The National Labor Relations Board has filed an unfair labor practices complaint against Casa Bonita, the Denver Mexican restaurant owned by "South Park" creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, accusing management of refusing to bargain in good faith with unionized performers and discriminating against staff who voted to join Actors' Equity Association.

The complaint now goes to a hearing before the NLRB beginning Monday, Dec. 7, in Denver. Casa Bonita did not respond to a request for comment before publication.

The case stems from an 18-month dispute between the restaurant's workforce — dominated by entertainers represented by Actors' Equity — and the ownership group that bought the property out of bankruptcy in 2021. Parker and Stone paid for the restaurant, then down to a single location, during bankruptcy proceedings involving previous owner Summit Family Restaurants, and committed $40 million to renovating the kitschy landmark.

Casa Bonita's performers voted to unionize in November 2024 and have been in contract negotiations with management since. The relationship deteriorated quickly.

Last September, Actors' Equity filed its own unfair labor practices charge after the restaurant cut worker hours without engaging in collective bargaining. Workers walked off the job on Halloween in response.

The union has pressed for a collective bargaining agreement covering wages and working conditions. In July, actress Brooke Shields, who serves as president of Actors' Equity, visited the restaurant to back the workers' demands.

For operators, the case is a reminder of the legal exposure that follows unilateral changes to schedules or hours once a workforce unionizes. The NLRB complaint alleges the restaurant made those changes outside the bargaining process and then retaliated against employees for their union activity — the core allegations an administrative law judge will weigh beginning in December.

Andrea Hoeschen, general counsel for Actors' Equity Association, said the federal complaint validates the workers' position through a year and a half of bargaining.

"This complaint vindicates what the workers have been saying throughout 18 months of bargaining: Casa Bonita would rather play games with their livelihoods than seriously bargain for a fair contract," Hoeschen said in a statement. "The NLRB's complaint should be a wakeup call for the employer, but whether or not they choose to do the right thing, we're in this for the long haul."

Casa Bonita occupies an unusual position in the industry. Once part of a small chain of elaborately themed restaurants known as the "Disneyland of Mexican restaurants," the Denver location survived the COVID-19 pandemic and a bankruptcy filing before Parker and Stone took over and reinvested heavily in the venue, with its Pepto Bismol-pink exterior, indoor waterfalls, cliff divers and puppeteers.

The December hearing will determine whether the single-unit operator violated federal labor law during its first contract negotiation with a newly unionized staff — a process that, under current NLRB standards, can impose significant remedies for bad-faith bargaining. A ruling against the restaurant could compel Casa Bonita back to the table with its performers, or extend the dispute well into the venue's relaunch era.