SF restaurants probed over health care fees

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Dozens of San Francisco restaurants are under investigation for exploiting a new city program by keeping customer surcharges instead of spending them on employee health care, city attorney Dennis Herrera announced Friday.

Herrera said during a City Hall press conference that the offending restaurants have until April 10 to spend at least half the fees collected on employee health care or face consumer fraud lawsuits. Unspent fees must then be turned over to the city, which will use the money for future enforcement of the city’s landmark universal health care program.