The controversy involving the Route 66 Malt Shop has gotten uglier.
The Albuquerque restaurant, which made headlines this week for refusing to pay a city-mandated minimum wage to employees, received more bad publicity when the owner’s son reportedly threatened an employee with a baseball bat and machete at the employee’s home.
KRQE-TV has the story:
Wage fight leds to bat and machete
The employee who made the latest allegations is the one who blew the whistle about his boss not paying the minimum wage. One could dismiss those claims coming from a disgruntled worker, except the owner tacitly admitted his son did have a confrontation and “screwed up.”
I’m removing the Route 66 Malt Shop from the Restaurants listings on Route 66 News. I don’t see the point of recommending an eatery that flouts the law and allegedly threatens one of its own employees. Like I did with Indian Harvest in Missouri, I’m de-listing a Route 66 business that engages in bad behavior — at least until it reforms itself.
UPDATE 2/26/2013: More bad news for the Route 66 Malt Shop’s owner. KOB-TV in Albuquerque reports that city attorney David Tourek will represent the employee, who brought the initial complaint that the restaurant wasn’t paying the city-mandated minimum wage, in a lawsuit.
That essentially reverses a previous stance by the city, which wasn’t going to enforce the minimum-wage law.
I knew there was a reason I liked this website more than the rest.
Thank you.
It is indeed regrettable that this action must be taken. It seems that even small businesses are now attempting to bully and intimidate their employees. Sounds like the Route 66 Malt Shop in ABQ NM is now a must to avoid. It doesn’t look like an historic business, anyway, or that it had much to do with the road.
Looks like I have found a place to miss on Route 66.
Please don’t confuse this with the Route 66 DINNER, which is about 2 miles west! The Malt Shop deserves a boycot.