Fifty-six former employees of Wash Park Grille and Agave Taco Bar are set to receive a total of about $117,000 in back pay and damages after a city investigation found they went unpaid during the 2024 holiday season. The money comes from a settlement following complaints that workers never received their final paychecks when the longtime Denver restaurants fell into turmoil.
Denver Labor, a division of the Denver Auditor's Office, announced the settlement after workers filed complaints saying they had not been paid for their final pay period, according to denverite.com. City staff told the outlet that the 56 affected workers will split roughly $117,000 in full back pay and damages. Separately, Westword reported the overall settlement figure as $177,244, a discrepancy the available records do not explain.
The case traces back to multiple staffers who complained they had not received their final paychecks during the 2024 holiday season, the same report notes. When investigators sought documentation, former co-owner Jeff Estey ignored requests for information and claimed there were no records from the final pay period, according to a statement from Denver Labor. With one owner stonewalling, the agency turned to the workers themselves, relying on pay stubs, receipts and tip records the employees had kept on their own.
An Owner's Death Complicated the Search for Records
The other co-owner, Greg Sauber, died in 2022, and Denver Labor followed up with his estate as part of the investigation, the report states. Wash Park Grille opened in 1997 and was owned by Estey and Sauber until Sauber's unexpected death, according to The Denver Post. That loss set off a chain of ownership trouble that eventually spilled into the restaurants' finances and, ultimately, their workers' paychecks.
The restaurants closed in early 2025 after a long legal battle between the owners and a brief city seizure for unpaid taxes, the same Denver Labor-sourced reporting explains. By mid-March 2025, the businesses had been closed since February 4 and owed $118,000 in unpaid taxes, the Denver Post reported at the time. The former spaces have since become Wash Park Social, which opened in April, and Provecho Tacos & Tequila, which had not yet opened as of the latest report.
Workers' Own Paperwork Became the Evidence
The reliance on employee-kept records highlights a recurring challenge in wage theft cases: when an employer's books go missing, workers' own documentation can be the only proof that money is owed. Denver Labor has handled larger cases built on similar evidence gaps. In February 2025, Denver Auditor Timothy M. O'Brien announced that Diamond Cabaret and Rick's Cabaret must pay nearly $14 million in restitution and penalties, including more than $11.3 million in restitution to more than 230 affected workers plus $2.6 million in city penalties, according to the Denver Post. That case also drew a lawsuit from the clubs against the city's labor division over its subpoenas, which the Denver Post reported remained ongoing at the time of its story.
Denver adopted its Civil Wage Theft Ordinance on Jan. 9, 2023, creating new procedures and penalties for pursuing wage theft claims, according to the City and County of Denver. That framework underpins the enforcement actions now playing out across the city's restaurant and nightlife industries, from neighborhood spots like Wash Park Grille to larger operations such as the two cabarets.
For the Wash Park Grille and Agave Taco Bar workers, the settlement closes out a dispute that began the moment paychecks failed to materialize during the holidays nearly two years ago. The case leaves unresolved questions about the final outcome of the ownership litigation and the current status of Provecho Tacos & Tequila, details that remain outside what has been reported so far.
