WASHINGTON (7News) — DC Attorney General Brian Schwalb’s office announced a settlement Thursday in which 42 former employees of a now-closed restaurant will split $126,650 after Schwalb said the restaurant was not transparent about their pay.
Under the terms of the settlement, IHG management will also pay a $60,000 penalty to the District of Columbia. From 2020 to 2023, IHG operated the Moon Rabbit upscale restaurant at the InterContinental Hotel at the Wharf in southwest Washington.
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A former employee of the restaurant who will receive money from the settlement told 7News he was frequently paid less than he was entitled to and then had to jump through many hoops to get the money he was owed. He also said communication about his pay and tips was very poor.
“Sometimes it was just difficult to get the numbers,” said former Moon Rabbit employee Selburn Marson in an interview. “And we asked for them, but didn’t get the right answer.”
“Workers have a legal right to know how much they will be paid and when – period,” said Attorney General Brian Schwalb in a press release announcing the settlement. “IHG kept employees in the dark, sowed fear and confusion among employees and left them vulnerable to exploitation.”
7News reported on an employee protest following the closure of Moon Rabbit in May 2023. Among other things, employees had raised concerns about a lack of transparency in the sharing of tips.
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7News has reached out to IHG for a response to the announcement of a settlement between the company and the Attorney General’s Office. IHG sent the following statement:
“According to the settlement document released by the OAG, the claims made by the District were not based on underpayments, but rather on IHG’s inadvertent failure to inform workers of its tip-sharing policy. IHG denies the District’s allegations and nothing in the settlement agreement constitutes an admission or evidence of any wrongdoing. IHG intends to always act with integrity and honesty and treat our employees fairly, and we have a track record of creating positive work environments in thousands of hotels.”
In an interview with Schwalb on Thursday afternoon, 7News asked him what message the settlement sends to other restaurants in the city.
“To make sure we have the kind of robust restaurant scene in Washington that we want to have, we have to make sure we’re protecting the workers who are essential to this industry,” Schwalb said. “We have to make it clear to all the people in the industry that everyone is on the same page and that everyone has to follow the rules.”
Schwalb’s office points out that there is currently another restaurant called Moon Rabbit in the Penn Quarter in Washington, D.C. It was opened by Kevin Tien, who was a chef at the previous location. The attorney general’s office said the settlement has nothing to do with Tien’s new restaurant and relates only to alleged wrongdoing when Moon Rabbit was on the Wharf and operated by IHG.
