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Dance does not deserve sensationalism

The Durango Herald’s inflammatory reporting revolts me.

Last summer, a labor audit of a local business brought a sensational headline about the investigation. Despite “no comments” from the authorities involved, the Herald published it because Alison Dance is “well-known.”

On Jan. 16, another front-page headline blared, “Cyprus Café owner broke labor laws,” trumpeting that Dance “violated minimum wage, overtime, record-keeping and child-labor laws.” However, the Herald quoted only disgruntled employees but chose not to include positive interviews with Dance’s other employees.

In fact, one employee not cited was asked, “Do you think Alison has had enough public humiliation?”

The actual findings of the Department of Labor audit are as follows:

Record keeping: A total of $40 in unsubstantiated time cards edits found in the 24 months audit period.

Minimum wage: Dance asked her servers to share tips with kitchen staff, a traditional restaurant arrangement but illegal, evidently. She has apologized and paid back the wage differences involved.

Overtime: If employees asked to work extra hours or to change their schedules to accommodate time off, Dance let them but did not pay overtime. If Cyprus requested the overtime, the employees were paid overtime. Illegal. All overtime – a total of $2,400 – has been repaid.

Child-labor laws broken: Two high school kids each worked 20 minutes longer on a single shift than permitted over two years.

Not mentioned? That there are two more restaurant audits ongoing right now in Durango. That Dance’s employees expressed to the DOL their full, voluntary agreement with the record edits noted. That Alison Dance has served the community here honorably for 19 years, paying a half million in payroll yearly, spearheading the revitalization of Second Avenue, contributing time and money to local causes and pushing for local, sustainable foods.

Dance deserves our kudos – and patronage – not the Herald’s shameful sensationalism.

Anne Markward

Durango



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