The owner of Sound Bites Café is currently under investigation by the city’s Wage Theft Advisory Committee for allegations of wage theft and employee intimidation. — Photo by Bobbie Toner

By Fernando Cervantes Jr.

Sound Bites Cafe, located in Ball Square, has been open for more than two decades. Two weeks ago, the Department of Labor sued Yasser Mirza, Sound Bites’ owner, over alleged stolen wages and death threats.

An investigation had been launched into working conditions at the Ball Square Cafe. In legal documents obtained by The Somerville Times, the Department of Labor also accused Mirza of trying to convince employees to lie to investigators. The department is currently seeking a temporary restraining order against Mirza in order to prevent any interference from him in the investigation.

The Wage Theft Advisory Committee set up by the City of Somerville to address and review wage theft complaints held its monthly meeting this week. Among the standard procedures and monthly worker events, the committee members took time to update the public on the investigation.

“For the moment, because there is an ongoing investigation, there is not much that we can do. There is not a lot of information that can be shared,” said Francisca Sepulveda, Somerville Worker Center Manager. “This is a great opportunity for the committee to think of ways to raise awareness of either the [Somerville] worker center or the committee itself.”

According to court documents, Fabian Zuleta, a Sound Bites Cafe cook since 2009, began asking for overtime payments in May 2020. He worked about 20 hours of overtime a week, which were paid at minimum wage, not the legally mandated time and a half.

According to the complaint, “On several occasions (including one incident that occurred in front of customers) Defendant Mirza responded to Zuleta’s oral inquiries about overtime pay by berating Zuleta, cursing at Zuleta, and telling Zuleta to get out of the restaurant.”

In addition to refusing to pay Zuleta, Mirza is also accused of retaliating against him by reducing his hours and assigning him to tasks not related to his original tasks as cook.

In late 2021, after agreeing to pay Zuleta for his work as part of a state lawsuit settlement, Mirza is alleged to have launched threats towards Zuleta and his family as part of a ploy to stop the Department of Labor’s investigation.

“In early 2022, Zuleta received a number of calls from private or unknown numbers in which the caller purported to be a police officer or other law enforcement officers,” according to the complaint. “In these calls, the caller would state that Zuleta needed to ‘get rid of the case’ or something would happen to Zuleta or Zuleta’s family.”

A hearing on the Department of Labor’s motion for a preliminary injunction is set to be held on May 24.