Berkeley pizzeria faces $180,000 wage lawsuit, future in doubt

A Berkeley pizza staple that has kept its doors open since 2006 is now facing a wage lawsuit that puts more than one employee’s paycheck in question. Jennifer Baquing says Bobby G’s Pizzeria owed her unpaid wages, never reimbursed event supplies and issued paychecks with insufficient funds, a claim that pushed her to seek $180,000 in damages and raised fresh doubts about the restaurant’s future.

Baquing filed the case on March 19 in Alameda County Superior Court against owners Gurpreet Kaur and Gurmukh Bansel Singh. She says she was hired in April 2025 as a marketing and event coordinator, then abruptly terminated in December 2025 even though she had a written contract that would have kept her employed through October 2026. For restaurant workers, the title on the paycheck matters less than the payroll itself: when a business starts missing wages in one corner of the operation, cooks, servers, bartenders and managers know the problems can spread fast.

The allegations go beyond a single late payment. Baquing says pay arrived late or only in part, and that at least two paychecks in 2025 bounced because the account lacked funds. In a sector built on thin margins and constant churn, that kind of failure can unravel trust overnight. Rent still has to be paid, groceries still have to be bought, and the people who keep the floor running start wondering whether the next shift will come with a real paycheck.

The case lands at a fragile moment for the restaurant. Raj Properties filed a landlord lawsuit in November 2025 alleging Bobby G’s owed more than $46,000 in back rent from August through November 2025. When a business is already fighting over rent and then gets hit with a wage case, the pressure does not stay inside the courtroom. It shows up in scheduling, staffing and whether employees believe the place will still be open next month.

Bobby G’s, at 2072 University Ave. in Berkeley, has long billed itself as a neighborhood gathering spot for sports, live music, trivia, comedy, politics and work celebrations. SFGATE reported that when it visited during regular hours on April 16, the restaurant appeared closed, with a FedEx slip dated April 6 taped to the storefront. The owners could not be reached for comment.

California law gives workers a path when pay goes missing. The Department of Industrial Relations says workers can file wage claims when wages or benefits are not paid, and the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement tells workers to include bounced-check documentation when a paycheck cannot be cashed because of insufficient funds. State law also allows penalties for late wages and, in some final-pay cases, waiting-time penalties of up to 30 days. For Bobby G’s employees, the lawsuit is not just about one former coordinator. It is about whether a long-running neighborhood restaurant can still make payroll without putting everyone else’s job at risk.