Chop Chop

Chef Says Request for W-2 Was Met With Threats of Gruesome Violence

“This is what happens to people with a big mouth.”

Brooklyn resident Alfred Lolange was hired by Z-Two Diner & Lounge at a rate of $2,000 per week, DNAinfo reports, but was handed $1,500 in cash after week one and was informed that the rest had been taken out for taxes. This continued, and when tax season started in January, Lolange asked for a copy of his W-2. The diner’s owner allegedly stalled, according to a lawsuit filed in State Supreme Court earlier this month, but he later showed the chef a photo of a bloody, fingerless hand and issued a warning: “This is what happens to people with a big mouth,” Lolange was told.

The harassment continued, the suit alleges, and eventually Lolange reported for a shift in March and discovered his chef’s whites had been shredded. “This is what happens to people who talk too much,” his boss said.

Lolange was subsequently fired and is now suing for unspecified damages and back pay. His lawyer contends the withheld cash was never used to pay local or federal taxes.

Chef Told He’d Have Fingers Chopped Off for Asking for W-2, Lawsuit Says [DNAinfo]

Chef Says Request for W-2 Was Met With Threats of Gruesome Violence