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Dauphin County Popeyes under federal investigation over staff treatment

  • By Sue Gleiter/ PennLive
A court order has been filed against the owners of a Popeyes restaurant 4601 Jonestown Road in Lower Paxton Township. The U.S. Department of Labor claims that one of the managers obstructed an investigation.

 Sue Gleiter / PennLive

A court order has been filed against the owners of a Popeyes restaurant 4601 Jonestown Road in Lower Paxton Township. The U.S. Department of Labor claims that one of the managers obstructed an investigation.

The owners of a Dauphin County Popeyes restaurant are facing a court order to stop threatening workers after claims that one of the managers obstructed an investigation by U.S. Department of Labor officials.

But one of the franchise owners says that’s not how the scenario played out.

Max Acharya, co-owner of Popeyes in Lower Paxton Township, said investigators harassed and scared workers, acting like a “swat team,” when they arrived on the morning of April 5 at the restaurant at 4601 Jonestown Road. He said a countersuit will be filed against the Department of Labor.

“Their job is to protect and stand for employees, not harass them,” Acharya said.

On Tuesday, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania said an injunction was filed in response to a complaint by the Department of Labor that the Popeye’s general manager kept employees in the back of the kitchen to prevent them from speaking with investigators. The agency was conducting a probe into possible Fair Labor Standards Act violations.

Popeyes district manager Tom Rudzenski was called to the restaurant, but, according to the court order, upon his arrival, he “cursed loudly at investigators, acted aggressively, and then slammed the kitchen door numerous times with such force it was felt throughout the building.”

At that point, Rudzenski held a closed-door meeting with employees in the kitchen, and while standing between the employees and investigators, he “made it clear, through his words and demeanor, that he did not want the employees to speak to the investigators,” according to the court order.

“The demeanor and actions of the district manager for this Popeye’s franchisee in Harrisburg raised concerns among our investigators about their physical safety, and the workers there must have felt threatened and were likely afraid to lose their jobs if they spoke to our investigators,” Wage and Hour Division District Director Alfonso Gristina in Wilkes-Barre said in a press release.

“Despite the prohibited conduct of the restaurant’s general manager and the franchise’s district manager, the Wage and Hour Division will not be stopped from completing its investigation,” she added.

Under the court order, Jonestown Rd Chicken LLC and Rudzenski are temporarily forbidden from violating the Fair Labor Standards Act anti-retaliation provisions and from further harassing and threatening workers and division investigators. They are also required under the order to notify employees of their rights to freely speak and cooperate with investigators.

It was not the first time investigators showed up at the restaurant. On March 14, investigators asked to conduct interviews with employees working at the restaurant but were told by the general manager the employees had gone home sick, according to court documents.

Acharya said the general manager suffers from anxiety and had a panic attack when investigators arrived, while some employees were under the impression they were being arrested.

He said an investigator arrived unannounced through the front door, walked into the restaurant and back to the kitchen, where he let a second investigator into the building. The investigators did show their badges, he said.

“In our industry, people have backgrounds like missing child support. They don’t understand, it’s routine,” he added.

He said the restaurant has received no violations, and recognized the agency’s officials have spoken to some of his employees by phone.

“If there’s someone we need to pay, we’ll do it, but I’m not going to stand for harassment techniques,” Acharya said.

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