La Quinta Las Casuelas closes without notice
Las Casuelas Quinta Restaurant in La Quinta has suddenly closed their doors, to the surprise of everyone including employees.
Employees arrived to work this morning to find a closed sign on the door. KESQ / CBS Local 2 went to the restaurant and called their number and received no answer on both.
“They are not even here to give us any answers or tell us anything and that is not right we all have kids and we are all working our butts off so that’s a dirty way to do things,” said Jackie Lechuga, an employee at the restaurant.
“We all came to get our paycheck and it’s so sad that we actually came to the restaurant to work but we weren’t notified that it was going to close,” said Jose Lerena, a bartender at Las Casuelas Quinta.
Today was payday, employees say they are owed at least two weeks worth of wages
Many didn’t want to show their faces on camera, afraid that by coming out to the media they might never get the money they are owed.
According to restaurant management, the restaurant is owned by Robert and Lisa Delgado, a divorced couple.
Employees says there have been signs of money problems.
“Some of our checks were bouncing and we have been through a lot these past couple of years so this is sad,” Lerena said.
“This has become unacceptable this has been going on now for months with having issues cashing our checks we have all stuck around, we have all kept trying, we have put in our best foot forward to help the restaurant,” said one manager.
Managers said they had talked to Robert Delgado and he said the money for their pay went to back taxes and the closure was a surprise to him.
A lawyer representing Lisa Delgado called store management and told employees they couldn’t be paid because of a hold placed by American Express and Mastercard, but they might get a check in a couple of days.
“She said that she knew this for about a week and Robert lied to us and told us that he was told last night that we are closing in the morning. This is not ethical and not right,” the manager said.
Most of the employees said they are upset about losing their job, but they are more upset that the owners were not up front with them.
The manager of the Las Casuelas in Palm Springs said he is unaware of the closing. He also stated that all other Las Casuelas Restaurants in the Valley are not affected by this closing and are still open. According to him, the restaurants are run independently and only share the name and the recipe.
We are working on confirming if the La Quinta closure is temporary or permanent. Stay with KESQ/ CBS Local 2 for updates.
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