By Gus Saltonstall
The owner of a former barbecue restaurant on the Upper West Side has been indicted for wage theft, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced on Thursday.
Patrick Griffin, 71, was indicted for allegedly stealing at least $8,000 in wages from five of his employees, according to the DA’s office.
Au Jus, the Oklahoma-style barbecue chain, had three New York City locations, including at 2621 Broadway, on the corner of West 99th Street. All three are now closed.
“As alleged, Patrick Griffin, owner of the popular Au Jus restaurant, took advantage of his workers and stole their hard-earned wages while they provided physically demanding labor,” Bragg said in a news release. “Griffin was allegedly vacationing in Europe while his employees were begging him for their money that they earned and need to support their families.”
Au Jus’s Upper West Side location closed in September of 2025, after the front door was boarded and a Marshal’s Notice was posted on the front door. The neighborhood outpost opened in 2020.
Griffin allegedly engaged in a “pattern of wage theft against his workers” beginning in January 2025, and ignored messages and blocked phone numbers when those employees followed up for their payment, according to the Manhattan DA’s office.
“Griffin told a former employee that he would not be paid unless he and his coworkers returned to work at the restaurant. When the worker returned to work, Griffin continued withholding his wages, and the worker was forced to leave again,” the Manhattan DA’s office wrote. “In another instance, Griffin demanded that a worker sign a document that falsely claimed he did not have government-issued identification. When the worker refused to sign the false document, Griffin withheld his wages.”
After the unsuccessful attempts to recover the wages, employees reported Griffin’s conduct to the Worker Protection Hotline, which led to the Manhattan District Attorney investigation.
Griffin is officially charged with grand larceny in the third degree by wage theft, scheme to defraud in the first degree, and failure to pay wages in accordance with the labor law.
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