Employees at a Boba Guys tea shop in San Francisco believe they were being recorded without their consent.
The Boba Guys shop on 19th and Mission has been closed for over a week. According to NBC News Bay Area, employees at the location claimed they have either been fired or suspended for attempting to unionize.
“None of us wanted to leave immediately if there was some hope here,” Madeline Urso, former Boba Guys employee, told NBC News Bay Area.
Urso was fired a day after she posted information about unionizing to a Slack channel. Three other employees have been placed on unpaid leave.
SF GATE reports that the managers learned employees wanted to unionize because they were recording and listening to employee conversations at the shop.
Urso showed NBC News Bay Area a copy of her termination letter.
“Madeline’s comments listed here, along with other commentary documented in video are in direct violation of boba guys code of ethics,” it reads in part.
The employees did not realize they were being recorded. California law requires that all parties must consent before private conversations are recorded. According to SF GATE, there is no mention of audio surveillance in the employee handbook.
Andrew Chau and Bin Chen, the owners of Boba Guys, did not immediately respond to SF GATE’s request for comment.
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