Tank Noodle federal investigation that led to $700,000 in back wages for 60 started with 1 employee: ‘We felt betrayed and helpless’
It took two years, three complaints to city, state and federal agencies, countless phone calls and hours aiding investigators.
In the end, one former employee of Tank Noodle spurred a federal investigation resulting in nearly $700,000 in back wages paid to 60 employees of the Vietnamese restaurant in the Uptown neighborhood. After cooperating with officials and staying at the job under their advice, the ex-employee was left with a check for back wages totaling $2,644.81 — and plenty of lingering questions.
Tank Noodle has faced criticism as news broke in recent months about the unpaid wages. And as exploitative work conditions remain a systemic issue in the dining industry, the former employee — who requested anonymity for themselves and their partner out of fear they would face harassment as Asian immigrants tied up in a labor dispute — raised concerns about road blocks they continuously faced as they tried to get help from officials who passed them along from one agency to the next.
“I’m just trying to get some answers,” said the former employee, who spoke to the Tribune in Vietnamese through their partner and uses they/them pronouns. “Why didn’t the city work with us?”
Tank Noodle, a corner front mainstay on the landmark strip of Argyle Street in Uptown, became the subject of national controversy earlier this year when owners, and their family employed as restaurant managers, posted photos of themselves online attending the Jan. 6 “Save America” rally led by former President Donald Trump. After Trump’s repeated, false claims of voter fraud, crowds stormed the U.S. Capitol building. The restaurant posted on its social media page that the family did not participate in the insurrection.
In the months that followed, Tank Noodle made headlines again as news of the federal investigation into allegations of unpaid wages preceded an April 9 announcement that the state had rescinded its $150,000 Business Interruption Grant.
State officials requested the restaurant return the money for falsely asserting on its application that it was in compliance with the law, while failing to pay lawful wages. (Should Tank Noodle not voluntarily return the money, the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity could coordinate with state prosecutors to ensure its return, a spokesman said.)
The restaurant has also received nearly $400,000 in two Paycheck Protection Program loans, according to data from the Small Business Administration via ProPublica. The federal loans, which may be forgiven if certain requirements are followed, came out of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act to help businesses pay their workers at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Federal officials have not yet said if Tank Noodle will be required to repay that money, as well.
The owners of Tank Noodle, Thu and Thuc Ly, and other Ly family members who work at the restaurant, did not return multiple messages left by phone and email requesting comment.
Restaurant workers receiving poor treatment or pay is a systemic issue that spans from fast food to fine-dining establishments, both in Chicago and on a larger scale.
Last summer, as protests throughout the nation sought a societal reckoning, some Chicago restaurants faced accusations of racism and abuse, leading a few to close for good.
In 2003, chef Beverly Kim filed a back wages lawsuit against chef Charlie Trotter, accusing his restaurant in Lincoln Park of paying staff less than they were owed for the 12 to 14 hours per day they worked. Trotter, who died in 2015, settled the suit with Kim in 2005. She now co-owns Parachute and Wherewithall restaurants, and last year cofounded The Abundance Setting to support working mothers in the culinary industry.
Fabulous Freddies Italian Eatery in Bridgeport paid 58 workers $339,418 in unpaid wages and damages in 2017 following a U.S. Department of Labor investigation, officials said then.
But the process of reporting an employer and seeing an investigation through was a difficult one for the former Tank Noodle employee, they said. And the payout for back wages, especially for those who might have lost out on years of pay, can seem insufficient, particularly because the federal process is based on state minimum wage, which is lower than Chicago’s minimum wage.
After more than two years of city, state and federal investigators on three back-wages claims, the former Tank Noodle employee received about $2,600 after taxes in back pay. The employee shared a copy of the U.S. Department of Labor letter with the Tribune that detailed the payout, but the department would not independently confirm it, citing a still-open investigation.
The employee’s experience with Tank Noodle began simply enough: In November 2018, they were just looking for a job.
“They said I could start working right away,” the former employee said through their partner about the restaurant’s owners. “They said they don’t pay minimum wage. It’s just tips.”
At the time, they agreed, because they wanted to work and needed the money, and began working as a server.
“Usually with restaurants, at the end of the day, they put all the tips together, so everyone could see the money, and so everyone is well aware of how much each person is getting,” said the ex-staffer. “But at Tank Noodle, you would just give the money to the managers, and they would stash it away. They would never let employees know how much money was made in tips that day.”
Tip pooling is legal in Illinois, but employers and management cannot take a share. Employers must also pay the hourly minimum wage for tipped employees, and investigators said Tank Noodle broke both rules, paying some workers a flat daily rate regardless of hours worked and taking a cut of pooled tips. The ex-staffer also said they worked more hours than they were paid for.
“I usually worked 35 hours per week, but when the paycheck came out, it said I only worked 10 to 15 hours,” said the former employee. “On the paycheck, it said I got paid minimum wage, but that was not true at all.”
At that time, the city’s minimum hourly wage for tipped employees was $6.25, but the state’s minimum hourly wage for tipped employees was $4.95.
Four months in, the then-employee filed a wage complaint with the state in April 2019 — a process they would eventually repeat twice more.
“The state investigator recommended I stay (at Tank Noodle) as long as I can,” the employee said, “because if you’re a current employee, then the evidence is much more valid, I guess.”
The state Department of Labor confirmed in April it received the complaint, but said that in April 2019 — four months into Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s inaugural term — the department’s policy was to refer the complaint to city officials, as the state “does not have jurisdiction to enforce the higher city minimum wage,” a spokesman said.
“This guidance was meant to direct the complainant to the agency that could best make the person whole,” the spokesman said.
After the referral to the Chicago Department of Business Affairs and Consumer protection, the state closed the case.
When the city received the employee’s second complaint one month later, its Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection conducted an on-site investigation. The city department noted only that Tank Noodle posted required labor signs and that the information from the employee “did not show that the employee was paid less than minimum wage” — which the federal investigation later contradicted.
At the time, the city did not have an Office of Labor Standards and instead referred the complaint back to the state, which the city said was better equipped to enforce wage theft through the Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act. After ensuring a complaint was open with the state, the city closed its case.
“I was just going back and forth (between departments),” said the former employee. “We felt betrayed and helpless.”
In July 2019, after seven months at Tank Noodle, the staffer quit and found another job, despite the state investigator’s advice.
“Who can work at a business where you have no idea how much you’ll be paid?” they said.
The former employee tried once more to get help.
“We said we have to file it with the federal government,” they said. “So I filed a claim, and that’s when we actually got some of the help we needed.”
In January 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor opened an investigation and reviewed two years of pay records beginning in January 2018.
The ex-staffer still had pay records — small slips of paper with actual hours worked they said management provided, plus pay stubs with conflicting information — and gave them to investigators, they said. They and their partner assisted investigators with contacting more Tank Noodle staff, helping to translate Vietnamese names and identify workers, their partner said.
“A lot of people who worked at that restaurant were international students, so the owners thought they could exploit them,” said the former employee’s partner. “And it was majority Vietnamese people who were being exploited.”
When the pandemic struck and indoor dining shut down statewide in March 2020, federal officials had not yet informed Tank Noodle owners of their investigation. The restaurant was approved for its first PPP loan of $163,557, and received the $150,000 state Business Interruption Grant in September.
The Department of Labor notified Tank Noodle’s owners about the investigation in October.
One owner, Thu Ly, visited the employee at their new place of employment, asking them not to give time sheet records or other information to investigators, the employee said.
“I said if the Department of Labor asks me anything, I don’t want to lie,” said the former employee. “I’ll just tell them what they ask, because I have to be honest.”
By December, Tank Noodle’s owners signed a settlement to pay back wages, after the Department of Labor said the restaurant failed to keep accurate records. The former employee got a letter from the department in January, notifying them their owed wages totaled $3,917.26, plus $6.53 in interest. After taxes, they received $2,644.81.
On March 3, the federal Department of Labor announced it had recovered $697,295 in back wages for 60 employees. While most of those workers have received their back wages as of April 9, the department’s Wage Hour Division is still trying to locate some, according to a spokesman. Some employees are owed more than $10,000 each, the department said in a statement.
“No further information is available as the case is still considered open,” the spokesman said.
Two weeks later, Tank Noodle was approved for its second PPP loan of $229,008, for a total of $392,565. Recipients do not have to repay the loan if they meet certain conditions, such as using 60% of the money to cover payroll, maintain employment levels and use other money for operational costs like rent and utilities.
The state, meanwhile, may continue investigating Tank Noodle.
“Due to the past practices of this employer, IDOL may be able to use its random auditing authority to review pay records to ensure the business remains in compliance with labor laws,” wrote an Illinois Department of Labor spokesman. “If we found deficiencies from an audit, we could pursue back wages.”
Since its original investigation, Illinois Department of Labor policy has shifted to more actively investigating such cases, the spokesman said.
“It is now IDOL policy to proceed on enforcement of such complaints, as well as to coordinate with the city of Chicago (or any other relevant agency) to assist the complainant,” the spokesman said.
The city could also open a new investigation if another complaint is filed, according to BACP.
“Yes, we’re grateful that we got the back wages,” said the former employee. “We’re just disappointed with how the city handled the situation.”
Employees can file a complaint with the state’s Fair Labor Standards Division online, or with city’s Office of Labor Standards by calling 311, using the CHI 311 app, or by filling out a form online. The city’s minimum hourly wage for tipped workers is now $8.10 for employers with four to 20 workers, and $8.40 for employers with 21 or more workers.
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