As observed by the Labor Department, and as anyone who has worked in restaurants knows, “there is often a lot of abuses in the restaurant industry” when it comes to overtime rules for restaurant workers, in other words, how workers are paid – or more aptly, not paid what they are entitled to.
In another typical example, a chain of Ohio Mexican restaurants has recently been ordered to pay back wages to 129 workers in the amount of $397,703. The restaurant is alleged to have violated federal hour and wage laws in failing to pay its employees overtime pay and minimum wage, according to the Department of Labor.
The investigation of the restaurants pay practices found that it had violated the Fair Labor Standards Act by failing to pay its tipped employees, who worked for tips only, minimum wage and did not pay overtime for hours worked over 40 per week to certain “salaried” employees including servers, cooks, dishwashers and bussers – who were working up to 65 hours per week. For tipped employees, the overtime rules for restaurant workers works like this – if their tips combined with their direct wage of at least $2.13 an hour do not equal the $7.25/hour minimum wage, the employer must pay them the difference.
This case was even more egregious given that the DOL found “willful and repeat” violations of the FLSA, leading it to assess a fine against the owner of an additional $11,000.
Do You Believe You Have an Overtime Claim?
If you are a current or former restaurant worker (waiter, waitress, assistant manager, etc.) and believe that you may have a claim or would like to get more information about overtime pay, please call us at 1-866-559-0400, email us at mlore@overtime-flsa.com or submit your information using our convenient Case Evaluation form for a FREE and CONFIDENTIAL review of your circumstances.