Later in the segment, Brian Kilmeade tries to save Degel from himself, by saying that it’s not that Degel refuses to pay employees fairly! It’s just that the government shouldn’t be forcing him to pay them!
”So you’re saying, ‘I’ll pay what the market demands, but you can’t force me to pay somebody more than I can afford.’”
”The government regulations...the minimum wage increases...have taken two million dollars out of my pocket. So I’m not making money anymore, I’m making belief.”
(Degel doesn’t take the lifesaver, so instead, Ainsley Earhardt asks him to share steak-making lessons after the show, where every time he rants about the employees he doesn’t want to pay, he’s reminded to bring the hosts steak next time he visits.)
“You didn’t bring us any steak?
We would have settled for one of those $7 baked potatoes.”
This isn’t a new complaint and blame shift for Degel, who supports tiered minimum wages based on annual profits. He blames politicians for trying to exploit the industry through regulations and minimum wage standards, and even finds a way to blame expense account regulations at financial firms for ruining the restaurant biz—because nobody wines and dines their clients anymore, you see?
His frequent Fox News appearances and ableist rants on trade blogs make it clear his profits rely heavily on paying low wages, instead of innovation.
The restaurant industry is being attacked and over-regulated. All of the forced labor increases and minimum wage increases were spearheaded by a bunch of politicians, lawyers, and other morons who have never created a job in their lives. It’s killing the industry.
Actually, not paying workers a fair wage is common practice in Degel’s world. He’s been sued for wage theft by hundreds of employees.
Approximately 239 (Uncle Jack’s Steakhouse) restaurant workers who worked between September 2002 and September 2008 at the New York City and Queens restaurants are expected to benefit from the ($900,000) settlement. The lawsuit, which was filed in 2008 by captains, waiters, runners, bussers, and bartenders, alleged that the restaurants failed to pay them at the legally required minimum wage, routinely shaved their hours when they worked over 40 hours and refused to pay them overtime wages for hours worked over 40, misappropriated gratuities belonging to the waitstaff, failed to pay spread of hours pay when the employees’ workdays exceeded ten hours, and refused to pay for employee uniforms or laundering of such uniforms.
He’s also been sued by his maid, again, for wage theft.
The owner of Uncle Jack’s Steakhouse is being sued by his former housekeeper, who charges he cheated her out of wages for cleaning his posh Long Island homes.
Ana Jiminez claims she was paid only $400 to $500 in cash despite working 70 hours a week for William (Willie) Degel and his wife, according to the suit filed in Brooklyn Federal Court.
He’s also being sued by Madison Square Garden for not honoring their partnership. And as the New Yorker points out, Degel has something special in common with Donald Trump, who has dined at his restaurants:
It’s pure coincidence, probably, that in the early nineties, when Trump was stiffing his bankers for hundreds of millions, Degel did six months in federal prison for conspiracy to commit credit-card fraud.
Truly, where does Fox News find these people?
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