The Bangor Daily News was the first to report this story. What you’re reading here would likely not be made public without the efforts of professional journalists asking questions, interviewing sources and obtaining documents.
Bangor’s Salt North Tap Room must pay $135,081, plus interest and legal fees, to a former employee who is owed unpaid wages, the Penobscot Superior Court ruled last week.
The judgment was entered by default after restaurant owner Dane Morgan failed to appear or defend himself against the lawsuit, court documents show.
Former head chef Johnathan Williams sued the restaurant in February, alleging that his former employer violated several state laws by failing to pay his wages on numerous occasions.
Several former employees have said that Morgan frequently shorted them on wages and delayed their paychecks for weeks on end, the Bangor Daily News previously reported. The allegations came less than a year after Salt North opened.
Morgan told the BDN Wednesday that there are “significant factual disputes regarding the claims being made,” adding, “this is still very much an active and unresolved situation.”
He also claimed he didn’t get the court documents in time to respond.
Miles Guillet, the restaurant’s general manager, was served at the business’s address on March 18, according to court records.
The Caribbean fusion eatery and nightlife spot opened in June at 16 Union St., where Carolina’s Sports and Spirits used to operate.
Court records show no filings or attorney entries by Salt Maine — the business’s LLC, which is registered to Morgan — at any point since the lawsuit was filed.
Morgan said Wednesday that he’d filed a motion to set aside the default judgment last week. There have been no updates to the case since the April 21 judgment, according to a court clerk.
“Dane Morgan and his brother Miles, who’s the general [manager], likes to gaslight, ignore everything until they receive the final judgement, but the truth is out there now for all eyes to see,” Williams said Wednesday.
At least four Salt North employees have quit over late and unpaid wages, Williams previously told the BDN.
The bar and restaurant has remained open over the course of the wage dispute, recently advertising a live event with Brooklyn drill rapper Bobby Shmurda on April 25.
