Restaurant fined $67,000 for ‘willfully’ violating COVID rules, Washington officials say

A Washington restaurant has been fined more than $67,000 for offering indoor dining in violation of COVID-19 rules, but the owner said he’s not closing.

The fines are “old news” to Rod Samuelson, the owner of Spiffy’s Restaurant and Bakery in Chehalis, and he does not intend on closing the restaurant, he told KING. The state Department of Labor and Industries not only fined the business, but also threatened legal action against it, KING reported.

Mike Yestramski, president of the Washington Federation of State Employees, told KIRO Radio that an L&I inspector doing a follow-up visit to Spiffy’s “was met by armed protesters who threatened … to do them harm.” In a statement sent to McClatchy News, the federation said that “extremist groups [are] staging protests at a Chehalis-area restaurant — and threatening to target L&I employees at their homes.”

For each day a restaurant in Washington offers indoor dining, the Department of Labor and Industries issues a fine of $9,639, according to a document the agency sent to McClatchy News.

As of Wednesday, Spiffy’s racked up $67,423 in fines for “willfully” violating the order, according to the department.

The restaurant has 15 days after being issued the notice to pay the fines, according to the document. The document says the agency issued the notice to Spiffy’s on Dec. 7.

Spiffy’s was told a week ago to shut down indoor dining, Samuelson told KING. He also told the news station that his decision to stay open is a protest against the governor’s order, which went into effect on Nov. 18, according to the COVID-19 guidance.

Tim Church, a spokesman for the Department of Labor and Industries, told McClatchy News in a phone interview that Spiffy’s will be fined every day it continues to offer indoor dining and that the agency has issued an “order of restraint” to get the business to stop. If it continues to violate the state’s mandates, the agency could take Spiffy’s to court, where a temporary restraining order may be issued, according to Church.

If Spiffy’s bucks that, it may be held in contempt of court and face court fines on top of the fines already assigned by the Department of Labor and Industries, Church said. Unpaid fines will go to collections, according to Church.

Only one restaurant has faced repercussions beyond being fined, Church told McClatchy on Dec. 3. A Whatcom County Superior Court judge issued a restraining order against a restaurant in Lynden, demanding the business comply with orders from Labor and Industries, Church said.

The latest restrictions prohibit restaurants from allowing people to eat indoors and those businesses that offer outdoor dining must follow strict rules, the guidance says. The order also prohibits indoor social gatherings for people who don’t live together, “unless they quarantine for (14) days prior to the social gathering; or quarantine for seven days prior to the social gathering and receive a negative COVID-19 test result no more than 48-hours prior to the gathering,” according to the guidance.

These limitations were recently extended to last until Jan. 4, KOMO reported.

Spiffy’s inspired another restaurant in south Thurston County to defy the restaurant and bar restrictions on Dec. 2, according to McClatchy News. Unlike Spiffy’s though, Brian Robbins, owner of the Farm Boy Drive-In, told McClatchy that opening indoor dining has nothing to do with politics, but is a matter of “pure survival.”

“I’ve got 10 employees that rely on their paychecks,” Robbins said. “Just because Inslee says that they’re non-essential, that’s not right. Every single person’s paycheck is essential … What makes him think that he can determine who is essential and who is not?”

In a Tuesday news conference, Gov. Jay Inslee said “for those business owners who are breaking the law, which they are doing by staying open, you should have to answer to your fellow business people that you are jeopardizing in a sense and being very unfair to … We will act accordingly to move toward compliance,” KING reported.

Inslee said “that a vast majority of businesses are complying with restrictions,” according to KING.

Washington continues to be hit hard by the coronavirus, and since it began has reported 187,327 cases of COVID-19 and 2,967 deaths, as of Monday, according to the Washington State Department of Health.

This story was originally published December 9, 2020 at 11:35 AM with the headline "Restaurant fined $67,000 for ‘willfully’ violating COVID rules, Washington officials say."