Modesto Restaurant Owners Fined over Workers’ Comp Flap

The owners of the popular Mallard’s restaurants in Stockton and Modesto, Calif., will pay the state a $100,000 fine for not carrying worker’s compensation insurance.

The state labor commissioner’s office started investigating the restaurants after the Stockton eatery closed abruptly last month. Workers reported they couldn’t collect unemployment benefits even though those deductions were taken out of their paychecks.

Investigators and law enforcement officers from the San Joaquin and Stanislaus county district attorneys’ offices and the state Department of Labor conducted several searches for payroll information that could benefit the workers.