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Former owner of Bojangles owes former workers backpay and the state of Maryland tens of thousands of dollars

The Maryland State Department of Labor is looking into complaints of wage theft and fraud.

UPPER MARLBORO, Md. — We have new information into ongoing allegations of fraud and mismanagement at the now-closed Bojangles fast food restaurants in Maryland. This is a story viewers brought to WUSA9’s attention. So many folks were questioning the sudden closures of all five Maryland restaurants. 

So, we went digging and discovered former employees claim they are owed thousands of dollars in back pay. Now we’ve learned the owners owe the state tens of thousands of dollars. WUSA9 started asking questions and now state agencies are paying attention to the former franchisee and allegations of wage theft and fraud – complaints the MD State Department of Labor is now looking into.

“These people go by so many different names, they have so many different LLCs, so many aliases,” said one former shift manager who did not want to be identified. She claims she’s owed over $5,000. 

“What stood out to me about the cashier’s checks they would give us is that they didn’t have a pay stub attached.”

Amadee Tsongwain is out $300 which she said is a lot for a student who was about to go to college. Tsongwain was 17 when she got her first job at the Bojangles location in Upper Marlboro in the spring of 2022.  New to the workforce, she did not realize those checks needed paystubs attached or the unusual ways managers did business.

“Them giving me money from the cash register to go buy stuff from Safeway and then the checks always bouncing,” she recalled. “Me losing my check and never reprinting me one and just giving me cash. They operated a lot in cash.”

In fact, we received a series of text messages from another former employee asking questions about her missing money only to get return texts that read, “sorry I can’t talk right now.”  The former employee demanded they answer the phone, and they called her, “disrespectful and rude. You just received a check...you are not allowed to enter the property and the cops have been informed,” she replied, “You gave me 33 dollars that’s not a check!”

Another text message warned, “before you all leave for Pakistan, I need my paperwork or police reports will be filed.”

WUSA9 tried reaching out to those managers for the second day and our calls went directly to voice mail. However, we discovered the LLC attached to the Upper Marlboro location is listed under the owner Salim Kakakhail

According to the Maryland business search site, the 7571 UM Chicken, LLC is not in good standing. A Maryland court case search indicated there is a tax lien on the upper Marlboro property for over $69,000 in back taxes.

“They need to be held to the highest of the highest when it comes to the justice system because this is not ok,” said the former shift manager.

“I would like that money back and I would also like them to apologize,” added Tsongwain, “It was my first job. I was happy about the experience, and they kind of really ruined it.”

The former employees also fear since they believe there was no legitimate payroll, their former managers not only took off with their money but their social security numbers and identities too. WUSA9 reached out to the Internal Revenue Service and the MD State Comptroller. We are still waiting to hear back.

RELATED: Former employees allege gross mismanagement and fraud from owner of now-closed Bojangles Restaurants

RELATED: Bojangles closing for 2 days to provide COVID-19 relief to staff

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