignitaries and diplomats to meet. Since opening in 2020, it has employed hundreds of D.C. workers.
According to Attorney General Brian L. Schwalb, the restaurant along with its executive officers, Kevin Onyona and Emad Shoeb, systematically stole wages and tips from its servers, hosts, food runners, bussers, and bartenders, frequently paying servers as little as $5 per hour.
The lawsuit alleges the restaurant also failed to pay overtime wages, failed to distribute tips, and failed to provide legally required sick leave.
In its complaint, OAG details a pattern of wage theft and worker abuse over several years at the restaurant despite the owners publicly claiming to have significant hospitality industry experience. As well as owning and operating two other Swahili Village locations in Maryland and New Jersey.
The lawsuit seeks to recover wages owed to restaurant workers and to impose penalties for legal violations.
Specifically, OAG alleges that Swahili Village DC and its owners broke the law by:
- Wage theft: OAG alleges Swahili Village DC began stealing from workers before it even opened its doors. In January 2020, the restaurant began hiring employees in preparation for its opening. Though D.C.'s minimum wage at the time was $14 per hour, multiple employees were paid $5 per hour or less, and some were not compensated at all. In March 2020, when the dining room of the restaurant was closed due to COVID-19, it failed to pay many workers for work they had performed before the closure. Even as customers began to return in person, the restaurant allegedly continued cheating its employees. By 2021, the restaurant hired 30 additional employees. Yet in 2021 and 2022, the restaurant continued stealing wages, underpaying some individual employees by more than $5,000.
- Failing to pay minimum wages: From 2020 through 2022, the restaurant failed to pay hundreds of workers the minimum wage or even the lower-tipped minimum wage. Many servers reported that they were consistently paid a total of $5.00 per hour, including wages and tips.
- Stealing tips: The restaurant required some servers and bartenders to turn over some or all of their tips, claiming they would be distributed to other workers. However, many other staff never received a share of the tips. Instead, hundreds of dollars these employees earned would disappear from each paycheck with no explanation and no evidence that tips were actually being shared with other workers.
- Failing to provide sick leave: The restaurant did not provide employees with any paid sick leave as required by law. When employees were injured or sick, including with COVID-19, they were not paid and were often reprimanded for missing work.
- Failing to pay overtime wages: Under DC law, employees must be paid at least 1.5 times their regular rate for any hours worked in excess of 40 hours per week. Many employees clocked more than 40, and even sometimes more than 60, hours a week but never received overtime pay.
- Failing to maintain required employment records: Every business in the District is required by law to provide employees with basic records regarding their employment and pay. This includes information in writing about their rate of pay, regular pay date, and employer’s tip-sharing policy (if tips are shared). Employers are also required to provide employees with statements each payday including details of hours worked, wages, tips, and any deductions, and they are required to preserve basic payroll records for at least three years. Onyona, Shoeb, and Swahili Village DC routinely failed to do any of this and, as a result, employees did not know how their pay was calculated or whether taxes or any other deductions were withheld. the restaurant also failed to maintain accurate payroll records, including by omitting some employees completely.
To read the full lawsuit, click here.
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