Former Wash Park Grille Employees Awarded $117,000 in Unpaid Wages and Damages

Fifty-six former employees of Wash Park Grille and Agave Taco Bar are finally splitting just over $117,000 in back pay and damages, more than 21 months after the Denver restaurants abruptly shuttered and left them without final paychecks, CBS Colorado reported. The money, disbursed over the course of recent months, represents both the wages workers were owed and additional damages calculated at roughly 70 percent of those wages.

The payout closes a chapter that began during the 2024 holiday season, when the longtime neighborhood businesses fell into turmoil and ultimately closed in February 2025 owing $118,000 in unpaid taxes. Dozens of servers, bartenders, and kitchen staff went unpaid for their final pay period. The case highlights a long-standing weakness in Denver’s restaurant and bar industry, which the Denver Auditor’s Labor Division has identified as a high-risk area for wage violations. Each year, that division recovers about $2 million for Denver workers who were not paid appropriately.

Wash park grille workers win after owner ignored pay records requests — Photo: hoodline.com

How a 1997 Institution Unraveled

Wash Park Grille opened in 1997 and operated for nearly three decades under co-owners Jeff Estey and Greg Sauber, according to The Denver Post. The stability fractured in 2022 when Sauber died unexpectedly. That death triggered a series of ownership complications that eventually affected the restaurants’ finances and, in the end, their employees’ wages. After an extended legal dispute between the owners and a short-lived city takeover due to unpaid taxes, the restaurants shut down in early 2025. CBS Colorado noted that as of mid-March 2025, the businesses had been shut since February 4 and carried $118,000 in unpaid taxes, with a tax notice displayed at the entrance.

When Denver Labor investigators sought payroll documentation, Estey ignored requests for information and claimed there were no records from the final pay period, according to a statement from the division cited by Hoodline. Facing one owner who refused to cooperate and another who had died, the agency instead depended on the workers, using pay stubs, receipts, and tip records that the employees had maintained themselves.

A popular Washington Park restaurant in Denver is under fire again

When the Books Disappear

The reliance on employee-kept paperwork became the decisive evidence in a case where the employer’s books had effectively vanished. Denver Labor followed up with Sauber’s estate as part of the investigation, but the workers’ own documentation proved crucial in establishing what was owed. “In the end, we wound up collecting everyone’s unpaid wages plus around 70% of those wages as damages on top,” said Matthew Fritz-Mauer, executive director of Denver Labor.

Tyler McDonald, who served at the Grille for two-and-a-half years, explained he “was barely above water.” He said, “Busy season is over, not a lot of places are hiring, so that was a struggle for me.”

Former Wash Park Grille employees awarded backpay, damages after Denver restaurant withheld final paychecks pic.twitter.com/EOZDJWwIeA

— https://x.com/CBSNewsColorado/status/2118140001275744393

McDonald fell into financial hardship after the closure, and CBS Colorado’s previous reporting on the situation proved pivotal in connecting him with help. “I didn’t really know about the Denver Labor until I had that interview,” McDonald said. “Matthew was on the interview as well, and I was like, he seems very confident – I’m going to put all of my effort into it, even if I just get paid what I’m owed.”

Two Numbers, One Settlement

While CBS Colorado and Hoodline report the total award at just over $117,000, Westword previously reported the overall settlement figure as $177,244, a discrepancy the available records do not explain. City staff told Denverite that the 56 affected workers would split roughly $117,000 in full back pay and damages. Regardless of the exact final sum, the recovery marks a significant enforcement action under Denver’s Civil Wage Theft Ordinance, adopted January 9, 2023, which created new procedures and penalties for pursuing wage theft claims across the city.

The Burden Finally Lifts

For McDonald, the money arrived after a grinding 21-month ordeal. “That helps me pay off all my credit card debt, pay back my parents’ rent, pay… you know, pretty much everything that I was struggling for so long with,” he said. The former Wash Park Grille space has since been replaced by Wash Park Social, which opened in April, while Agave Taco Bar’s location is slated for Provecho Tacos & Tequila. McDonald has moved out of Denver for a fresh start and landed a new job in the service industry.

The settlement closes out a dispute that began the moment paychecks failed to materialize during the holidays nearly two years ago. It leaves unresolved questions about the final outcome of the ownership litigation, but for the 56 workers who kept their pay stubs while their employer’s records vanished, the recovery proves that personal documentation can be the difference between a paycheck and a debt.