Undocumented workers allege in a lawsuit that they were ‘trafficked’ and abused by a Cheesecake Factory in Montco

A new federal lawsuit accuses a Montgomery County Cheesecake Factory of directing undocumented immigrants from Mexico to obtain fake government work permits and then abusing them as workers.

Five unnamed immigrants say that, between 2008 and 2013, a manager at the Willow Grove Park Mall restaurant told them to obtain fraudulent Social Security and Permanent Resident cards from his acquaintance as a condition for their employment.

 The immigrants paid between $100 to $180 in cash for the documents, which some obtained at the mall parking lot, the lawsuit says.

The workers, who each worked for the Cheesecake Factory for about a decade, faced working conditions that their U.S. citizen peers were spared from, the suit says. On various instances, sewage leaked into the kitchen, leaving a “disgusting” smell, according to the complaint, and the undocumented workers were required to keep working while others were sent home.

The immigrants also allege that they worked long hours without overtime pay and faced “constant” threats of deportation. And when a couple of the workers tried to quit, they were told that they couldn’t.

The allegations come amid tougher enforcement of immigration laws by President Donald Trump’s administration and provide insight into the ways businesses employ a workforce that is in the shadows with few options for legal recourse to labor violations.

» READ MORE: Montco bars county employees from sharing information with ICE without a legal order

The lawsuit, filed last week in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, accuses the Cheesecake Factory of violating federal human trafficking laws and labor protections.

“Regardless of a person’s status you cannot abuse them or mistreat them,” said Stewart Ryan, an attorney with the Laffey Bucci firm, who represents the workers. “When it’s a massive multibillion dollar corporation, they should know better.”

Sidney M. Greathouse, senior vice president for legal services at the Cheesecake Factory, said in a statement that the allegations are “entirely false” and that the company follows all federal employment verification laws.

“We take these matters seriously and intend to vigorously defend against these baseless accusations through the appropriate legal channels,” Greathouse said. “We are confident that the facts will clearly demonstrate the integrity of our practices.”

The five workers left Mexico to escape abuse or poverty, the suit says, and were looking for work. Some heard that the Cheesecake Factory was hiring undocumented workers, while one was approached by a restaurant manager at the mall. When they said they did not have work permits, the manager said he could assist in obtaining fake government documents.

After they began their employment, they were subjected to harassment by their peers and working conditions that violated labor laws, the complaint says. Cheesecake Factory managers denied them bathroom breaks and told the undocumented workers to come to work sick, whether they had the flu or COVID-19.

One worker had their hourly wage arbitrarily reduced, the suit says, while others were forced to work to keep the restaurant open during COVID-19 shutdowns.

In March 2022, the Cheesecake Factory fired 18 undocumented employees, including the five who filed the lawsuit, after the government learned of the unauthorized workers, according to the lawsuit.

“To be clear, the trafficking venture built at The Cheesecake Factory, and in particular the conspiracy to manufacture fraudulent work documents, was not for the benefit of the undocumented persons hired at The Cheesecake Factory,” the complaint says. “Far from it.”