A South Carolina white man, who is serving time in prison, owes $546,000 in restitution to a black man he forced to work at his restaurant over years without pay. John Christopher Smith was made to work for over 100 hours a week at a restaurant in Conway, Carolina, owned by Bobby Paul Edwards. Edwards is currently serving a 10-year sentence for enslaving Smith.
A recent appellate court ruled that Smith, who was physically abused for five years should receive double the $273,000 he was initially awarded in restitution.
Edwards, in 2019, pleaded guilty to enslavement charges and failing to pay wages to Smith who has intellectual disabilities. "Minimum wages and overtime compensation must be paid on a current basis as work is done, such that an employee receives the prescribed compensation without delay. When an employer fails to pay those amounts, the employee suffers losses, which includes the loss of the use of that money during the period of delay," the Court of Appeals wrote, a CNN report reads.
Attorney General John Gore said, "Human trafficking through forced labour can happen on farms, in homes, and as today's case shows, in public places, such as restaurants.”
Smith wasn’t given days off, was kept away from his family and was subjected to racial slurs. Smith was often whipped with belts and kitchen pans and burned with metal tongs that had been dipped in hot grease.
Smith, while testifying against Edwards, has said that he feared for his life. A woman who worked in the restaurant knew that Smith was being mistreated and reported Edwards in 2014.
