Skip to content

A photo of Century Buffet

Longtime Oakland businessman faces 12 felony labor charges

on November 25, 2013

Servers working at Century Buffet on International Boulevard near the Fruitvale District were working 12-hour days, six days a week, being paid far below minimum wage or only in tips, according to a criminal complaint filed by the Alameda District Attorney. The complaint states that workers were not paid overtime and had no bathroom or lunch breaks.

On Thursday afternoon in a court room in the Hayward Hall of Justice, law enforcement officials charged the restaurant’s owner, Ji Li Zheng, with 12 felony and four misdemeanor counts for failing to collect unemployment insurance tax, evading unemployment insurance tax, worker’s compensation fraud, dissuading a witness from reporting a crime, and failing to pay minimum wage.

“This case sends a clear message that wage theft is a crime and it will be prosecuted as such in the state of California,” said State Labor Commissioner Julie A. Su in a statement released a day before Zheng’s arraignment.

According to the probable cause declaration filed by the District Attorney’s office, Zheng only reported six to 12 employees each quarter between October 1, 2010 and March 13, 2013, but in reality 60 employees had worked at the restaurant. After a June 20, 2013 audit conducted by the Labor Commissioner’s office with a search warrant, officials found payroll journals and receipts that identified 41 employees. Zheng only reported family members and not employees with Hispanic last names.

“[Zheng] is a businessman, established in the Oakland community for a period of 20 years,” said his lawyer, Robert G. Cummings during the arraignment.

Mr. Cummings couldn’t be reached for further comment on the charges against his client.

Victor Tomas Mejia Calgua, who was hired on May 2012 to work in the kitchen, lived above the restaurant with eight other Hispanic employees, according to the probable cause declaration.

The declaration states that days before the commission’s audit, Zheng told the employees to leave because police and immigration were coming to the restaurant. Zheng told employees to change their phone numbers and not talk to anyone about how much they were paid.

“Ji Li Zheng’s treatment of the workers at his restaurant was unconscionable,” said District Attorney Nancy O’Malley in a statement released Wednesday afternoon.

In total, the audit revealed that Zheng owed $520,000 in unpaid minimum wage, $550,000 in unpaid overtime, and $191,000 in premium pay for no meal and rest periods.

The case was started by the Labor Commissioner’s office about a year ago said District Attorney Erin Loback. Judge Gary M. Picetti set bail at $75,000.

4 Comments

  1. harvey on November 25, 2013 at 3:32 pm

    Well done, State Labor Commissioner Julie A. Su
    Congratulations to the survivors of Camp Oakland.



  2. livegreen on November 25, 2013 at 5:09 pm

    Agreed, well done.

    I didn’t think the County or State even did anything about such crimes. I still bet they don’t do much at all.



    • harvey on November 25, 2013 at 7:34 pm

      Can that be true? Not even the State is interested in a case as loony as this, you can’t right.



  3. Todd on April 3, 2014 at 7:47 am

    The Century Buffet building – which is new (and already looks like it was built in 1962) – should never have passed design review. Is the city that desperate for tax revenue? It actually doesn’t look like it should of passed building inspections – there is a section of the top office space without a roof? I would really like to see the city inspection documents.



Oakland North welcomes comments from our readers, but we ask users to keep all discussion civil and on-topic. Comments post automatically without review from our staff, but we reserve the right to delete material that is libelous, a personal attack, or spam. We request that commenters consistently use the same login name. Comments from the same user posted under multiple aliases may be deleted. Oakland North assumes no liability for comments posted to the site and no endorsement is implied; commenters are solely responsible for their own content.

Photo by Basil D Soufi
logo
Oakland North

Oakland North is an online news service produced by students at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism and covering Oakland, California. Our goals are to improve local coverage, innovate with digital media, and listen to you–about the issues that concern you and the reporting you’d like to see in your community. Please send news tips to: oaklandnorthstaff@gmail.com.

Latest Posts

Scroll To Top