Business & Tech

Former Workers at Fire Bull Protest Non-Payment of Wages

Former employees at the Fire Bull are chasing, at least figuratively, their old boss for non-payment of wages for the last weeks they worked there.

Former employees at the in downtown Peabody are chasing, at least figuratively, their old boss for non-payment of wages.

The Brazilian barbecue after several years in operation, apparently as business waned, but 11 former employees at the restaurant say that suddenly happened over one weekend and owner Glaydes Coelho never gave them any notice. She also didn’t pay them, collectively, about $10,000 in wages for their last two weeks of work.

The workers say they left Fire Bull the day before Tropical Storm Irene passed through (Saturday) with an assurance from Coelho that the restaurant would open again on Monday. But when Monday came, they only found a locked building with no sign of life and no word from Coelho.

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In the 2-1/2 months since then, the group of mainly Brazilian immigrants has been trying to collect not only their last two weeks of wages, but also overtime pay for at least the past two years.

Coehlo, a Peabody resident, has been largely unresponsive, they say.

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Without making much progress through legal channels thus far – including an investigation by federal labor officials, the workers decided to stage a public protest late Monday afternoon outside the shuttered restaurant.

They said they wanted to let the public know Coehlo’s true character, as opposed to the false reputation they believe she has built in Peabody, and perhaps motivate Coelho to “come to the table” and try to settle the matter.

“We, the ex-employees of Fire Bull Restaurant are asking for the justice and respect denied to us. We worked hard for our money and deserve to be paid. We have nothing against the owner but are incredibly hurt by her extreme disrespect and exploitation of us,” said a statement released by the workers on Monday. “For weeks she let us work, knowing full well she would never pay us and was planning on closing the restaurant. The world needs to know what she did and that we the workers are not going to take it.”

The workers and a few advocates for their cause held signs on Monday that read: “It’s the law, we work, we get paid!” and “It’s the law, no pay, no justice!” for about 30 minutes at the busy downtown intersection.

At one point they chanted: “We worked, we should get paid.”

Neither Coelho nor her husband Albert Riso could be reached by Peabody Patch – their home phone number is unlisted and a cell phone number on file with the city appeared to be disconnected. Coelho has hired a Beverly attorney, William Heney, but Heney did not return a phone call for comment.

Salem resident Felipe Fernandez, who stood outside protesting Monday, said he worked for Coelho for about 1-1/2 years in the kitchen, preparing meat. In that time, he said, he never once received pay for overtime despite regularly working about five hours extra per week. Fernandez said other workers were jilted out of far more overtime pay.

“She never told us her intentions [to close],” Fernandez said, adding she assured them the restaurant would be open when they came back to work. In fact, he personally went to her Peabody home that day to find out what was going on, but no one answered his knocks on the door. He said he did see a car in the driveway.

“We [have] rights. We want people in Peabody to know who she [really] is,” Fernandez said.

Peabody resident Iliceu Schneider was also protesting Monday. He said he worked at Fire Bull for more than 10 years and never had any “big problems” with Coelho.

“We came to work normally on Monday and it was closed and she won’t talk to us,” he said. “She won’t talk to anybody.”

Schneider said at the very least he hopes to get the two weeks of pay owed him. “I mean at that point, it would almost be sufficient. We just want to get paid,” he said, and added that a little “respect” would be nice.

Workers receive help from labor advocates


The Brazilian Immigrant Center, based out of Boston, has come to the aid of the workers, along with another advocacy coalition, Jobs With Justice.

Natalicia Tracy, the executive director of the Boston center also said her staff had tried, unsuccessfully, multiple times to contact Coelho.

"Unfortunately, she has chosen to ignore both the workers and current labor laws. We find her behavior to be exploitative and wrong, and we are happy to stand with the workers to fight for social justice," said Tracy in a statement.

Lydia Edwards, a legal representative for the center, said Heney told her that Coelho is preparing to file for bankruptcy for the restaurant.

“She’s been a pretty oppressive thief for years…they feel so humiliated,” Edwards said early Monday afternoon before attending the protest herself. “The workers really want people to understand who she is.”

The workers first contacted Brazilian news outlets, which directed them to the center in Boston and a complaint was eventually filed with the U.S. Department of Labor for non-payment of wages, Edwards said. Depending on the nature of a labor case, the federal agency will take jurisdiction over the state Attorney General’s office.

Edwards said a preliminary investigation was conducted by the DOL and an agreement was seemingly reached that Coelho, in good faith, would pay at least the two weeks’ worth of wages. Coelho did send out a few payments through Heney, according to Edwards, but those checks were written for far less than what was actually owed to the workers.

Fernandez said he is owed $900, but only got a check for about $300.

Edwards and Fernandez said the payments also included language that stated if the workers accepted the checks, they would be unable to make further claims in the matter. Edwards said that’s illegal and the DOL agreed.

A spokesman at the Boston bureau of the DOL was unable to confirm Monday afternoon where the official investigation stands now.

“It didn’t have to come to this,” said Edwards, referring to Monday’s protest and adding that all along the workers were willing to come to an agreement with Coelho. Edwards said her office is now looking into the possibility of filing a lawsuit as the next step.

While Coelho may be seeking bankruptcy protection for the restaurant, Edwards argued that they believe Coelho does have other assets, which she could use to settle the matter – the entire building at 5 Central St. for one. The restaurant is on the ground floor with apartments above. Neither Coelho’s nor her husband’s names appear in city assessors’ records as the property owners, however.

City takes back alcohol permits


Through the whole ordeal, Coelho has not directly communicated with her former employees, federal officials or Edwards – she and her husband have been similarly uncommunicative with city officials in regard to their alcohol licenses.

Riso obtained a full liquor license for Fire Bull this past summer that was also approved by state officials, but then never paid for the license nor came by to try to pick it up. Similarly, no action was taken on an existing beer and wine license, which needed to be returned to the city since the owners hadn’t sold it before obtaining the new license.

Licensing Board Clerk Julie Rydzewski said neither she nor the board ever heard back from the owners, leading the city to finally take back both licenses. The beer and wine license was granted to the earlier this month.


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