NYC immigrant workers rally at Theater District restaurant accused of wage theft

Immigrants and their advocates protested Friday outside a Midtown restaurant they say stole thousands of dollars of worker wages.

At least five employees of La Macarena, a Latin sports bar and restaurant on W. 48th St. in the Theater District, say they’re owed more than $18,000 in back pay.

“We’re here to demand our wages. It’s not fair to work and not get paid,” said Yoel Perez, a recent immigrant from Mexico.

Cristian Contreras, 18, started working at La Macarena in October, a little more than a month after he arrived from Mexico. He said worked at the restaurant for a month and a half, but only received a week of pay. The restaurant owes him more than $3,000.

“I came to work at the restaurant because they promised me better pay,” he said. “I came here from Mexico because of the economic situation there. I wanted to move forward — but then they don’t pay us.”

Contreras held a plastic shopping bag filled with bounced checks and flipped through them. He liked the job: The pay seemed decent, and he was learning how to cook in a restaurant. But as his pay fell behind, it seemed less likely that he’d be getting compensated. The owner reassured him that he’d be paid, but never did. Eventually, he quit.

“They can’t have us work and not pay us,” Contreras said.

“The most difficult thing is that I can’t send money home to my family, but yes, it makes life harder for me here too,” he added.

“The lack of payment affected me a lot, because I couldn’t pay my debts, I couldn’t pay rent on time, I couldn’t pay for my expenses. The hardest thing was when I couldn’t send money to my family,” Yoel Perez, 21, said. “I had a really hard time.”

Advocates flagged wage theft as a growing problem, especially for new immigrants in New York City, who are especially vulnerable to wage theft. With the surge in asylum seekers from the southern border, the problem has exploded in recent months.

“New asylum seekers and all these newcomers are already taking jobs where they get paid $7, $8, $9 an hour – much lower than minimum wage, and they’re accepting abuse conditions, unfortunately, because they need the money,” said Nilbia Coyote, the executive director of New Immigrant Community Empowerment, or NICE.

Immigrants are particularly vulnerable to wage theft because they have limited avenues for recourse. Fear of retaliation and language barriers can make it tough to recoup lost wages.

At the rally on Friday evening, dozens rallied with NICE, blocking the entrance to La Macarena. Midway through the protest, advocates and migrants marched into the mostly-empty restaurant.

“That’s the only way you make change,” Coyote said. “If you make noise, if you’re becoming a barrier to the clients, you’re affecting their pockets. Unfortunately, that’s the reality. They only take action when you impact their money.”

More than $1 billion in wages are stolen every year in the U.S., according to Cornell University’s Worker Institute.

Last month, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg unveiled a new program, called the Worker Protection Unit, that would help victims of wage theft get recourse.

Several attempts to reach the La Macarena restaurant went unanswered.