‘We’ve experienced wage theft,’ says L.A. Subway worker who filed lawsuit

Los Angeles fast-food cooks and cashiers rallied Tuesday at a Subway in Eagle Rock to show support for Eva Rodriguez, an employee at the sandwich shop.

Rodriguez filed a lawsuit and an administrative complaint against Subway alleging wage theft "through years of altered timekeeping, hundreds of hours worked without any pay, and thousands of hours worked without overtime pay." 

This has happened over the course of 11 years, according to Rodriguez. Since she started speaking up, she’s lived with stress from what she said is retaliation and mistreatment. 

Rodriguez wants to hold Subway responsible because although the location she works at is a franchised shop, she said the people who are sent from the company to check in on the shop haven’t been friendly to the workers. 

“She came like three times to the store and talked to us with bad words, like calling us names in front of customers, like making us feel like we are undervalued, and she just made us feel like we are not humans,” Rodriguez explained. 

The way they’re talked to is unacceptable, she noted. 

“We are humans and we deserve respect, and she shouldn't come to hear yelling at us, screaming at us, and calling us names in front of the customers,” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez claimed that the employee from Subway had previously put her job in jeopardy by saying things like the store was closed when it wasn’t supposed to be. She said there was even an instance where a customer intervened while the employee from Subway was yelling at the workers. 

“The customer was trying to calm her down, thinking that was the owner because of the amplitude,” she said. 

The stress from what Rodriguez has experienced over the last several years has started to impact her health. 

“My life changed totally, like nervous, stressed all the time, so it impacted a lot of my life,” she explained. 

Rodriguez said she wants to be paid “the more than $100,000 that she owes me, and to ask her to stop the retaliation that she's been having towards us.” She explained how the lawsuit is focused on alleged wage theft and safety issues that Rodriguez has faced during her 11 years at the sandwich shop. She also wants legislation that will require employees to be informed of their rights as workers. 

“We’ve experienced wage theft, overtime not being paid, six hours not being paid, tips they take away like they are not giving us tips. So there's a lot of wage theft that we have experienced in this store,” Rodriguez said.

When it comes to the safety element of the lawsuit, Rodriguez said there’s several things happening at the store. She explained how there are pieces of equipment that don’t work properly in the store. “There are so many things that I can mention,” she said. “There are also insects, rats, that are going on in the store.”

From the alleged wage theft and safety conditions at the sandwich shop that Rodriguez works at, the ongoing situation had caused her to suffer from stress and feeling overwhelmed from what she said is mistreatment. She wasn’t aware of her rights as a fast food worker until she met with the union and they guided her through the process on how to approach the situation.

After learning about her rights from the union – Service Employees International Union Local 721 – she started a campaign, they did a strike, and now, they’ve filed the lawsuit. They’ve rallied behind Rodriguez because they’re also fast food workers who could’ve been put in the same situation or have already faced a similar event because they didn’t know their rights at the time. 

“I feel the support from them, and that's what keeps me going. Like, keeps me going with the fight, keeps me going with the fighting for the injustice. And I'm not gonna stop on this, even though they are trying to retaliate against me,” Rodriguez said. 

Her hours have been cut in half, so she said she’s not sure how she’s going to make it through with only half her salary. 

One union member and supporter, Yessica Maldonado, doesn’t agree with how Rodriguez has been treated. 

“We're rallying so that we get the attention of the subway. Since this is a franchise, it's not a corporation. She [Rodriguez] knows the owner, the owner has talked to her. And I feel as though, like us coming out here, having people. We get the attention,” Maldonado said. “We have people who are gonna help us and who are willing to help us, maybe with more power than we have.”

She said the ultimate goal is for Rodriguez to get justice and her money back from unpaid wages. 

Rodriguez and Maldonado are also calling on local leaders and people who have power to make laws to create an ordinance that will support workers to have better working conditions in the workplace and be respected.