Miguel Marchese, the bartender who was filmed, yelled at, cursed out, punched, and pulled by his hair at a Hayes Valley restaurant last month has been fired from his position following the incident. Marchese said he was notified of his termination via email on Saturday, effective Sunday.
Hazie’s, a bar and restaurant helmed by celebrity chef Joey Altman, made headlines around the world last month after videos of two customers attacking the staff on Dec. 13 went viral. In the video, Marchese, 25, is seen physically removing the perpetrators from the restaurant with the help of other staff members and bystanders. The main perpetrator, whose name trended across the internet after being posted on X.com, was ultimately arrested outside of the restaurant and later fired from her job.
Three weeks later, Hazie’s management fired Marchese, who had worked there since 2023.
Marchese was told he posed an insurance risk for tripping the customer should she attempt a lawsuit. (At the time of publication, Marchese said the customer has not made any contact with the restaurant, let alone pursued legal action.) He was also fired for condemning management’s lack of communication with its staff on his social media account following the incident, according to documents reviewed by Gazetteer.
So far, no other Hazie’s employees — including the one portrayed bodyslamming the customer — have been terminated.
Marchese was offered a $5,000 severance package, which he did not accept, if he agreed to not speak about his employment with Hazie’s or pursue any legal claims.
Marchese’s hectic few weeks at Hazie’s punctuate several months of management shifts, staff turnover, and administrative issues at the restaurant, he said. Tip logs, which are used by both employers and staff to record non-wage income, haven’t been filled out since Aug. 25, Marchese said.
Marchese also alleged Hazie’s is currently under investigation by the city Office of Labor Standards Enforcement for wage and tip theft following inconsistencies in how staff was paid after private events. The claims, brought by Marchese and two other employees, were filed a week before the viral incident, Marchese said. (The OLSE could not confirm this by press time.)
The termination also comes amid ongoing conversations with Hazie’s management regarding Marchese’s San Francisco Medical Reimbursement Account (MRA), a city-mandated and employer-funded health savings account that employees may use to cover medical expenses in lieu of employer-provided healthcare.
MRA accounts are hosted on a website run by the city. After being unable to locate his account, Marchese requested information on his balance and account information from Hazie’s management. He said he received inconsistent information and instead was offered reimbursement checks directly from the restaurant instead of a plan administrator. Requests for any documentation related to his MRA, including his personal ledger — which would include information on employer contributions since 2023 — have not been met, Marchese claimed.
Marchese said because of this and similar experiences shared by other Hazie’s employees, he believes that Hazie’s has not been properly contributing to employees’ MRAs. Calls for comment by Hazie’s management were not returned by press time.
If a formal investigation into the MRA dispute is launched and Hazie’s is found to be noncompliant, the owners could owe thousands in backpay to current and former employees. In October, Verve Coffee Roasters was ordered to backpay employees of its Market Street location some $180,000 after failing to contribute to their MRA funds or offer healthcare benefits.
“They want me to basically, you know, hide my hands behind my back and keep my mouth shut,” Marchese said.
After the viral incident, Hazie’s received an outpouring of support from the community as well as on Yelp and Google Reviews, much of it focused on the employees who stood up to the customers’ outbursts. “For the next two weeks, people would just come by to support,” said Marchese. “They’d say, ‘Oh my god we saw the video, we want to support you guys.’ It was crazy.”
Now, Marchese wonders, “Can I even walk by Hazie’s? Can I, like, go in and say goodbye to my coworkers? Some of them texted me to ask when I’m coming back, and I was like, ‘Oh I got fired.’”
