Employees say they are owed wages from two local businesses

Employees of two local restaurants in Yuma County are demanding money after months of not seeing it on their pay stubs.

Now, one of those restaurants has closed down, leaving employees left to wonder if they’ll ever get their money.

” Basically I worked there, and you would have to ask to get your paycheck… then you wouldn’t get your paycheck,” Lisa Sunde said, a former employee.

“The reason I quit… he uh, he didn’t pay me basically,” Julio Martinez said.

“By the time I was putting in my two weeks, John wasn’t paying us. When I would get a paycheck… it would bounce,” Annelyce Spatig added.

We spoke to at least a dozen employees of both the Copper Miner in the Foothills and Omega, also known as John’s Family Restaurant in Yuma. Employees say they want the money they are owed.

“Couple months before I started getting fed up, he started racking up, it got to the part where he owed me, when I left, about four grand, little over four grand,” Martinez said.

He isn’t the only one. Mary West, another former employee, says she’s owed over a thousand dollars.

“He owes me right now, one thousand seven hundred and ninety five dollars,” West added.

A few employees went to the Labor Board and filed lost wages claims. Those employees won. Now, the amount owed to those employees has tripled.

“So, now he owes me triple. So it’s five thousand three hundred and eighty five dollars through the Labor Board,” West said.

“So I took it to the Labor Department, they awarded me my case. So now it’s up to $13,180 dollars that he currently owes me, right now,” Martinez added.

With a lack of paychecks, employees are struggling.

Melisa Marie Contreras said she lost her truck she bought recently, because the owner wasn’t paying her.

“It’s really stressful, I have two children. You know diapers and all that. Not knowing when you’re going to get paid, and just not having the money to pay your bills… begging for your money, it’s very stressful,” West added.

For those who want to apply for unemployment, they said not getting paid is affecting them there, too.

“I tried applying for unemployment and it doesn’t even show that I work,” Amber Yeghoian said.

We reached out to the owner of both the Copper Miner and Omega, John Bartzis. He initially agreed to meet with us at a different restaurant location. When we arrived to the location, he never showed. He also stopped taking our phone calls.

Seemingly, after we reached out, John’s Family Restaurant posted to their Facebook page and said they would be closing permanently.

Employees say the Copper Miner is now being run by someone else as a “cash-only” establishment.

Now, employees are trying to deter anyone else from working there.

“It’s to the point where he’s screwing too many people over. We work too hard, we work way too hard to be treated like this,” Martinez said.

We spoke to a local employment attorney who said the employees took the right first step going to the Labor Board. They have another option to get their money.

“The employee can file at the Yuma County Superior Court or any superior court in the state and obtain a judgment. Once that judgment is signed and entered, they can actually then proceed with collection action, that either can be levied upon assets of the employer”

With a closed restaurant, and according to the employees, an owner who has left the state, many are wondering how they could be treated this way after showing devotion for so many years.

“I have messaged him and I asked him how could you do this to me, to the other people, we’ve been loyal to him…” Yeghoian added.

Further attempts to reach the owner have been unsuccessful.