Former Employees of Midland Restaurant Protest After They Have Not Been Paid in Weeks

Former employees of a Midland restaurant are protesting in front of their former employer for weeks worth of wages they have not been paid.

According to CBS 7, La Jaiba Mexican Restaurant has not paid any of their employees in about a month so eight of the restaurant's employees have decided to protest in front of the restaurant to let passing vehicles know they have not been paid for their work.

“My heart is really broke because I work for a lot of hours,” said Margarita Manca who has received a paycheck but when she tries to cash it, the bank says there is no money in the account.

“I come in for three days every day in the morning to check my money,” said Manca. “But he no have my money.”

The other employees that are protesting have run into the same problem.

“And they just tell you we’ll pay you Wednesday, we’ll pay you Saturday, we’ll pay you Friday and it just never comes through,” said Michael Navarro, also an employee of the restaurant.

He said he understood in the beginning, but now that this has been happening for over a month he felt the protest was the only way to get the owners to do something.

“We’re working Americans just like they are,” said Navarro. “Just like the people down the street, anyone. We want to get paid the same as everyone else. We don’t work for free.”

The owner of La Jaiba Mexican Restaurant, Alejandro Quezada, said that half the people at the protest have been paid their wages and the other half has had their payments delayed for only two weeks, not the month that they are alleging.

Quezada said he is working to make sure all employees are paid for their work.

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