{"id":316790,"date":"2026-06-23T12:41:39","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T12:41:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/316790\/"},"modified":"2026-06-23T12:41:39","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T12:41:39","slug":"disney-epcot-workers-accuse-third-party-restaurant-operator-of-wage-theft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/316790\/","title":{"rendered":"Disney EPCOT workers accuse third-party restaurant operator of wage theft"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Jessica Quinones-Estrada, a chef at the Patina Group\u2019s Tutto Italia restaurant at EPCOT, speaks at a press conference on June 17, 2026. Credit: McKenna Schueler<\/p>\n

Four cooks employed by a major third-party restaurant operator at Disney\u2019s EPCOT theme park have accused their employer, the Patina Group, of underpaying them.<\/p>\n

They\u2019ve threatened to file a lawsuit over the issue, with the assistance of a labor attorney running for Florida Attorney General, if the Patina Group doesn\u2019t pay them what they say they\u2019re owed by July 2.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re taking action today because it isn\u2019t right to work without pay,\u201d said Jennifer Quinones-Estrada, a prep cook at EPCOT\u2019s Tutto Italia, speaking at a press conference last Wednesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She\u2019s one of four cooks at Tutto Italia, a restaurant operated by the Patina Group, who allege they were forced to perform off-the-clock, pre-shift prep work for years without being paid.<\/p>\n

She, personally, works five eight-hour shifts a week, but said that, since October 2020, she\u2019s been expected to show up to shifts a half-hour early to prep, without receiving compensation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI should have been getting paid for every hour I did for the last five and a half years. I should have been getting paid overtime when that extra work put me over 40 hours a week,\u201d Quinones-Estrada stated. <\/p>\n

\u201cPatina,\u201d she added pointedly, \u201cyou broke the law. Make it right.\u201d<\/p>\n

Quinones-Estrada was joined Wednesday by members of her union, Unite Here Local 737, in addition to State Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, and U.S. Congressman Maxwell Frost, D-FL.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo matter what your political viewpoint is, we can all agree that when you do the work, you should get paid, period,\u201d said Eskamani, a progressive Democrat and daughter of a former part-time Disney World employee.<\/p>\n

\"\"Florida Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, speaks at a press conference organized by Unite Here Local 737 on June 17, 2026. Credit: McKenna Schueler<\/p>\n

Frost, a fellow progressive who\u2019s running unopposed<\/a> for his Congressional seat this fall,\u00a0 described wage theft as \u201cthe largest crime we have in this country,\u201d coupled with other forms of white-collar crime.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to enshrine more worker protections in the law, so that way companies can\u2019t get away with this,\u201d Frost added, lifting up the pro-union Protecting the Right to Organize Act <\/a>and the Congressional Progressive Caucus\u2019s new affordability agenda<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s going on here, this isn\u2019t unique,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is happening across the entire country, day in and day out, and so we need to do more in the United States Congress to ensure that we\u2019re protecting workers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Quinones-Estrada and three of her coworkers at Tutto Italia have retained Sugarman, Susskind, & Braswell P.A. as their legal counsel through their union. Specifically serving as their counsel is Jose Javier Rodriguez, a labor attorney who is also running for Florida State Attorney General this fall as a Democrat. He has committed<\/a> to strengthening mechanisms in Florida to fight wage theft, if elected.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Patina does not pay these four workers what they\u2019re owed, they\u2019re prepared to file a lawsuit under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, represented by friend of labor and workers attorney Jose Javier Rodriguez,\u201d said Ella Wood, who serves as political and research director of Unite Here Local 737. \u201cWe will not stop until these workers get what they deserve.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will not stop until these workers get what they deserve.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ella Wood, political and research director for Unite Here Local 737<\/p>\n

Altogether, the workers are collectively seeking roughly $134,000 \u2014 based on their regular pay rates and hours allegedly worked without pay \u2014 in addition to $7,700 for attorney\u2019s fees.<\/p>\n

Quinones\u2019 calculated unpaid wages, specifically \u2014 including unpaid wages due at an overtime rate \u2014 total $26,851 from shifts beginning Oct. 1, 2020.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs hourly workers, Employees rely on their wages for sustenance, and the law takes seriously an employer\u2019s deprivation of their wages,\u201d the letter<\/a> from Sugarman, Susskind, & Braswell P.A. to Patina Group reads, dated June 17.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Credit: McKenna Schueler<\/p>\n

Florida\u2019s wage, hour and overtime laws are spelled out in the Fair Labor Standards Act, a federal law, as well as the Florida Minimum Wage Act modeled after the FLSA.<\/p>\n

The Economic Policy Institute has highlighted Florida as one of the top states<\/a> in the country for minimum wage violations \u2014 a problem that disproportionately affects<\/a> immigrants, women, service workers and people of color. Wage theft, collectively, costs U.S. workers an estimated $15 billion<\/a> each year.<\/p>\n

\u201cHeadlines after headlines speak to Orlando as being the top tourism destination in the world. Our revenue generated from the tourism development tax continues to increase<\/a>, and yet these are the everyday people that make those dreams a reality, that generate that revenue for our community \u2014 and they are not even getting a piece of that revenue,\u201d said Eskamani.<\/p>\n

The Patina Group, a subsidiary of the multinational company Delaware North, did not respond to a request for comment from Orlando Weekly on the workers\u2019 June 17 letter, or on the wage theft allegations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In Central Florida, the Patina Group currently operates<\/a> Tutto Italia, Via Napoli, Space 220 and Tutto Gusto at Disney\u2019s EPCOT. The group also runs five restaurants at Disney Springs \u2014 Morimoto Asia, Enzo\u2019s Hideaway, Maria & Enzo\u2019s, Pizza Ponte and The Edison \u2014 where workers are in an ongoing process to organize a union<\/a> with Unite Here Local 737.<\/p>\n

Several weeks ago, Patina Group workers at Disney\u2019s EPCOT who are already unionized with Local 737 urged<\/a> Disney against entering into any new business with the Patina Group, citing alleged violations of federal labor law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A regional director for the National Labor Relations Board, a federal agency that enforces private sector workers\u2019 rights to organize a union, last month issued his own complaint against the Patina Group, alleging that Julie Ruiz, a former cashier at Pizza Ponte, was unlawfully fired from her job<\/a> in 2024 in retaliation for her union organizing activity.<\/p>\n

NLRB regional director David Cohen on May 27, 2026, ordered Patina to offer Ruiz reinstatement to her job and to give her back pay. The Patina Group responded to the complaint on June 10, denying the allegations. A trial date for Ruiz\u2019s case is scheduled for Sept. 15, 2026.<\/p>\n

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