Former staff sue downtown Phoenix restaurant owner for unpaid wages

After a downtown Phoenix restaurant suddenly shuttered for the second time in July, former employees and vendors have accused the owner of failing to pay what they’re owed.

Several staff members from The Pairing Room, and its sibling downtown brewpub Throne Brewing & Pizza Kitchen, say they’re out hundreds to thousands of dollars for time worked and tips earned.

A former server and a manager have sued in federal court, alleging owner Doajo Hicks violated a national wage act by not paying them.

While no determinations have yet been made, former staff members from the two spots have rallied together and chosen to speak out not just because of money allegedly owed but also largely because they don’t want to see more people be taken advantage of.

“It doesn’t matter — $200, $500, $1,500 — you owe somebody money for work that they did for you, you pay your employees,” says Nomas Amaya, who worked as a bar manager and bartender at The Pairing Room.

Hicks declined to comment on the allegations of unpaid workers and vendors, simply stating he closed The Pairing Room due to “the economic downturn and customers not coming in.”

“That’s all I have to say,” he says.

From a vineyard to The Pairing Room

Hicks is a former police officer and an attorney who is licensed to practice law in Arizona and Ohio. Four years ago, he and his wife, Roxanne Hicks, purchased Coronado Vineyards in Willcox.

The couple “represent the only award-winning African & Native American family-owned vineyard in Arizona,” according to the winery’s website. The description has since been removed.

Hicks then branched into craft beer. He is the owner and liquor license holder of two of Throne Brewing Co.’s taprooms, located in Peoria and downtown Phoenix. Hicks became the liquor license holder for these Throne locations in April. The brewery was founded in 2018 by Carlos Toma, who holds the liquor license for the Glendale location.

Shortly after Hicks took on the Throne locations, The Pairing Room opened on Portland Street in the former location of The Larder + The Delta. The restaurant held its grand opening on April 20 and featured Throne brews and Coronado wines, meant to be paired with a globally inspired menu of small plates and entrees.

Chef Dezmond “Dez” Gutierrez crafted the menu and led the kitchen at The Pairing Room and Throne’s downtown location. While he says he initially was excited by the opportunity, that faded as the promise of consistent pay evaporated.

“After that first month, he started writing us handwritten checks, and nine out of 10 times, the checks were bouncing or being put on hold for two weeks at a time,” Gutierrez says.

The chef notes that money seemed top of mind for the owner, who he says was eager to see an immediate profit from the new restaurant. That’s something Gutierrez says is unrealistic for any restaurant, let alone a new concept that opens at the tail-end of the Valley’s high season.

“His expectation of a restaurant opening and, (in) one month, making all his money back or even coming close to making any profit is just unreal,” Gutierrez says.

While business was slow, which can be good to allow staff time to get up to speed and work out the kinks, Gutierrez says Hicks did not give the restaurant enough time to gain traction with diners. He cites The Pairing Room’s participation in Arizona Restaurant Week as an example. The 10-day event can be a promotional tool to bring new diners in the door. The Pairing Room was a participant but announced its first closure amid the event in May, about one month after opening.

The news of the closure “blindsided” Gutierrez. He was getting ready for a shift when he and the rest of the staff received a group text from Hicks notifying them that the restaurant was closed and that they were out of jobs.

“We thought the Pairing Room was shutting down completely,” Gutierrez says.

However, the restaurant reopened with new staff and a revamped menu in June.

“I’m also like, what the heck, I thought your business went under and that’s why you can’t pay me my last paycheck,” says Gutierrez, who estimates he is owed about $5,000 in wages.

Missing tips and bounced checks

Amaya, the bar manager, was part of the new team tasked with reopening The Pairing Room. He came on board first as a consultant before joining the staff that would relaunch the restaurant in June. While there, he heard rumblings about the previous crew not being paid, and then started experiencing it himself.

“We had to fight tooth and nail for our first paycheck, which started to make me believe everything that the past employees were saying was true,” he says.

Melissa Nichols joined Amaya as a consultant to help with the reopening. She worked out an hourly rate with Hicks and was one of the staff expecting that paycheck, which would cover her entire, albeit temporary, time worked.

The check Nichols received bounced.

“I’ve never had anybody give me a bounced check,” she says.

She took a photo of the notice from her bank that the check was returned for insufficient funds and texted it to Hicks on Aug. 4. In the exchange, Hicks asked if he could pay her via the payment app Zelle. Nichols followed up saying that her bank didn’t support that app but shared other avenues she could be paid through. Not hearing back, she followed up on Aug. 7, with no response.

“He just went silent on me,” she says.

As Amaya continued at The Pairing Room, he says direct deposit never materialized, and pay periods and paydays regularly changed. But with the promise of pay coming, he and other staff carried on.

The restaurant’s second iteration was likewise short-lived, closing permanently on July 24. Following the closure of The Pairing Room, a lockout notice from the landlord hung on the glass door, noting that the restaurant’s lease had been terminated.

The leasing company declined to comment. The space has been relet and will become the brick-and-mortar home of the former food truck Saint Pasta this fall.

Amaya says he is owed his last two paychecks from The Pairing Room, which he estimates is approximately $700 in wages and tips.

Disputes playing out in court

Some of these allegations are playing out in legal proceedings, with former staff and vendors seeking relief through county and federal courts.

Two former staff members of the downtown Throne brewpub filed complaints in the U.S. District Court of Arizona. Former manager Natalie Monge and former server Amber Sandell’s suits claim unpaid wages and tips — violations of the national Fair Labor Standards Act, as well as state wage laws.

Their complaints, filed in May and June, lay out stories similar to those shared by former employees: wages paid late, via digital payment in lieu of a payroll-issued check or not at all.

Monge alleges she was never paid for her final week of work and is owed approximately $833.

“To date, Defendants have still paid no wages whatsoever to Plaintiff for such hours worked,” the complaint filed on Monge’s behalf reads.

Sandell’s suit alleges she is owed about 30 hours in unpaid wages. Although the lawsuit does not include a dollar amount, it's likely to be at least $340.50 based on Arizona’s minimum hourly tipped wage of $11.35.

There are also allegations of tips being mishandled.

Gutierrez says staff would often come to him or send texts to a group chat with staff and Hicks asking about their tips. Gutierrez and Amaya, who worked at The Pairing Room at different times, both say that tips were wrapped into paychecks and paid out when those were issued without a breakdown of hourly pay versus tips.

Because of that, Gutierrez says he believes “a lot of people got shorted.”

In her lawsuit, Sandell alleges she is owed approximately $700 in undistributed tips. The suit notes that when she was paid, it was by a Zelle transfer. The complaint also asserts that Hicks “did not provide pay stubs or any other written indicia of wages paid, hours worked” or how her wages were calculated.

Both Sandell and Monge are seeking their unpaid wages as well as interest and attorneys’ fees, naming the Hickses and their business entities for Throne and The Pairing Room. The Hickses have not yet filed their reply in court.

Unpaid wages are not the only allegations being levied in court. One former vendor of The Pairing Room has filed a claim in Maricopa County Superior Court. Cintas, a company that outfits businesses with everything from fire extinguishers to employee uniforms, alleges that it is owed more than $14,000, plus interest and attorneys' fees.

In a civil suit filed on July 31, Cintas says it hasn't been paid more than $2,100 owed for uniforms, towels, laundry and other materials provided to the restaurant. The lawsuit also claims that because Hicks breached a five-year contract to provide those services, Cintas is owed damages that equal half the weekly invoice amount multiplied by the time remaining on the contract. That, Cintas says, is $11,988.70.

Hicks has not yet responded to this lawsuit.

Staff try to find new work, get by

With two sets of staff let go at The Pairing Room during the notoriously slow summer months, some have been unable to find new work opportunities or receive unemployment due to the messy nature of the closure, leaving them behind on bills.

Gutierrez says the entire experience has left a bad taste in his mouth, causing him to seek work outside of the hospitality industry.

“It’s hurt us all very bad,” he says, noting his family has gotten by with his wife picking up extra shifts while he works odd jobs. “Not having that money set me so far behind on bills. I’m still barely catching up and that was two months ago.”

Amaya says he’s in a similar situation while he searches for bar work.

“I have a family and I’m trying to support all of that and I can’t do it because of the actions that he did to us,” he says. “It put me in a bad position.”

Former staff say that while they’ve seen ups and downs during their combined decades in hospitality, what they’ve experienced in their short tenures at Hicks’ restaurants is unlike anything they’ve encountered before.

“It’s shady business,” Gutierrez says. “It’s disheartening to take advantage of people like that and to also be able to still just live your life every day like nothing went wrong while all of us are out here struggling.”

Nichols holds two other jobs, but notes that as a mother of three, the unpaid work has an impact. Still, she’s more motivated to raise the alarm to diners and others in the industry.

“We don’t like bad apples, especially if they’re downtown,” she says of Hicks and his restaurants. “This is not somebody that anybody should be working for and or giving their money to because it’s all in bad faith.”