Burma Superstar kitchen workers sue popular Bay Area chain

Current and former kitchen workers at Burma Superstar filed a lawsuit Thursday, alleging the popular Bay Area restaurant chain hasn’t been fairly paying its employees.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs filed the lawsuit — which is seeking class-action status — in Alameda County Superior Court, alleging the restaurant chain stiffed workers on wages, overtime pay, breaks and sick leave.

“Burma Superstar kitchen workers work very hard to make the restaurants so successful,” said William Navarrete, a former dishwasher and cook at three Burma Superstar restaurants. “We believe they did not pay us what we were owed.”

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of three employees and around 100 “similarly situated” workers with the Legal Aid Society — Employment Law Center, Asian Law Caucus and Centro Legal de la Raza, is seeking unspecified back wages, attorney’s fees, and other penalties.

These workers “have overcome cultural and language barriers to join together in bringing this case, not just for themselves, but also for workers who are too scared to step forward,” said Palyn Hung Mitchell, an Asian Law Caucus attorney.

Burma Superstar, which operates restaurants in Alameda, Oakland and San Francisco, and is looking to open another location in the city’s South of Market neighborhood, is a favorite Bay Area mini-chain.

The tea leaf and rainbow salads are among the restaurant’s many offerings that keep the locations nearly always packed with customers. The restaurants are among those credited with a recent Bay Area boom in the once little known Burmese cuisine.

Managers at Burma Superstar did not immediately return phone calls Thursday.

Evan Sernoffsky is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: esernoffsky@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @EvanSernoffsky