Catalina Island Business Owner Pays $1.5M in Wage Theft Case
KTLA
Los Angeles, CA — September 30, 2026
KTLA 5 News at 6:30
Local News
Yueh Mei Tucey, also known as Nora Tucey, a Catalina Island business owner, has been ordered to pay $1.5 million in restitution to dozens of workers who were underpaid for years, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office (DA's Office).
Details of the Case:
- Period of Underpayment: 2008–2022
- Number of Affected Workers: Dozens
- Amount Paid: $1.5 million in unpaid wages, plus an additional $96,000 to the California Employment Development Department for underreporting worker wages.
- Method of Underpayment: Use of payroll aliases to conceal overtime hours and workers performing at multiple businesses on the same day, sometimes resulting in workdays up to 18 hours long.
- Vulnerable Workers: Many employees also rented housing from Tucey, making them particularly vulnerable as she maintained a policy requiring workers to leave their rentals if their employment ended.
"This $1.5 million recovery is an important step toward getting money back to the workers who earned it," said Lilia García-Brower, California Labor Commissioner.
Legal Outcome:
Tucey delivered the restitution check to the court during a restitution and sentencing hearing on Monday. The case was initially referred to the DA's Office by the California Labor Commissioner's Office following an investigation into what they described as a scheme to underpay employees at multiple Catalina Island businesses.
An attorney for Tucey, however, characterized the case as an overly ambitious prosecution by the district attorney’s office that ultimately failed.