HOUSTON – Employees at Sev7en, a restaurant in Upper Kirby, are demanding their unpaid wages after the restaurant abruptly closed over the weekend. Several workers say they haven’t been paid in weeks.
Bartenders, servers, and hosts told KPRC 2′s Corley Peel they were only given a day’s notice before the restaurant shut its doors. They were instructed to come to the restaurant to be paid in cash, but when they arrived, they encountered confusion and frustration.
Georgina Mosti, an employee, said she and her colleagues are still waiting for their wages.
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“Unfortunately for me and my employees, we have not been paid for our wages,” Mosti said. “We’re missing four weeks of pay.”
The workers showed handwritten checks they had received in the past, some of which had been issued late or with incorrect dates. Paychecks, which used to be distributed weekly, had gradually slowed to biweekly, but many of the employees said they have not been paid at all in the last month.
“We were given checks, but they bounced,” said Nicole Daniels, another employee. “We had to come on Monday to get cash because we couldn’t deposit the checks. The fact that they knew they were shutting down and didn’t tell us ahead of time—that’s just not right.”
For some employees, the financial impact has been severe.
“I’m a single mother, I have a daughter. This is not what I signed up for. I need my money,” said employee Kathya Umana.
When KPRC 2′s Corley Peel visited the restaurant, which appeared to be under construction, one of the owners, Tarik Hassan, denied the employees’ claims.
“They haven’t not been paid,” Hassan said. “There’s nobody that doesn’t have a check right now.”
When asked why some checks had bounced, Hassan attributed it to the restaurant’s poor business performance.
“Business was slow, and that’s why we’re closing,” he said.
Hassan then suggested the employees were partially to blame for the restaurant’s struggles.
“The reason we’re not doing good is because of our employees anyway,” he said. “What have they been doing all night?”
Hassan said the employees would receive a text message about when they could collect their checks.
KPRC 2 Photojournalist Patrick Hardesty asked Hassan to put himself in his employees shoes.
“You put yourself in my shoes. Almost lost over $1 million because of my employees. You put yourself in my shoes and tell me what you’re going to do,” Hassan said.
Hassan said he plans to reopen the restaurant as a new business in a few weeks. He said some of the employees will be eligible to maintain their positions.
Former employees told KPRC 2 that management reached out to them letting them know they can get their checks between Wednesday and Friday.