Ariela Lopez, Contributing Photographer

A New Haven-based migrant workers advocacy group has accused Habesha Ethiopian Restaurant and Bar of underpaying a former employee, and discriminating against him due to his undocumented status.

On Sunday, a dozen Unidad Latina en Acción leaders and affiliates rallied outside the Whitney Avenue storefront, distributing leaflets, chanting through bullhorns and encouraging passersby to boycott the Ethiopian restaurant. According to the leaflets, Erico Morales worked for “more than 120 hours” at Habesha, but was paid only $300 — less than $3 an hour. Solomon Fiseha, one of the restaurant’s owners, denies the allegation, and told the News that Morales only worked at Habesha for three days, though ULA leader John Lugo claims Morales worked there for two weeks, from Nov. 19 through Dec.1, 2024.

“You cannot make the profits on the backs of the workers,” Lugo yelled into a bullhorn on Sunday afternoon, stationed outside Habesha. “You admitted that you will not be paying just because the guy doesn’t have documents — that’s a crime. The bad news is, you live in a sanctuary city and in Connecticut, you’re supposed to pay a minimum wage regardless of the status you have in this country.”

Connecticut’s minimum wage, which was raised to $16.35 an hour on Jan. 1, applies to undocumented workers.

Fiseha said he gave Morales the $300 upfront when Morales asked for money to fix his phone, and that he intended to offer Morales a salary of $440 a week. Fiseha did not specify an hourly wage. However, according to Fiseha, who said he did not know Morales’ name, Morales did not return to work after the third day. The next time the two men encountered each other was when Lugo arrived at Habesha in early January to commence ULA’s boycott, Fiseha said.

On Jan. 9, Lugo and other ULA members went to Habesha to confront Fiseha about the alleged wage theft. ULA filmed Fiseha’s conversation with Lugo and posted the video on YouTube. In the video, Lugo chided Fiseha for not paying Morales the minimum wage.

“He doesn’t have papers,” Fiseha said in response.

Fiseha told the News that he hired Morales believing that Morales had work authorization documents, and that Morales repeatedly told him he would show Fiseha his papers “tomorrow.” Fiseha said he told Morales he could pay him $440 a week “if he had papers.”

In the video clip, Fiseha does not admit to underpaying Morales, nor does he provide any additional information about Morales’ employment at Habesha. Fiseha told the News on Sunday that he was recorded with a “hidden camera,” which he felt violated his privacy. Fiseha called the police, but they arrived after the ULA members had left.

Fiseha again called the police on Sunday, as ULA members rallied outside the restaurant with large banners declaring “Stop wage theft” and “Caution: workplace declared unsafe for employees.” Two cop cars arrived 20 minutes later, but officers did not approach the protestors and remained in their cars.

Fiseha told the News that he does not intend to pay Morales the nearly  $2,050 that ULA has requested on behalf of Morales. He claimed that Morales in fact owes him for having taken the $300 without continuing to work for him. Fiseha also said that Habesha, which opened in October, has not been affected by ULA’s boycott.

“It doesn’t affect me, the employees know me,” he said. “Customers are still coming.”

Habesha was the second restaurant visited by ULA this weekend. On Friday, Lugo and a small contingent of ULA members hand-delivered a letter to Tomatillo, a Mexican restaurant on Elm Street, asking the restaurant to pay Antonio Portillo, a former worker, $555.09 in wages that he had not yet received. The ULA members brought with them a printed screenshot of a text conversation between Portillo and Tomatillo’s manager. According to the screenshot, when Portillo asked for his check, the manager responded that he would send the check “to the labor/immigration department.”

The letter, signed by Lugo, threatened that Portillo would file a complaint with the state labor department “and pursue other legal remedies and public campaigns that may be available to him” if he were not paid.

Lugo and Moe Gad, Tomatillo’s owner, each confirmed to the News that Portillo picked up his check on Friday evening, settling the dispute. Gad said that the check had been signed two weeks prior, and that the restaurant did not intend to withhold it, but that Portillo had had “some issue with the manager.” 

Gad also said that the messages about immigration enforcement that ULA characterized as threatening were just “bluffing.” 

“Nobody was threatening anybody with anything,” Gad said. 

Both Tomatillo and Habesha lease from Yale University Properties.