Kome Japanese Seafood Buffet in Daly City closed its doors this week and laid off between 70 and 80 workers.

The move comes less than a year after the California Labor Commissioner’s Office cited the restaurant for multiple wage violations in June 2018, resulting in a total fine of $5.16 million.

In June, after investigating worker complaints, the Commissioner’s Office cited Kome for a host of violations involving 133 employees, including failure to pay minimum wage, overtime and split-shift premiums. The restaurant also included a service charge on the bill, and officials said it had illegally applied the money collected to the workers’ minimum wage instead of distributing it in tips.

Ping Tam, a waiter at Kome, said that underpayment of wages, as well as workplace safety issues, have been problems since he started five years ago.

“They don’t respect us,” he said through a translator.

David Leung, one of the owners, denied the claims when he spoke to The Chronicle in 2018. He and his co-owners appealed the citation, and a hearing before the commission has been set for March.

According to the Chinese Progressive Association, a San Francisco nonprofit that supported the workers in filing the complaint, Kome employees have continued to organize to demand better working conditions.

Yet tensions between workers and managers only increased. Tam said that when he raised concerns around the service charge and asked for the full minimum wage, the restaurant cut his hours.

In December, the Commissioner’s Office fined the restaurant an additional $60,000 in unpaid wages and penalties for retaliating against former employee Chris Liu, who said he had assisted the commissioner’s inspection efforts.

On Jan. 3, Kome’s employees arrived at work to find new signs posted, reading: “In order to remedy the Suspected Mold Conditions, repair the outstanding items and complete the Venting Cleaning, starting 01/14/2019, the restaurant will temporarily be closed for three months or until all the outstanding issues are fixed.” The notices made no mention of rehiring the employees after the unpaid break.

Kome has disconnected its telephone, and attempts to reach Leung have been unsuccessful.

The closure does not affect the $5.16 million citation.

“That means nothing,” said Paola Laverde, public information officer for the Labor Commissioner’s Office. “They still have a hearing scheduled for early March. Even if the business is shut down, in the citations the owners of the company have been named as liable.”

“It is clear that Kome’s employers have not been respecting workers and shown any intention of correcting their behavior,” said Joyce Lam, political director for the Chinese Progressive Association. “Despite that, workers are going to be getting ready to speak truth at the hearing, and we ask the community to continue to support these workers as they move forward.”

The association and some of the laid-off workers will hold a speak-out Thursday at 12:30 p.m. at the organization’s Chinatown offices.

Tam has filed for unemployment and is searching for a new job. He and his coworkers are also preparing to testify at the March hearing.

“We should get what we’re owed: minimum wage, overtime wages and respect,” he said.