Two employees with a Captain's Galley are speaking out about the working conditions there after an E. coli outbreak.
CHINA GROVE, N.C. -- Employees of the China Grove restaurant that was shut down because of an E. coli outbreak are speaking out, saying that the conditions at the Captain’s Galley seafood restaurant were deplorable.
According to one employee, he was treated less like an employee, and more like a slave.
“They’re not taking care of the employees and their customers,” said one employee who wished to remain anonymous. “They’re mistreating their employees; they’re treating them like slaves.”
The Captain’s Galley location has been shut down, after the E. coli outbreak that health officials said could have been caused when employees slaughtered a goat after hours. That outbreak led to many becoming sick, including one who died.
Captain's Galley is closed.
But according to former and current workers there, tainted food was the least of the restaurant owner’s worries.
The couple, who wanted to go by the names Mamma and Poncho, asked to have their faces hidden and their names changed because they worry for their safety.
They said the owner hired four illegal immigrants, including Poncho, to work the kitchen. They said employees worked 12-hour shifts daily, and the owner paid them under the table, less than minimum wage, in what they considered hostile conditions.
“He said if anybody screwed him over, he knows people,” said Mamma of the owner.
Calls to the owner of Captain’s Galley were not immediately returned.
Employees of the Captain’s Galley said they were told the restaurant would not be reopened. Health officials said there are eight confirmed and 13 probable cases of E. coli connected to the Captain’s Galley.