According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, service workers in the hospitality industry are some of the lowest paid workers in the United States. When restaurants shortchange employees by taking tips or refusing to pay overtime in compliance with the law, it’s especially despicable. One restaurant franchise is being fined $8,418 in civil money penalties by the Department of Labor, which also recovered $307K in back wages and liquidated damages for its workers who were deprived of their fair wages.
Hawaii restaurant franchise victimizes employees
An investigation of Asian Restaurant Group Inc., operating two restaurants as Max’s of Manila in Hawaii, found that the restaurants did not properly pay kitchen staff overtime rates for hours worked in excess of 40 hours per week. Instead, the kitchen workers were paid a fixed salary, which meant they got paid the same amount of money, regardless of how many hours they worked. This violates the Fair Labor Standards Act. During the investigation, it was also found that a manager was allowed to take part of employee’s tips, which is also prohibited by federal law.
Wage and Hour Division District Director Terence Trotter in Honolulu said, “The restaurants failing to pay employees in compliance with the law will pay a hefty price in back wages due plus liquidated damages.”
Department of Labor – recovering money for low-wage, underserved workers
Although the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) prioritizes the safety of children at work, the agency is also dedicated to protecting low-wage workers. In fiscal year 2023, the WHD successfully recovered over $274 million in back wages and damages for over 163,000 workers in the United States. Of that, almost $30M was recovered for workers in food service. On average, each worker was owed about $1300 in back wages. This includes workers across many industries, construction, hotel, retail, agriculture, and healthcare.
The WHD has many tools to help employers and employees comply with FLSA and other federal laws. The Restaurant Employment Toolkit is just one of those tools. Employers and employees can also call 1-866-4-US-WAGE for assistance.
Dawn Brotherton is a Sr. Staff Writer at The American Genius with an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Central Oklahoma. She is an experienced business writer with over 10 years of experience in SEO and content creation. Since 2017, she has earned $60K+ in grant writing for a local community center, which assists disadvantaged adults in the area.
