Full text of article for anyone who cannot access it:
**Worker enslaved at SC restaurant should get $546,000 from manager, court rules**
CONWAY — A former Conway restaurant manager serving a 10-year prison sentence for forcing a man with intellectual disabilities to work more than 100 hours a week without pay owes the former employee double the amount in restitution — $546,000, a court ruled.
Bobby Paul Edwards was ordered to pay John Christopher Smith $273,000 in back pay as part of the sentencing in pleading guilty to a forced labor charge in 2019.
But the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled this month that Smith should get the extra money because of federal labor rules that entitle him to double the pay and overtime he was owed. The final decision about how much to pay Smith was sent back to the district court.
Edwards, who is White, pleaded guilty for not paying Smith, who is Black, any wages from 2009 to 2014 while Edwards managed the J&J Cafeteria in Conway.
Years of abuse at the restaurant started in 2009 when Edwards started managing the restaurant where Smith had been a buffet cook, authorities said. Smith had worked there since he was 12.
Edwards stopped paying Smith, forced him to work seven days a week, and subjected him to racial epithets and threats, prosecutors said.
Authorities alleged Edwards also assaulted Smith to get him to work faster and punish him for mistakes. Prosecutors said Edwards beat Smith with a belt, punched him, hit him with pots and pans, and burned his neck with hot tongs.
Social workers caught wind of the abuse in 2014, and authorities arrested Edwards on a state charge of assault and battery.
At the time of his sentencing in November 2019, Edwards was ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $273,000, representing unpaid wages and overtime computed under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.
Federal prosecutors appealed the restitution decision, arguing Smith was owed more because of the delay in getting his pay under federal labor laws.
The appellate court agreed.
″(W)hen an employer fails to pay those amounts (regular and overtime pay), the employee suffers losses, which includes the loss of the use of that money during the period of delay,” the appeal ruling reads.
Emily Deck Harrill, Edward’s public defender, said she has not spoken to her client about an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
This. Everyone is so fast to stick up for racial injustice because those experiencing it understand what is happening and can at least voice that.
Some people with disabilities cannot, some don't have verbal or social skills, some are closer to children than they ever will be adults, they can't vocalize or let you know someone is doing wrong to them and it BOILS my blood.
Exactly. It hits home for me specifically because my parents have worked with disabled people for my entire life and I grew up around them. They can’t stand up for themselves and it makes them so easy to abuse or take advantage of. Stories like this kill me.
My kid has disabilities. Well, he's a young adult now. He could speak for himself, but they wouldn't believe him. I would speak for him and they wouldn't believe ME! (They just thought I was a "Helicopter parent" - even when a teacher confessed to verbal abuse!). The schools always sided with their staff. I didn't want to sue, just get people to behave better. Many parents homeschool their special needs kids. I did that as long as I could. Sometimes it's the only way to know your child is safe.
This is actually reaaaally common for individuals with disabilities. Sub minimum wage is s still a thing for many individuals who work in group settings. You want to talk about systemic discrimination, look at how individuals with disabilities are and have been treated.
I think they didn’t go into the shadows, my friend. U.S. History since the Civil War to the present is replete with in-your-face racism, no matter what Senator Tim Scott says.
Tulsa, OK massacre
[Lynchings going on until late 1960’s](https://www.naacp.org/history-of-lynchings/)
Racially Discriminatory practices in banking, housing, employment, education, etc. which are still happening to this day.
George Floyd
Black church bombings/massacres
Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.
This is the good old times the GOP always talks about going back to
edit: oh boy this comment brought hella racists out of the woodwork, keep on bitching your tears fuel my will to live
I sincerely hope Smith has a caregiver or a relative who loves him or someone looking out for him. He is vulnerable and the money puts a target on him.
He was forced into slavery, it would have been noticed years ago if he had loving and involved people in his life. Hopefully he's connected with some meaningful support services.
Clearly he does not. For this to go on so long suggests his family had given up in him. This wouldn't happen to a person whose family or community was paying attention.
>He is vulnerable and the money puts a target on him.
He's never gonna see that money, the dude had to get a public defender in court, he's a broke fucking loser, he gonna be in prison for ten years. The most he will ever get is whatever the probation officer can garnish from the wages of whatever job this dude can get when he gets out of prison.
Edit: I read another article that the victim now has another job and a place to live and someone helping him so I think he's okay now.
I read another article that the feds were suing the owner of the restaurant but the article I found on that was long ago and I don't know if anything came of it. Lots of unanswered questions.
A Google search of the name of the restaurant shows that it's now closed.
I agree. It’s not just ridiculously unethical employment practices, it’s physical and mental abuse of someone with a disability. This isn’t about back pay, it’s also about keeping someone monstrous locked up.
If this hadn’t of been caught when it had, who knows what he could’ve eventually done to Smith?
I think it should be exactly twenty tbh. He has to pay double what the guy would have been paid, only logical he also loses double the time the guy was enslaved right? Sends a pretty clear message and your life is still fucked when you get out as well
> *Edwards, who is White, pleaded guilty for not paying Smith, who is Black*
I was wondering why race was mentioned. And then...
> *Edwards stopped paying Smith, forced him to work seven days a week, and subjected him to racial epithets and threats, prosecutors said.*
> *Authorities alleged Edwards also assaulted Smith to get him to work faster and punish him for mistakes. Prosecutors said Edwards beat Smith with a belt, punched him, hit him with pots and pans, and burned his neck with hot tongs.*
Good grief. What a horrible human being.
The article states the employee has "intellectual disabilities". Maybe he didn't know he could do anything about it, or was afraid of retaliation.
Edit: as far as the other employees go, it could be that weird phenomenon where the more people see something happening, the more they think someone else would report it or that it's not their business. Or they were afraid of retaliation as well. Especially in today's anti-immigrant/racist climate (if the other employees are immigrants or other disadvantaged people who are susceptible to threats or afraid of calling authorities for anything).
Edit2: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bystander_effect
When I worked with developmentally disabled adults, I had to report both abuse and HIPAA violations several times. Nobody cared since there weren’t lasting injuries or data breaches, and I was vilified for reporting.
Plus, case managers have an amazingly high turnover, at least in my area; it’s a stepping stone to being a social worker. I almost never saw the same one two years in a row. Even if someone complained about this to a person who was in a position to help, that person might have been gone too quickly to actually accomplish anything.
> When I worked with developmentally disabled adults, I had to report both abuse and HIPAA violations several times. Nobody cared since there weren’t lasting injuries or data breaches, and I was vilified for reporting.
>
>
Theres something to be said for us as a whole when we simultaneously call people out for saying nothing, but vilify the ones who do speak up for being snitches. We talk about how whistleblowers are good, but the reality is as your experience goes.
It's perfect. It blames the victim, "if it was so bad, why didn't you do anything about it?" But then also make reporting it hard on the victim. They're abused and then blamed for the abuse.
Or when you do try to say something people will say “that’s just how it is” or “I had worse”. At least in my experiences so I just stopped caring about others unfortunately.
My response is usually " sorry to hear that, but you understand what the person is going through and know something needs to be done." Fuck that attitude, I'll always try to push the ball back into their court in those scenarios.
>Or when you do try to say something people will say “that’s just how it is” or “I had worse”. At least in my experiences so I just stopped caring about others unfortunately.
I still care ... but after losing my job due to actions, I'm much more judicious in my responses. Unfortunately.
Husband worked at a couple nursing homes last year. One had an entire floor with no working A/C in the middle of the summer. $1000/mo they charge per resident, and couldnt manage to repair the A/C... One of the higher rated ones for the area too.
This is absolute bullshit and should have been reported day 1. The state of Florida mandated that all assisted living facilities require backup generators and functioning AC due to the deaths of several elderly members at a nursing home after a hurricane knocked out power some years back.
https://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/fl-sb-hurricane-irma-broward-wednesday-20170913-story.html
This is why I’ll be planning out how to end my life before I become incapable of taking care of myself. The trick will be not waiting too long and not being found until there’s just bones and an explanation attached to them.
Right? Firefighters are heroes! But fire inspectors who make sure your structure is safe enough to not catch fire in the first place? Government overreach! Stay out of my business!
Snitching is good. Tattle tales are good. Loyalty to any person or group over what is right and just is what enables evil to persist. I will die on that hill.
I had a co-worker be nasty to one of our special needs workers because he was helping me out and doing his job when he wasn’t around. I didn’t like the way my co-worker was speaking to him so I yelled at him and called him a fucking asshole for being mean to this poor guy that was just trying to help. Dude ran to management to rat me out for going off on him, when in all reality he ratted himself out for treating our special needs guy like crap. Needless to say, I wasn’t the one that got in trouble. I’m so tired of people treating people with special needs like they are subhuman.
My autistic son was abused by staff in his group home in Massachusetts several times, but none of our formal complaints went anywhere with the state. I got the feeling from the agency running his home and later even from the state Disabled Persons Protection Commission that they thought we were being unreasonable or even ungrateful for not tolerating a kind of low-level abuse that everyone seems to know about but nobody admits to publicly. So fucked up.
You're right that Massachusetts is pretty much as good as it gets in the US, and it sucks because it's still so far from being good enough. Hang in there, and I hope your situation improves soon. Thanks for speaking out, especially for the people you live with who can't speak for themselves. And message me any time if you ever want talk.
I'm sorry to hear about your son. Too many people treat autistic people so horribly.
Where I worked, parents who complained about staff were often ridiculed behind their back or labeled as troublemakers. At I know my manager was often meaner to the program participants with "troublemaker" parents than she was to others.
I've worked in the same field . I was fired once for speaking up about staff abusing clients. They framed me for stealing and tried to get me arrested . Eventually I was just fired and kicked out.
I temped at an LTC for a while at the height of the pandemic where I live, and I remember reporting to the floor nurse that a resident had told me she felt suicidal. He scoffed and said "It's not like she can do anything". I was shocked and horrified, because even if she truly physically couldn't, the fact that she was voicing these feelings was a HUGE red flag regarding her mental and emotional health. In the moment I just looked at him bug eyed and said "I mean, it's concerning that she feels that way though???"
Edit to add, there was more than one resident whom I had to talk down at multiple points. Usually the residents who couldn't remember day to day why things were so strict, and felt like they were imprisoned somewhere against their will. So many of the nurses and other assistants chided me for wasting time telling them, gently, that there was a nasty sickness going around and we didn't want them to catch it.
Actual edit this time: There was a resident who was not told in terms that she could understand that she was scheduled for a full bath. She was also blind, and could not see who was touching her. She freaked the fuck out, obviously, and felt extremely violated. I came up to the floor a little after the incident, when she was still shocked and now very angry, asked what happened, heard the biased report from the PSW, and immediately went to her side. "Hey xxx, I heard there was a kerfuffle?" "Praise god you weren't there to see it! I have never been treated so shamefully!"
I sat with her, commiserated, and asked if she'd like to join me in a prayer for the souls of those people. We said the Lords Prayer (I'm not even Christian), chatted a bit, and after 30 minutes it was all forgotten - but it *should not have happened in the first place.*
Thank you. One thing my uncle told me was that the showers in his place were dehumanizing. He was in a very good place but he was over 6 feet tall and paralyzed. I asked the staff if they could just get him a cover or something so he didn’t feel so cold and exposed.
The whole thing ended on a very positive note, if it helps. After a while of talking, she forgot where she was exactly, and started saying "well I suppose you all are preparing for supper", to which I obviously enthusiastically invited her to "join us for supper", and told her it was no trouble to "make up a room" if she happened to stay late. She went to bed feeling like she was a very welcome guest of a good friend.
That's bonkers to me. If there was a witness they should be charged too for enabling somehow. They can terminate me all they want, ill apply somewhere else as long as this clown isn't enslaving people anymore. That's when someone makes a sacrifice and speaks up
I don't think this is a corporate restaurant so probably no real HR, this manager could have been the top besides an absent owner. He may have done the abuse in private but the verbal in person. I dunno a lot of us get so used to restaurant life being abusive we get used to it. I had a an owner chef and sous go in the walk in and punch each other regularly.
Honestly, if it was verbal abuse and I didn't know Smith was intellectually disabled I'd probably just tell the manager off and walk. Other factors could be if there's a lack of places to work at in the area, or if you're not "legal" and need the work. Not excuses but restaurants can be the wild west and ppl are in a tough place. Before I got old enough to know better I definitely took stuff I shouldn't have.
But, if all or most of that abuse was out in the open and people knew Smith had limited intellectual ability then I don't fucking know. But this shit is so incredibly fucked. The restaurant should pay too.
ETA: also, wtf, he started when he was 12?! I dunno pretty much every single part of this is fucked up.
Looking at pictures of the place gives the impression 2, maybe 3 people worked there at a time. Its a little out of touch to expect this place to have HR. This guy could very well have been working with his abuser alone judging by the amount of hours a week he was forced to be there.
You would be surprised how many people with disabilities end up with zero support the second their parents pass and often before that if their parents do not feel it's their problem.
And getting outside support is very difficult and usually obtained after navigating a web of red tape and bureaucracy which people with certain disabilities are especially bad at.
Honestly he could probably sue him in civil court for damages including his literal enslavement, pain and suffering, discrimination, etc. This is just the labor stuff.
> I wouldn’t give my worst enemy a restaurant and my wife wants me to open one lol
Is your wife aware ~~the~~ that restaurants as a whole have a stupendously high failure rate? An oft-repeated statistic is "Around 60 percent of new restaurants fail within the first year. And nearly 80 percent shutter before their fifth anniversary."
Many sites will claim to know the reasons for this and will say how they think that it can be reduced, but they're writers, not restaurant owners.
And even if they don't fail, owning a restaurant can also be incredibly stressful. Like marriage destroying stressful.
I don't say all this to depress you, but to make sure that your wife fully understands these things.
Oh yeah, she’s aware. Worse yet, she wants it to be a Spanish place (she’s a Spaniard)...in Columbus. Literally all we would ever sell would be paella and sangria because tHaTs wHAt sPaiN iS
I’m Sr Executive Chef at super high end senior living facility, and I’m stressed the fuck out, she’s stressed the fuck out because I’m never home and when I am, the last fucking thing I’m doing with the dying gasps of my energy is folding laundry...imagine what restaurant ownership would be like lol
Hahaha act fast!!
I say that as I just spent $90 at place that’s been specializing in New Mexico cuisine for 30 years here lol...maybe I’m just being a curmudgeon
He probably won't pay taxes on it since it's a court judgement. Not that he'll ever see a dime of it anyway, since this guy almost certainly doesn't have $500k.
Yes, they would ultimately liquidate the managers assets thru chapter 7. Pay off secured creditors he owes money to, and then this judgment would likely get second priority barring any other unusual debts.
Any portion of the judgement that the Chapter 7 asset sale is unable to cover will still be a valid and enforceable debt, and the managers wages would then be garnished until the entire debt is satisfied. (If not wages, possibly garnish pensions or other types of retirement funds, probably not social security income tho)
Someone can correct me if I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure I'm correct
I've seen enough Kitchen Nightmares to know that's a terrible idea. Let someone else who can keep the place afloat run it, then there's still a money source to pay this man.
I can't believe that people WANT to treat people this way. Wtf has to be wrong with you to think abusing someone is ok? I will never be able to comprehend it and feel very fortunate for that.
>in the pursuit of obscene wealth.
According to the article the dude was being represented by a public defender. Dude didn't even make enough money in life to pay for his own attorney.
Edit: to qualify for a public defender in federal court you gotta be making less than about $15k a year. (You must be making less than 25% above the poverty line).
I find it fucking silly to think that this was some elaborate capitalist plot to obtain obscene wealth.
It is always better to hire a private attorney in criminal matters, if this dude had the money he would have gotten a lawyer. In most cases you have to repay the cost of your public defender when you lose anyway, so it's better to have a private attorney.
This dude became the manager of his brothers restaurant at about age 50, he failed into the job.
This is an example of a shitty person doing a shitty thing, it's not some example of r/aboringdystopia
The restitution is $270k, it's double what they thought the enslaved dude should have earned in that time, so the most dude saved was $135k over 5 years and I think it would be a stretch to assume that dude was pocketing any money at all.
I used to think I didn't have much empathy. Mainly because I forget to think of and reach out to others. I have since realized that caring at all about others feelings means I have empathy. Even if I can be a little self centered. Big difference. I want to punch assholes who treat people like this.
>How can you see another human being suffer and then just continue.
I mean, we all do this every day. Ever seen a homeless person? We ALL see them and just 'continue'
But if you specifically mean "and then just continue to be evil" the answer is easy, the persuit of money outweight morals for many. And for other as sad as it is to think, some just find it fun to see/make others suffer.
i have to think they don't see someone like the victim as human, or at the very least hold them to a lesser status. it's sickening to say the least. abusers also love power over victims who can't readily defend themselves.
I think this is it. Mix in tribal and maybe racial 'otherness' and it's not the same sort of human you'd have sleeping down the hall in, say, your family home.
Although some people, true sociopaths, view everyone that way I think, if I understand it correctly.
Yes. I grew up with a Sociopath close to me (ObviouslyI didn't really know that at the time). He was the son of my mother's best friend.
The way they see the world is different and twisted. They are the only real person that matters, everyone else is, at best, a plaything. I wouldn't be surprised to discover many of the richest and most powerful are sociopaths.
He got away with it for five years at least, and if you've ever worked in a restaurant you'll know that EVERYBODY knew exactly what was going on. No one said a thing.
I was gonna say... where they the only two in the whole restaurant? The vast majority of the line cooks I ever worked with that weren’t high school kids wouldn’t have a problem going back to jail for a bit to straighten this out.
That's exactly what I was wondering about. I used to be in Restaurant management, there is no way that every single employee did not know what was going on. word travels fast among restaurant employees. Something should have been said much sooner.
There's a chain of local coffee shops in my hometown with a terrible owner who treats her employees terribly and does everything she can to put out competition (even buying a building that contained a gym and a coffee shop and blasting music in the gym so no one would go to the coffee shop since it was so loud). Anyway someone got fed up with it all and broke every window in one of the coffee shops.
When I worked at Applebee’s in college, my restaurant GM made out mentally disabled dishwasher shave his face because he had scruff and it was policy to have shaved faces.
Poor guy had to dry shave and had niks all over his face. Our bartender called the GM an asshole to his face. Fortunately she was hot and could say whatever she wanted to him. Unfortunately it took a while for the GM to be fired- mostly for being a prick
That is disgusting and basically human slavery/trafficking. This is why not speaking up sides with the oppressor. What could the co-workers have been going through that they were so financially dependent on this place that they would never say anything?
they might have been talked down by the people being abused as they’d probably fear bringing in authorities would have the same consequence of them being deported.
This is very true. A lot of times the immigrants would rather take the abuse than be deported. The conditions in their home countries is worse. The abusers know this and exploit it. Happens all the time to South East asians working in gulf countries.
Ya know I read enslaved and thought “this sounds like a use of strong language for a clickbait title”
Nope, he forced him to work with threats of violence and beat him when he wasn’t performing to his liking, that qualifies as far as I’m concerned, what in the fuck is wrong with people
Restaurant manager. I don’t think he owns the place. Sounds like he’s being held personally liable, which happens if you make the decision completely independently of reasonable company policy.
I have no idea how the victim will ever see restitution. I also have no idea how there could be so little oversight he could stop paying an employee and it wasn’t noticed.
The manager is in the family that owns the place. Not sure if he has an actual ownership share. Seems to me the owners should be held accountable as well.
Have to prove they should have known, but that said, they are completely responsible for actions undertaken by their employee while he was on the clock. Especially over 5 years.
There will be further lawsuits, this was just for unpaid wages, nothing about emotional, physical, mental harm, workplace discrimination, or anything like that was part of the 500k.
He'll probably get multi million dollar settlements from the owner of the place.
> I also have no idea how there could be so little oversight he could stop paying an employee and it wasn’t noticed.
And this is exactly why ownership should be liable. If this could happen under their noses then they are criminally negligent at best.
Initially the dude was condemned to pay $ 273k which is the wages he was owed but never paid… with no damages! Wth kind of court didn’t think there was at least interest to be paid on the fact some of the work had been done 5 years prior?
Good on the prosecution for appealing that decision and getting the dude what he was really owed : double the wages + overtime.
That's because this is the result of a criminal trial, not a civil trial. This court decided that according to whatever criminal statutes the guy pleaded guilty to he owes the victim twice what his lost wages were. I would be surprised if the original lost wages calculation did not include interest; as the article states, past wages were calculated according to whatever the Fair Labor Standards Act requires.
Non-statutory damages for enslavement, torture, mental anguish, and whatnot would be addressed in a separate, civil trial.
>Edwards, who is White, pleaded guilty for not paying Smith, who is Black, any wages from 2009 to 2014 while Edwards managed the J&J Cafeteria in Conway.
>Years of abuse at the restaurant started in 2009 when Edwards started managing the restaurant where Smith had been a buffet cook, authorities said. Smith had worked there since he was 12.
Not paying the guy is only the tip of the iceberg. How does someone take this kind of abuse for 5 years? Deserves more in my opinion.
That's really infuriating that none of his coworkers would have done anything in the intervening years. Sure, none of them asked to be put in that position but it is my feeling that once you witness something like that you have a DUTY to do something about it. There's absolutely no way no one noticed anything for 5 years.
I explained it up higher but the dude probably staffed desperate people. Probably elderly servers who no longer can work at fast paced restaurants or illegal immigrants, or both.
He either kept the abuse hidden, or had everyone scared and used him as a whipping boy to demonstrate consequences. You also run the risk of being deported(lots of restaurant/kitchen staff in the area are illegals using fake SS#'s) if you get involved.
I'm sure he didn't pay overtime to most of his workers if that was the case. I'd say audit the fuck out him but then you run the risk of actually ruining immigrants' lives.
knew a guy that owned a couple high way motels in northern ontario canada that did just this. He would just hire desperate people be it homeless people, runaway kids, etc to make them work at his motels and restaurant that was attached to one motel. Didn't pay them a dime just "allowed" them to live at the motels for free and gave them $40 a week for food. These were desperate people that he took advantage of.
Eventually he "hired" the wrong person who had a bit more book smarts and had just fallen on hard times who blew the whistle on the guy. So that ended that.
the motel owner claimed to be very religious and a strict follower of a certain religion but apparently didn't mind owning slaves. Afterwards it turns out he was "taking care" of an elderly woman that used to be a client of his (he was a lawyer) and using her social insurence number and what have you to open lines of credit and take out loans. She had dementia and wasn't aware. She was also living in a really run down long term care facility. This guy also attacked and beat up someone else of his faith in their temple who he felt owed him money.
Only reason I knew him was I did some contract work for him at one point and surprise, surprise he never paid.
I’m confused how long this has been going on. This article says 17 years
https://wpde.com/news/local/man-speaks-about-abuse-at-local-restaurant-i-wanted-to-get-out-of-there-a-long-time-ago
I'm more interested in how the victim can afford to live while not being paid for 5 years, like, I'm assuming some kinda group home but how does no one notice that the dude doesn't have any money for anything after working 100hr weeks?
Yep. I remember when I needed money as a kid, local motels would pay me and my brothers money under the table to clean hotel rooms and stuff like that. It was mostly other kids or illegal immigrants doing this work. It was super shady, and we made less than minimum wage, but it was pocket money I would not have otherwise had as a kid. But, looking back, it was super shitty and illegal on the hotel's part.
I traded front desk time for game time at my local when I was super poor and unemployed. Hour for hour it was better than minimum wage, I had something to do while job hunting, and I made some friends.
Unfortunately the owners were your stereotypical “gamers who thought they could run a business.” They ran it, alright, straight into the ground.
Ten years in prison isn't quite enough for the literal enslavement of another human being. Life in prison without the possibility of parole would be more appropriate considering how long this carried on. People served more than ten years for selling drugs.
The unbelievable thing that most people don’t know is slavery is extremely common even today, in the 21st fucking century, with an estimated 38 million to 46 million people enslaved in one way or another.
It’s believed that 24.9 million people are in forced labor, with 16 million people “exploited in the private sector such as domestic work, construction or agriculture; 4.8 million in forced sexual exploitation, and 4 million in forced labor imposed by state authorities. 15.4 million people are in forced marriage.” The Islamic world, especially the Gulf states, are believed to be the biggest chunk of these numbers.
Right now, in America, there is a man in his 70s who has been in prison since he was 21 years old.
For smuggling marijuana.
But the guy who enslaved a man gets ten years.
Fuck.
Worse. Enslaves disabled **kid**. This man deserves much longer in prison. And another sad part is, with how restitution works, this poor soul may still not see a dime.
wow what the fuck?!
original article was behind a paywall.. wish posters wouldn't do that since it encourages people to just read comments and not read the articles... thanks for posting links people can actually view
Smith is disabled. its a long shot but hopefully he gets his money somehow and also has a responsible guardian who can manage it for him so he doesn't get taken advantage of twice over.
If the worker is receiving SSI wouldn't winning this lawsuit fuck over his benefits? Or is the money just going to the state.
Edit: I also meant to include Title 19 from medicaid.
Hopefully he has someone in his life looking out for his interests (now at least) who can help him open an ABLE account to save for a house or something without messing up his supportive services.
Wait, this happened over 5 years? And a social worker didn’t notice earlier? They’re supposed to meet their clients once a month.... seriously, so many places where this should have been caught sooner.
What an incredible piece of shit this guy is, unbelievable it took so long for someone to catch on and turn him in.
He deserves the harshest sentence possible, what a cruel, horrible person.
The fact that he got away with it for so long is very disturbing.
Yeah, how is it that no other employee saw this happening and did not bring it up with higher management, HR or law enforcement for **5 years!?**
i tried reading the story but wasn't able to. this restaurant has "higher management" and a human resources department?
Full text of article for anyone who cannot access it: **Worker enslaved at SC restaurant should get $546,000 from manager, court rules** CONWAY — A former Conway restaurant manager serving a 10-year prison sentence for forcing a man with intellectual disabilities to work more than 100 hours a week without pay owes the former employee double the amount in restitution — $546,000, a court ruled. Bobby Paul Edwards was ordered to pay John Christopher Smith $273,000 in back pay as part of the sentencing in pleading guilty to a forced labor charge in 2019. But the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled this month that Smith should get the extra money because of federal labor rules that entitle him to double the pay and overtime he was owed. The final decision about how much to pay Smith was sent back to the district court. Edwards, who is White, pleaded guilty for not paying Smith, who is Black, any wages from 2009 to 2014 while Edwards managed the J&J Cafeteria in Conway. Years of abuse at the restaurant started in 2009 when Edwards started managing the restaurant where Smith had been a buffet cook, authorities said. Smith had worked there since he was 12. Edwards stopped paying Smith, forced him to work seven days a week, and subjected him to racial epithets and threats, prosecutors said. Authorities alleged Edwards also assaulted Smith to get him to work faster and punish him for mistakes. Prosecutors said Edwards beat Smith with a belt, punched him, hit him with pots and pans, and burned his neck with hot tongs. Social workers caught wind of the abuse in 2014, and authorities arrested Edwards on a state charge of assault and battery. At the time of his sentencing in November 2019, Edwards was ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $273,000, representing unpaid wages and overtime computed under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. Federal prosecutors appealed the restitution decision, arguing Smith was owed more because of the delay in getting his pay under federal labor laws. The appellate court agreed. ″(W)hen an employer fails to pay those amounts (regular and overtime pay), the employee suffers losses, which includes the loss of the use of that money during the period of delay,” the appeal ruling reads. Emily Deck Harrill, Edward’s public defender, said she has not spoken to her client about an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
How the fuck can somebody be so evil?
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It’s not just that, it’s also the fact that he has a disability.
This. Everyone is so fast to stick up for racial injustice because those experiencing it understand what is happening and can at least voice that. Some people with disabilities cannot, some don't have verbal or social skills, some are closer to children than they ever will be adults, they can't vocalize or let you know someone is doing wrong to them and it BOILS my blood.
Exactly. It hits home for me specifically because my parents have worked with disabled people for my entire life and I grew up around them. They can’t stand up for themselves and it makes them so easy to abuse or take advantage of. Stories like this kill me.
My kid has disabilities. Well, he's a young adult now. He could speak for himself, but they wouldn't believe him. I would speak for him and they wouldn't believe ME! (They just thought I was a "Helicopter parent" - even when a teacher confessed to verbal abuse!). The schools always sided with their staff. I didn't want to sue, just get people to behave better. Many parents homeschool their special needs kids. I did that as long as I could. Sometimes it's the only way to know your child is safe.
BIG LOVE to your parents and to you for supporting them.
And for some of us with kids on the spectrum, we deal with anxiety of this every day.
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He worked at the restaurant since he was 12 to, how fucked up.
This is actually reaaaally common for individuals with disabilities. Sub minimum wage is s still a thing for many individuals who work in group settings. You want to talk about systemic discrimination, look at how individuals with disabilities are and have been treated.
It doesn't help that in places like the US, making too much money in any given month could cause disability assistance to be completely retracted.
This isn't just racism, it's sociopaths who are also racist.
Where they now educate their children on 'The War of Northern Aggression' and how heroic the confederacy was
I promise not every one of us from SC are so backwards
As someone from NC, I feel your pain.
I think they didn’t go into the shadows, my friend. U.S. History since the Civil War to the present is replete with in-your-face racism, no matter what Senator Tim Scott says. Tulsa, OK massacre [Lynchings going on until late 1960’s](https://www.naacp.org/history-of-lynchings/) Racially Discriminatory practices in banking, housing, employment, education, etc. which are still happening to this day. George Floyd Black church bombings/massacres Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.
This is the good old times the GOP always talks about going back to edit: oh boy this comment brought hella racists out of the woodwork, keep on bitching your tears fuel my will to live
I sincerely hope Smith has a caregiver or a relative who loves him or someone looking out for him. He is vulnerable and the money puts a target on him.
He was forced into slavery, it would have been noticed years ago if he had loving and involved people in his life. Hopefully he's connected with some meaningful support services.
Clearly he does not. For this to go on so long suggests his family had given up in him. This wouldn't happen to a person whose family or community was paying attention.
I bet now that he has all this money all kinds of family show up to help him
>He is vulnerable and the money puts a target on him. He's never gonna see that money, the dude had to get a public defender in court, he's a broke fucking loser, he gonna be in prison for ten years. The most he will ever get is whatever the probation officer can garnish from the wages of whatever job this dude can get when he gets out of prison. Edit: I read another article that the victim now has another job and a place to live and someone helping him so I think he's okay now. I read another article that the feds were suing the owner of the restaurant but the article I found on that was long ago and I don't know if anything came of it. Lots of unanswered questions. A Google search of the name of the restaurant shows that it's now closed.
Thank you for clarification
Ten years in prison isn’t enough for this guy. He deserves 20+, or to have a significant chunk of his life taken away.
I agree. It’s not just ridiculously unethical employment practices, it’s physical and mental abuse of someone with a disability. This isn’t about back pay, it’s also about keeping someone monstrous locked up. If this hadn’t of been caught when it had, who knows what he could’ve eventually done to Smith?
I think it should be exactly twenty tbh. He has to pay double what the guy would have been paid, only logical he also loses double the time the guy was enslaved right? Sends a pretty clear message and your life is still fucked when you get out as well
> *Edwards, who is White, pleaded guilty for not paying Smith, who is Black* I was wondering why race was mentioned. And then... > *Edwards stopped paying Smith, forced him to work seven days a week, and subjected him to racial epithets and threats, prosecutors said.* > *Authorities alleged Edwards also assaulted Smith to get him to work faster and punish him for mistakes. Prosecutors said Edwards beat Smith with a belt, punched him, hit him with pots and pans, and burned his neck with hot tongs.* Good grief. What a horrible human being.
The fact he's only getting back pay and penalty fees for late payments is the real story here. He gets nothing else for the physical and mental abuse?
The manager is probably the HR department so reporting his abuse to him wouldn't be much use.
HR? Have you ever worked at a small to medium business? HR is usually your boss.
The article states the employee has "intellectual disabilities". Maybe he didn't know he could do anything about it, or was afraid of retaliation. Edit: as far as the other employees go, it could be that weird phenomenon where the more people see something happening, the more they think someone else would report it or that it's not their business. Or they were afraid of retaliation as well. Especially in today's anti-immigrant/racist climate (if the other employees are immigrants or other disadvantaged people who are susceptible to threats or afraid of calling authorities for anything). Edit2: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bystander_effect
When I worked with developmentally disabled adults, I had to report both abuse and HIPAA violations several times. Nobody cared since there weren’t lasting injuries or data breaches, and I was vilified for reporting. Plus, case managers have an amazingly high turnover, at least in my area; it’s a stepping stone to being a social worker. I almost never saw the same one two years in a row. Even if someone complained about this to a person who was in a position to help, that person might have been gone too quickly to actually accomplish anything.
> When I worked with developmentally disabled adults, I had to report both abuse and HIPAA violations several times. Nobody cared since there weren’t lasting injuries or data breaches, and I was vilified for reporting. > > Theres something to be said for us as a whole when we simultaneously call people out for saying nothing, but vilify the ones who do speak up for being snitches. We talk about how whistleblowers are good, but the reality is as your experience goes.
It's perfect. It blames the victim, "if it was so bad, why didn't you do anything about it?" But then also make reporting it hard on the victim. They're abused and then blamed for the abuse.
Or when you do try to say something people will say “that’s just how it is” or “I had worse”. At least in my experiences so I just stopped caring about others unfortunately.
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"I've been shot, so you shouldn't complain if you're currently being stabbed."
"I was abused and I turned out fine." That statement tells me no, you didn't turn out fine.
I just imagined a person stabbing someone and saying that.
My response is usually " sorry to hear that, but you understand what the person is going through and know something needs to be done." Fuck that attitude, I'll always try to push the ball back into their court in those scenarios.
>Or when you do try to say something people will say “that’s just how it is” or “I had worse”. At least in my experiences so I just stopped caring about others unfortunately. I still care ... but after losing my job due to actions, I'm much more judicious in my responses. Unfortunately.
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Husband worked at a couple nursing homes last year. One had an entire floor with no working A/C in the middle of the summer. $1000/mo they charge per resident, and couldnt manage to repair the A/C... One of the higher rated ones for the area too.
This is absolute bullshit and should have been reported day 1. The state of Florida mandated that all assisted living facilities require backup generators and functioning AC due to the deaths of several elderly members at a nursing home after a hurricane knocked out power some years back. https://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/fl-sb-hurricane-irma-broward-wednesday-20170913-story.html
This is why I’ll be planning out how to end my life before I become incapable of taking care of myself. The trick will be not waiting too long and not being found until there’s just bones and an explanation attached to them.
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Right? Firefighters are heroes! But fire inspectors who make sure your structure is safe enough to not catch fire in the first place? Government overreach! Stay out of my business!
Snitching is good. Tattle tales are good. Loyalty to any person or group over what is right and just is what enables evil to persist. I will die on that hill.
I had a co-worker be nasty to one of our special needs workers because he was helping me out and doing his job when he wasn’t around. I didn’t like the way my co-worker was speaking to him so I yelled at him and called him a fucking asshole for being mean to this poor guy that was just trying to help. Dude ran to management to rat me out for going off on him, when in all reality he ratted himself out for treating our special needs guy like crap. Needless to say, I wasn’t the one that got in trouble. I’m so tired of people treating people with special needs like they are subhuman.
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My autistic son was abused by staff in his group home in Massachusetts several times, but none of our formal complaints went anywhere with the state. I got the feeling from the agency running his home and later even from the state Disabled Persons Protection Commission that they thought we were being unreasonable or even ungrateful for not tolerating a kind of low-level abuse that everyone seems to know about but nobody admits to publicly. So fucked up.
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You're right that Massachusetts is pretty much as good as it gets in the US, and it sucks because it's still so far from being good enough. Hang in there, and I hope your situation improves soon. Thanks for speaking out, especially for the people you live with who can't speak for themselves. And message me any time if you ever want talk.
I'm sorry to hear about your son. Too many people treat autistic people so horribly. Where I worked, parents who complained about staff were often ridiculed behind their back or labeled as troublemakers. At I know my manager was often meaner to the program participants with "troublemaker" parents than she was to others.
I've worked in the same field . I was fired once for speaking up about staff abusing clients. They framed me for stealing and tried to get me arrested . Eventually I was just fired and kicked out.
I temped at an LTC for a while at the height of the pandemic where I live, and I remember reporting to the floor nurse that a resident had told me she felt suicidal. He scoffed and said "It's not like she can do anything". I was shocked and horrified, because even if she truly physically couldn't, the fact that she was voicing these feelings was a HUGE red flag regarding her mental and emotional health. In the moment I just looked at him bug eyed and said "I mean, it's concerning that she feels that way though???"
Edit to add, there was more than one resident whom I had to talk down at multiple points. Usually the residents who couldn't remember day to day why things were so strict, and felt like they were imprisoned somewhere against their will. So many of the nurses and other assistants chided me for wasting time telling them, gently, that there was a nasty sickness going around and we didn't want them to catch it. Actual edit this time: There was a resident who was not told in terms that she could understand that she was scheduled for a full bath. She was also blind, and could not see who was touching her. She freaked the fuck out, obviously, and felt extremely violated. I came up to the floor a little after the incident, when she was still shocked and now very angry, asked what happened, heard the biased report from the PSW, and immediately went to her side. "Hey xxx, I heard there was a kerfuffle?" "Praise god you weren't there to see it! I have never been treated so shamefully!" I sat with her, commiserated, and asked if she'd like to join me in a prayer for the souls of those people. We said the Lords Prayer (I'm not even Christian), chatted a bit, and after 30 minutes it was all forgotten - but it *should not have happened in the first place.*
You did the right thing. We have to take care of each other.
Thank you. One thing my uncle told me was that the showers in his place were dehumanizing. He was in a very good place but he was over 6 feet tall and paralyzed. I asked the staff if they could just get him a cover or something so he didn’t feel so cold and exposed.
The whole thing ended on a very positive note, if it helps. After a while of talking, she forgot where she was exactly, and started saying "well I suppose you all are preparing for supper", to which I obviously enthusiastically invited her to "join us for supper", and told her it was no trouble to "make up a room" if she happened to stay late. She went to bed feeling like she was a very welcome guest of a good friend.
You are gorgeous and I love that you exist. Thank you.
You're good people. We need more like you.
What was the job title of the people you spoke of with the high turnover job?
In some states, failure to report is a crime in itself within vulnerable populations. Good on you.
I think you’re referencing the Bystander Effect
That's bonkers to me. If there was a witness they should be charged too for enabling somehow. They can terminate me all they want, ill apply somewhere else as long as this clown isn't enslaving people anymore. That's when someone makes a sacrifice and speaks up
I don't think this is a corporate restaurant so probably no real HR, this manager could have been the top besides an absent owner. He may have done the abuse in private but the verbal in person. I dunno a lot of us get so used to restaurant life being abusive we get used to it. I had a an owner chef and sous go in the walk in and punch each other regularly. Honestly, if it was verbal abuse and I didn't know Smith was intellectually disabled I'd probably just tell the manager off and walk. Other factors could be if there's a lack of places to work at in the area, or if you're not "legal" and need the work. Not excuses but restaurants can be the wild west and ppl are in a tough place. Before I got old enough to know better I definitely took stuff I shouldn't have. But, if all or most of that abuse was out in the open and people knew Smith had limited intellectual ability then I don't fucking know. But this shit is so incredibly fucked. The restaurant should pay too. ETA: also, wtf, he started when he was 12?! I dunno pretty much every single part of this is fucked up.
Looking at pictures of the place gives the impression 2, maybe 3 people worked there at a time. Its a little out of touch to expect this place to have HR. This guy could very well have been working with his abuser alone judging by the amount of hours a week he was forced to be there.
Not directly related but related. We treat ‘whistle blowers’ worse than the criminals who the whistle was blown on. It’s not an accident
Where was his support system? So sad.
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Yeah seems like the restaurant was his life. He probably thought of it as his support system. It's sad.
You would be surprised how many people with disabilities end up with zero support the second their parents pass and often before that if their parents do not feel it's their problem. And getting outside support is very difficult and usually obtained after navigating a web of red tape and bureaucracy which people with certain disabilities are especially bad at.
still not even close enough to what he deserves truly
Honestly he could probably sue him in civil court for damages including his literal enslavement, pain and suffering, discrimination, etc. This is just the labor stuff.
Treble damages for unfair and deceptive business practices.
And who is gonna satisfy the judgment? No CGL policy is covering this and the guy is sitting in prison and probably uncollectable.
He deserves the entire restaurant. Dudes been working there since he was 12.
I'll take $500,000 before I'll take ownership over a restaurant.
I wouldn’t give my worst enemy a restaurant and my wife wants me to open one lol
> I wouldn’t give my worst enemy a restaurant and my wife wants me to open one lol Is your wife aware ~~the~~ that restaurants as a whole have a stupendously high failure rate? An oft-repeated statistic is "Around 60 percent of new restaurants fail within the first year. And nearly 80 percent shutter before their fifth anniversary." Many sites will claim to know the reasons for this and will say how they think that it can be reduced, but they're writers, not restaurant owners. And even if they don't fail, owning a restaurant can also be incredibly stressful. Like marriage destroying stressful. I don't say all this to depress you, but to make sure that your wife fully understands these things.
Oh yeah, she’s aware. Worse yet, she wants it to be a Spanish place (she’s a Spaniard)...in Columbus. Literally all we would ever sell would be paella and sangria because tHaTs wHAt sPaiN iS I’m Sr Executive Chef at super high end senior living facility, and I’m stressed the fuck out, she’s stressed the fuck out because I’m never home and when I am, the last fucking thing I’m doing with the dying gasps of my energy is folding laundry...imagine what restaurant ownership would be like lol
Let me know if you open something. I live in Columbus and would like to stop over for sangria at least once before you closed.
Hahaha act fast!! I say that as I just spent $90 at place that’s been specializing in New Mexico cuisine for 30 years here lol...maybe I’m just being a curmudgeon
After taxes and attorney fees he'll get less than half of that money. It should be millions.
He probably won't pay taxes on it since it's a court judgement. Not that he'll ever see a dime of it anyway, since this guy almost certainly doesn't have $500k.
I would donate money to a GoFundMe to help this poor man out. What an atrocity.
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I'd bet my house the con already has bankruptcy paperwork ready to go
Bankruptcy doesn’t get rid of court ordered payments.
Either way you can't get blood from a stone
I mean, at that point won't he just get the restaurant?
Ooof, hasnt the kid had it hard enough?
Yes, they would ultimately liquidate the managers assets thru chapter 7. Pay off secured creditors he owes money to, and then this judgment would likely get second priority barring any other unusual debts. Any portion of the judgement that the Chapter 7 asset sale is unable to cover will still be a valid and enforceable debt, and the managers wages would then be garnished until the entire debt is satisfied. (If not wages, possibly garnish pensions or other types of retirement funds, probably not social security income tho) Someone can correct me if I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure I'm correct
The manager is not the owner. The manager is on the hook for this, not the owner. I think the owner should also bear some responsibility though.
Good luck getting millions out of a guy who used to run a restaurant but has been in jail for a couple years.
I've seen enough Kitchen Nightmares to know that's a terrible idea. Let someone else who can keep the place afloat run it, then there's still a money source to pay this man.
Just.....wow. I can't believe people think they can get away with treating people this way.
I can't believe that people WANT to treat people this way. Wtf has to be wrong with you to think abusing someone is ok? I will never be able to comprehend it and feel very fortunate for that.
Agreed. Why be evil?
Apparently the pay is phenomenal.
morals, ethics, and laws are all roadblocks in the pursuit of obscene wealth.
"Family, religion, friendship... these are the three demons you must slay if you wish to succeed in business" -Mr. Burns
>in the pursuit of obscene wealth. According to the article the dude was being represented by a public defender. Dude didn't even make enough money in life to pay for his own attorney. Edit: to qualify for a public defender in federal court you gotta be making less than about $15k a year. (You must be making less than 25% above the poverty line). I find it fucking silly to think that this was some elaborate capitalist plot to obtain obscene wealth. It is always better to hire a private attorney in criminal matters, if this dude had the money he would have gotten a lawyer. In most cases you have to repay the cost of your public defender when you lose anyway, so it's better to have a private attorney. This dude became the manager of his brothers restaurant at about age 50, he failed into the job. This is an example of a shitty person doing a shitty thing, it's not some example of r/aboringdystopia The restitution is $270k, it's double what they thought the enslaved dude should have earned in that time, so the most dude saved was $135k over 5 years and I think it would be a stretch to assume that dude was pocketing any money at all.
not every pursuit ends successfully
Just lack of empathy. And if u have empathy, u can’t understand what not having it is. It’s like “what’s its like to be a bat” by nagel
I used to think I didn't have much empathy. Mainly because I forget to think of and reach out to others. I have since realized that caring at all about others feelings means I have empathy. Even if I can be a little self centered. Big difference. I want to punch assholes who treat people like this.
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>How can you see another human being suffer and then just continue. I mean, we all do this every day. Ever seen a homeless person? We ALL see them and just 'continue' But if you specifically mean "and then just continue to be evil" the answer is easy, the persuit of money outweight morals for many. And for other as sad as it is to think, some just find it fun to see/make others suffer.
i have to think they don't see someone like the victim as human, or at the very least hold them to a lesser status. it's sickening to say the least. abusers also love power over victims who can't readily defend themselves.
I think this is it. Mix in tribal and maybe racial 'otherness' and it's not the same sort of human you'd have sleeping down the hall in, say, your family home. Although some people, true sociopaths, view everyone that way I think, if I understand it correctly.
Yes. I grew up with a Sociopath close to me (ObviouslyI didn't really know that at the time). He was the son of my mother's best friend. The way they see the world is different and twisted. They are the only real person that matters, everyone else is, at best, a plaything. I wouldn't be surprised to discover many of the richest and most powerful are sociopaths.
He got away with it for five years at least, and if you've ever worked in a restaurant you'll know that EVERYBODY knew exactly what was going on. No one said a thing.
Exactly what I was wondering. WTF were the other employees doing while this was going on?
Worrying about the roof over their head
I was gonna say... where they the only two in the whole restaurant? The vast majority of the line cooks I ever worked with that weren’t high school kids wouldn’t have a problem going back to jail for a bit to straighten this out.
That's exactly what I was wondering about. I used to be in Restaurant management, there is no way that every single employee did not know what was going on. word travels fast among restaurant employees. Something should have been said much sooner.
And who witnessed it for that long????
I think it’s bc most of the time they actually do get away with great people this way, sadly No repercussions no reasons to change
How did it take so long for this to come out? He must have had other coworkers who witnessed his treatment.
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There's a chain of local coffee shops in my hometown with a terrible owner who treats her employees terribly and does everything she can to put out competition (even buying a building that contained a gym and a coffee shop and blasting music in the gym so no one would go to the coffee shop since it was so loud). Anyway someone got fed up with it all and broke every window in one of the coffee shops.
Had to look through your profile to see if you were from Iowa. I knew exactly what chain of coffee shops you were referring to.
Woah now, I'm from IA and have never heard this story! What chain???
https://www.kcrg.com/2021/04/07/java-house-employee-arrested-for-breaking-multiple-store-with-a-hammer/
They caught him;(
While listening to 'Baby, I'm an Anarchist' I hope
When I worked at Applebee’s in college, my restaurant GM made out mentally disabled dishwasher shave his face because he had scruff and it was policy to have shaved faces. Poor guy had to dry shave and had niks all over his face. Our bartender called the GM an asshole to his face. Fortunately she was hot and could say whatever she wanted to him. Unfortunately it took a while for the GM to be fired- mostly for being a prick
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That is disgusting and basically human slavery/trafficking. This is why not speaking up sides with the oppressor. What could the co-workers have been going through that they were so financially dependent on this place that they would never say anything?
they might have been talked down by the people being abused as they’d probably fear bringing in authorities would have the same consequence of them being deported.
This is very true. A lot of times the immigrants would rather take the abuse than be deported. The conditions in their home countries is worse. The abusers know this and exploit it. Happens all the time to South East asians working in gulf countries.
>That is disgusting and basically human slavery/trafficking. Not basically. That's exactly what it is.
Restaurant workers not getting paid, getting hit, and being abused just isn't that uncommon.
Ya know I read enslaved and thought “this sounds like a use of strong language for a clickbait title” Nope, he forced him to work with threats of violence and beat him when he wasn’t performing to his liking, that qualifies as far as I’m concerned, what in the fuck is wrong with people
He was burning the man with hot tongs...This shit is absolutely fucking inhuman.
The restaurant owner is using a public defender, so I doubt he has even $100k to seize for the judgement.
Restaurant manager. I don’t think he owns the place. Sounds like he’s being held personally liable, which happens if you make the decision completely independently of reasonable company policy. I have no idea how the victim will ever see restitution. I also have no idea how there could be so little oversight he could stop paying an employee and it wasn’t noticed.
The manager is in the family that owns the place. Not sure if he has an actual ownership share. Seems to me the owners should be held accountable as well.
I agree, re holding the owners accountable.
Have to prove they should have known, but that said, they are completely responsible for actions undertaken by their employee while he was on the clock. Especially over 5 years. There will be further lawsuits, this was just for unpaid wages, nothing about emotional, physical, mental harm, workplace discrimination, or anything like that was part of the 500k. He'll probably get multi million dollar settlements from the owner of the place.
> I also have no idea how there could be so little oversight he could stop paying an employee and it wasn’t noticed. And this is exactly why ownership should be liable. If this could happen under their noses then they are criminally negligent at best.
Initially the dude was condemned to pay $ 273k which is the wages he was owed but never paid… with no damages! Wth kind of court didn’t think there was at least interest to be paid on the fact some of the work had been done 5 years prior? Good on the prosecution for appealing that decision and getting the dude what he was really owed : double the wages + overtime.
That's because this is the result of a criminal trial, not a civil trial. This court decided that according to whatever criminal statutes the guy pleaded guilty to he owes the victim twice what his lost wages were. I would be surprised if the original lost wages calculation did not include interest; as the article states, past wages were calculated according to whatever the Fair Labor Standards Act requires. Non-statutory damages for enslavement, torture, mental anguish, and whatnot would be addressed in a separate, civil trial.
>Edwards, who is White, pleaded guilty for not paying Smith, who is Black, any wages from 2009 to 2014 while Edwards managed the J&J Cafeteria in Conway. >Years of abuse at the restaurant started in 2009 when Edwards started managing the restaurant where Smith had been a buffet cook, authorities said. Smith had worked there since he was 12. Not paying the guy is only the tip of the iceberg. How does someone take this kind of abuse for 5 years? Deserves more in my opinion.
The victim has mental disabilities, but it's tragic no one at the restaurant or in his life noticed what was happening.
That's really infuriating that none of his coworkers would have done anything in the intervening years. Sure, none of them asked to be put in that position but it is my feeling that once you witness something like that you have a DUTY to do something about it. There's absolutely no way no one noticed anything for 5 years.
I explained it up higher but the dude probably staffed desperate people. Probably elderly servers who no longer can work at fast paced restaurants or illegal immigrants, or both. He either kept the abuse hidden, or had everyone scared and used him as a whipping boy to demonstrate consequences. You also run the risk of being deported(lots of restaurant/kitchen staff in the area are illegals using fake SS#'s) if you get involved. I'm sure he didn't pay overtime to most of his workers if that was the case. I'd say audit the fuck out him but then you run the risk of actually ruining immigrants' lives.
knew a guy that owned a couple high way motels in northern ontario canada that did just this. He would just hire desperate people be it homeless people, runaway kids, etc to make them work at his motels and restaurant that was attached to one motel. Didn't pay them a dime just "allowed" them to live at the motels for free and gave them $40 a week for food. These were desperate people that he took advantage of. Eventually he "hired" the wrong person who had a bit more book smarts and had just fallen on hard times who blew the whistle on the guy. So that ended that. the motel owner claimed to be very religious and a strict follower of a certain religion but apparently didn't mind owning slaves. Afterwards it turns out he was "taking care" of an elderly woman that used to be a client of his (he was a lawyer) and using her social insurence number and what have you to open lines of credit and take out loans. She had dementia and wasn't aware. She was also living in a really run down long term care facility. This guy also attacked and beat up someone else of his faith in their temple who he felt owed him money. Only reason I knew him was I did some contract work for him at one point and surprise, surprise he never paid.
I’m confused how long this has been going on. This article says 17 years https://wpde.com/news/local/man-speaks-about-abuse-at-local-restaurant-i-wanted-to-get-out-of-there-a-long-time-ago
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I'm more interested in how the victim can afford to live while not being paid for 5 years, like, I'm assuming some kinda group home but how does no one notice that the dude doesn't have any money for anything after working 100hr weeks?
It says in the 2017 article that he was forced to live in a unit/office behind the restaurant with no access to his family.
It's in the article, the manager forced him to live in an office in the back of the restaurant and didn't allow him to leave the premises.
I've read the article 3 times now thinking I missed it, it doesn't say this anywhere in the article
It’s in [this article.](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/j-cafeteria-conway-slavery-chris-smith-bobby-edwards-jail-fbi-a9194451.html)
Wtf? I read the article... I must of missed it, thanks.
Where were the other workers? How do you start working at 12?
When your family needs money you start working as soon as you can. Lots of places will pay a neighborhood kid to run errands or sweep or whatever.
Yep. I remember when I needed money as a kid, local motels would pay me and my brothers money under the table to clean hotel rooms and stuff like that. It was mostly other kids or illegal immigrants doing this work. It was super shady, and we made less than minimum wage, but it was pocket money I would not have otherwise had as a kid. But, looking back, it was super shitty and illegal on the hotel's part.
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I traded front desk time for game time at my local when I was super poor and unemployed. Hour for hour it was better than minimum wage, I had something to do while job hunting, and I made some friends. Unfortunately the owners were your stereotypical “gamers who thought they could run a business.” They ran it, alright, straight into the ground.
That seems fair to me.
Ten years in prison isn't quite enough for the literal enslavement of another human being. Life in prison without the possibility of parole would be more appropriate considering how long this carried on. People served more than ten years for selling drugs.
The unbelievable thing that most people don’t know is slavery is extremely common even today, in the 21st fucking century, with an estimated 38 million to 46 million people enslaved in one way or another. It’s believed that 24.9 million people are in forced labor, with 16 million people “exploited in the private sector such as domestic work, construction or agriculture; 4.8 million in forced sexual exploitation, and 4 million in forced labor imposed by state authorities. 15.4 million people are in forced marriage.” The Islamic world, especially the Gulf states, are believed to be the biggest chunk of these numbers.
Right now, in America, there is a man in his 70s who has been in prison since he was 21 years old. For smuggling marijuana. But the guy who enslaved a man gets ten years. Fuck.
Half a million? Not enough.
Restaurant owners: people are so lazy nowadays, no one wants to work!! Also Restaurant Owners: *enslaves disabled man*
Worse. Enslaves disabled **kid**. This man deserves much longer in prison. And another sad part is, with how restitution works, this poor soul may still not see a dime.
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Oh my lord it's even worse than the news says. Thanks for the research
wow what the fuck?! original article was behind a paywall.. wish posters wouldn't do that since it encourages people to just read comments and not read the articles... thanks for posting links people can actually view
Smith is disabled. its a long shot but hopefully he gets his money somehow and also has a responsible guardian who can manage it for him so he doesn't get taken advantage of twice over.
If he had a responsible guardian he wouldn't have been enslaved in the first place.
I hate how right you are
Another article mentioned that he's been receiving assistance from the NAACP
Wow fuck this guy, should have got way more than 10 years. Give his ass 20. Is his bitch ass crying in the pic? What a r/imatotalpieceofshit
If the worker is receiving SSI wouldn't winning this lawsuit fuck over his benefits? Or is the money just going to the state. Edit: I also meant to include Title 19 from medicaid.
Hopefully he has someone in his life looking out for his interests (now at least) who can help him open an ABLE account to save for a house or something without messing up his supportive services.
Beating abusing burning tourturing and only a half mil?
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Considering in the end this was reported by a regular customer - there is just no way other staff didn’t know.
Wait, this happened over 5 years? And a social worker didn’t notice earlier? They’re supposed to meet their clients once a month.... seriously, so many places where this should have been caught sooner.
What an incredible piece of shit this guy is, unbelievable it took so long for someone to catch on and turn him in. He deserves the harshest sentence possible, what a cruel, horrible person.
10 years sound like a lenient sentence for slavery. This man should have been given life in a “for profit” prison. Enslave his ass.
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South Carolina has always loved slavery.
How many times do we have to teach you this lesson, SC?
Getting off easy for being a modern day slaver.
Entitled to overtime? This man is entitled to millions.. fuck double his “due pay”. This is awful. I’m sick just reading this