Settlement reached in Coralville woman’s wage theft case

CEDAR RAPIDS - Kossiwa Agbenowossi finally has been paid.

The 38-year-old Coralville woman received a check Monday for nearly $2,200 for 49 days of work cleaning the now-closed Coralville Outback Steakhouse.

After waiting a year-and-a-half to be paid, Agbenowossi received no interest on what was owed her, but taxes had been taken out of the $2,346 she claims an Outback subcontractor owed her.

'We're ecstatic” that Agbenowossi was paid, said Misty Rebik, executive director of the Center for Worker Justice of Eastern Iowa in Iowa City. Agbenowossi and the center will share their success story today at a 3:30 p.m. news conference.

At that time, the center will announce an action involving an Iowa City company that it claims commits similar wage thefts against its workers who are under contract to a staffing company.

While happy with the Agbenowossi settlement, Rebik is frustrated that it took so long and that neither the federal Department of Labor not Iowa Workforce Development pursued criminal charges in the case.

She called it 'crazy” that the agencies did not take the employer to court.

'You have employers who steal from workers, they admit it and are willing to pay, but they face no criminal penalties,” Rebik said.

On the other hand, Rebik said the settlement would not have been possible if Labor had not taken the complaint seriously.

In its investigation, the federal agency found others who were owed money by the subcontractor, Rebik said.

However, the Department of Labor cannot confirm that there was an investigation let alone comment on the settlement, according to Mike Staebell, an investigator in its Des Moines Wage and Hour Division. That's to protect the privacy of the employee and employer, he said.

Bloomin' Brands, which owns Outback, did not immediately responded to requests for comment.

Back in May, the center and labor unions organized a protest at the Cedar Rapids Outback Steakhouse to demand that Agbenowossi be paid. Although Agbenowossi did not work at the Cedar Rapids restaurant, Rebik said it used the same cleaning firm, which apparently was not licensed to do business in Iowa.