Bridgeport Restaurant Owner Must Pay Thousands After Taking Kickbacks: Feds

BRIDGEPORT, CT — The owners of two Fairfield County restaurants have been ordered in federal court to pay more than $100,000 to nine employees who were coerced through threats to kick back thousands in wages and liquidated damages, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Labor.

Christopher Delmonico, owner of the former Chubby’s in Bridgeport and co-owner of The Ole Dog Tavern (formerly Lazy Dog Tavern) in Stratford, and Niall O’Neill, co-owner of The Ole Dog Tavern, agreed to pay $137,465 to employees to remedy violations of minimum wage and overtime requirements, the news release said.

Delmonico and O'Neill threatened workers to force them to kick back about $50,000 that the employees were owed, according to the news release. The pair allegedly fired one worker for requesting the full amount of back wages and liquidated damages owed, and threatened employees with blacklisting, termination, and law enforcement and immigration consequences, the news release said. Delmonico and O'Neill allegedly made disparaging comments about an employee to potential future employers, and drove two workers to a bank to cash their checks and then demanded payment outside the bank, according to the news release.

The Department of Labor sued Delmonico, O'Neill and the restaurants in March 2021 in U.S. District Court, the news release said. The defendants must pay the workers $50,000 in kickbacks accepted from employees as well as $90,000 in punitive damages, according to the news release. They must also pay $10,000 in back pay to one worker who suffered a retaliatory firing, the news release said.