California restaurants have faced sustained pressure from inflation, rising labor costs and weaker consumer spending in recent years. In Fresno, those broader strains now intersect with a new class-action lawsuit against Horn Barbecue that could affect former workers at the brand’s recently closed Granite Park location.
Class action targets Horn Barbecue over pay practices
A class-action lawsuit filed in Alameda County accuses chef Matt Horn and his restaurants of failing to pay workers for all hours worked, denying compliant meal and rest breaks, and withholding overtime, according to court filings first reported by SFGATE and detailed by The Fresno Bee. The suit seeks to cover workers statewide, including employees tied to Horn Barbecue’s Fresno restaurant, and an attorney for the plaintiff told The Bee that at least 100 workers in Alameda County alone could fall within the proposed class. The lawsuit also seeks penalties tied to wage-statement violations and requests a jury trial.
The named plaintiff is kitchen manager Francisco Berber, who said in the complaint that he was not paid for 110 hours of work, according to The Fresno Bee’s report on the court documents. The complaint says workers were sometimes expected to work during state-mandated meal periods, were not always paid legally required overtime, and were not consistently provided wage statements showing hours and deductions. Under California law, hourly workers are generally owed time-and-a-half after eight hours in a day or 40 hours in a week, and double time after 12 hours in a shift, as described in the Bee’s account of the filing.
Horn declined to discuss the allegations in detail because the case is pending, but in a statement to The Fresno Bee he said Horn Barbecue had sought to act in good faith with employees and address payroll issues when they arose. He also said independent restaurants, and particularly Black-owned businesses, have operated under difficult economic conditions in California.
What is confirmed in Fresno, and what is still unresolved
For Fresno workers, the immediate local significance is clear: the lawsuit expressly seeks to include employees statewide, and the Fresno location is one of the restaurants named in reporting around the case, according to The Fresno Bee. The restaurant at Granite Park near Cedar and Dakota avenues shut down this spring, roughly five months after opening, and ABC30 reported that an eviction notice posted on the business demanded it vacate by June 17. Fresno’s City Attorney’s Office is also investigating the restaurant for possible wage theft after the case was referred by the state, according to Fresno Bee reporting summarized separately by AOL…