Two wrongfully terminated workers get $40,000 after city intervenes

Ian O’Hara worked part-time as a barista at Blue Bottle Coffee for almost a year and a half before the company wrongfully terminated him in January, leaving O'Hara “immensely blindsided.”

It was just after the holiday season when he was fired, and his apartment’s lease was ending in February. Working paycheck to paycheck, he had no cushion at all, calling it a “shocking beginning to the new year.”

In the lead-up to his termination, managers wrote up O’Hara for infractions that he’d never been in trouble for before, saying it felt like a “bizarro world.” But O’Hara was in consistent contact with the city's Department of Consumer and Worker Protection prior to his firing, having learned about the agency when reading up on workers’ rights in New York City.

Blue Bottle eventually fired O'Hara for time and attendance issues, which he said he’d never been written up for until his termination. He contacted his investigator with DCWP the same day of his termination and O’Hara, the agency and Blue Bottle spent the next six months going back and forth on how Ian could get his job back.

But the company didn’t budge.

When it became clear Blue Bottle wouldn’t rehire O’Hara after months of negotiations, the company settled, paying O’Hara four and a half to five months of wages. His first move after the money got to his bank account was to donate 10 percent of his settlement to a union representing Blue Bottle workers in Boston and the Bay Area.

DCWP's crucial intervention

O'Hara is one of two wrongfully terminated workers at different businesses who, in total, received $40,000 in compensation this summer following DCWP's intervention for lost pay and the destabilization of a sudden firing.

In O'Hara's case, DCWP found that Blue Bottle terminated O’Hara in violation of the city’s Fair Workweek Law for fast food workers. The cafe terminated him without “just cause or a bona fide economic reason,” according to the agency, and unreasonably and inconsistently disciplined O’Hara.

“No one should lose their job for asserting their right to a fair workplace or taking a sick day they're legally owed,” a DCWP spokesperson told The Chief in an email. “New Yorkers who believe their rights have been violated should know that DCWP stands ready to investigate and enforce the law to vindicate their rights.”

O'Hara now works at a different, unionized cafe. His Blue Bottle location wasn’t unionized.

“I would still like to be working at Blue Bottle,” O’Hara told The Chief. “I was wanting my job back because I wanted to return to work with the baristas that I did like working with.”

Blue Bottle Coffee told The Chief in an email that it followed its established progressive discipline process before firing O’Hara and disputed the subsequent complaint but “ultimately agreed to resolve the matter rather than continue through the administrative process.” 

The company did not answer specific questions about whether it disciplined the managers who wrongfully terminated O’Hara and if it changed its policies to avoid future settlements, saying it does not “comment further on confidential personnel matters involving current or former team members.”

Red Rooster’s Refusal

Adrian Tapia worked at Red Rooster Harlem, a soul food restaurant, for 15 years before the business wrongfully fired him in November 2025. In the lead-up to the firing, Tapia wanted to use his sick leave to care for his wife, Elizabeth, who had recently undergone surgery, but Red Rooster refused, he said.

Tapia told The Chief in Spanish that he was used to working long hours at the restaurant, but he couldn’t work as long after he contracted skin cancer. His manager started treating him more harshly and he felt pressured to work longer.

This culminated in the restaurant firing him rather than letting him use his sick leave to care for his wife. 

“I felt scared and many emotions because I had already been working there for 15 years,” said Tapia, a father of three.  

But he contacted the DCWP, thanks to his wife’s familiarity with the agency, and it secured a wrongful termination settlement for lost wages and worker relief. The agency found that his termination violated the city’s Protected Time Off law in refusing his request for sick leave.

Red Rooster did not respond to a request for comment from The Chief about Tapia’s firing.

For O'Hara, DCWP's intervention made an immense difference.

“I’ll be able to pay rent and afford groceries finally,” he said.