Former Wash Park Grille workers to receive $117K in Denver wage theft settlement

Fifty-six former workers of Wash Park Grille and Agave Taco Bar will split $117,244 after a Denver wage theft investigation ended in a settlement, according to officials. The payout includes full back pay and fines after the restaurants failed to pay wages and tips before closing. McDonald said the restaurant’s co-owner, Jeff Estey, went “radio silent” after the closure and “absconded with tips” that servers earned during the Christmas and New Year’s stretch. Tyler McDonald, one of the 56 former employees covered by the settlement, said he was owed several weeks of pay by the time Wash Park Grille was seized for unpaid taxes in February 2025, with missing paychecks dating back to the holiday season. “At the beginning, I was feeling very discouraged, down in the dumps, betrayed. I thought there was nothing I could do,” McDonald said.

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