SAN DIEGO — Former and current workers at The Guild Hotel in Downtown San Diego are calling on their former employer to pay up.
Employees claim the owner of a restaurant that was once inside the hotel, left without paying them their final wages.
Dozens gathered Wednesday night to protest outside a North Park restaurant, that is owned by their former boss.
“We’re sick and tired of this, we want our money," said one employee.
Workers are protesting unpaid wages they say are owed by the hotel’s restaurant former Food and Beverage operator – known as Be Saha Hospitality Group.
“We just want to be able to pay our bills, lots of us have families, we have car payments, home payments to make. We’re trying to make a living and this happens right when we’re trying to pay rent, right when we have bills due, utilities due," said employee, Matthew Frazier.
CBS 8 spoke off camera with Be Saha’s owner, Amar Harrag, who explained his contract with the hotel expired at the end of May and that he had requested funds to be provided by the hotel to meet payroll deadlines for employees.
However, he was denied by the hotel.
Harrag says he ended up taking out a loan to pay employees their final paycheck. But many who gathered tonight say they received only their hourly wages, and are still owed tips and service charges, which make up the core of their pay.
“They had a courier show up and deliver us checks that’s only for our labor for two weeks, it doesn’t include our tips or surcharges, and we believe they only did that because we’ve been putting pressure on them to various outlets, on the internet," said Frazier.
“Pretty frustrating, pretty irritating. As you know, servers, bartenders we make all of our money if not more in tips. It feels like he just keeps giving excuse after excuse," said employee, Taylor Boshard.
Workers are also protesting bounced checks – which they say have been an ongoing problem.
“I received at least 4 or 5 bounced checks from him," said former Be Saha employee, Armando Herrera.
“We would get a check, mobile deposit, take 2, 3, 4 weeks to clear, cash it into the bank… bounce…. It seems like it’s constantly like a song and dance just to get our wages and it feels very unfair," added Boshard.
Harrag acknowledged checks not clearing has been an issue for the past 18 months but says it’s the result of poor management by the hotel.
Workers told CBS 8 that at this point, they don’t care who’s responsible – they just want what they say is owed to them.
“It just feels annoying that he’s shifting blame to the hotel," said Boshard.
Several of the employees say they’re filling with the Labor Enforcement Commission for unpaid wages and hope to resolve the problem legally.
WATCH RELATED: UC employees across California demand higher wages, affordable housing