Former employees held a protest outside of Eatonville’s vegan cafe DaJen Eats on Saturday, alleging unfair business practices and wage theft.
@NotSoIrie, an Instagram account collecting stories about alleged labor violations at the eatery, points toward a trend of wage theft on behalf of management. They allege that owners regularly clocked out employees for 30 minute lunch breaks, regardless of whether or not the breaks were taken. The Central Florida IWW shared that several employees were fired for bringing their concerns to management.
The Not So Irie account felt that the public image of chef and owner Jenn Ross as a person bringing healthy food to the community did not jibe with the treatment of workers (and some of the menu items).
“One of the biggest issues to me, and a reason why I think that speaking out on this matter is important, was the difference between the person Chef Jenn portrayed herself to be to the public, and the side she showed to the employees who literally ran her business,” they wrote on Instagram.
Orlando Weekly has reached out to both the team behind Not So Irie and Chef Ross for comment. Anyone with information about working at DaJen Eats can reach us at [email protected]
This is a developing story.