State investigating Chinese buffet restaurants for worker abuses

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan's office is working with the state's Department of Labor to investigate complaints of worker abuse at a number of buffet-style Chinese restaurants.

Officials from Madigan's office said "the majority" of the complaints came from employees of eateries in northeast Illinois, but not exclusively.

The allegations include wage payment and minimum wage violations, and discrimination against a largely immigrant workforce serving as kitchen labor. A news release from Madigan's office states workers complained of 11-hour to 13-hour workdays, without breaks, six days a week. They also complained to investigators about the living conditions at housing owned by the restaurant owners.

Madigan's office is urging any current or former workers of Chinese buffet-style restaurants in Illinois who may have experienced wage abuse or discrimination to contact the attorney general's civil rights bureau at (877) 581-3692.