LAS CRUCES, NM – Amid the pandemic, many restaurant workers suffered lost or reduced wages when businesses closed or were forced to limit or suspend indoor dining. For workers employed by a Las Cruces restaurant operator, making ends meet became more difficult when their employer shortchanged them.

U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigators found Chachi’s LLC – operator of Chachi’s Express, Chachi’s Dona and Chachi’s Mexican restaurant in Las Cruces – did not pay workers overtime when they worked more than 40 hours in a workweek, as the Fair Labor Standards Act requires.

The division’s investigation led to the recovery of $45,700 in back wages for 22 workers.

“Failure to pay workers all of their hard-earned overtime is bad business and it cheats employees and competitors,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Evelyn Ortiz in Albuquerque. “As an employer, Chachi’s LLC must comply with federal worker protections. Amid the pandemic, restaurant employees – like many other frontline workers – put themselves at risk to earn a living and keep businesses open. The last thing they should have to worry about is being shortchanged by their employer.”

For more information about the FLSA and other laws enforced by the division, contact the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, including a search tool to use if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the division. Workers can call the Wage and Hour Division confidentially with questions – regardless of their immigration status – and the department can speak with callers in more than 200 languages.

PLANO, TX – A customer management consulting company based in Plano “benched” an employee in violation of the federal H-1B visa program by hiring the nonimmigrant worker as a software developer then failing to use the worker and pay the wages promised, a U.S. Department of Labor investigation has found.

Nonimmigrant workers who receive visas to work in the U.S. for a set period of time have various rights and protections afforded to them under immigration law and Department of Labor regulations. A practice called benching occurs when an employer places an H-1B worker in unpaid, nonproductive status in violation of federal law.

The Wage and Hour Division’s New Orleans District Office determined that VoiceXnet Technologies LLC failed to notify U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services that it was terminating the worker’s H-1B visa, assigning them no work and failing to pay them from Jan. 1, 2019 through Feb. 3, 2020. By placing the worker in an unpaid and nonproductive status rather than terminating the H-1B visa, VoiceXnet violated H-1B regulations.

As a result of the investigation, the division recovered $85,405 for the employee.

“Employers who hire nonimmigrant H-1B workers must comply with all requirements which are clearly detailed in the program’s application process,” said Wage and Hour District Director Troy Mouton in New Orleans. “They are obligated to follow all applicable procedures when they receive authority to employ nonimmigrant workers. We encourage employers to contact us if they are unclear about their obligations.”

The department offers numerous resources to ensure employers have the tools they need to understand their responsibilities and to comply with federal law, such as online videos, an H-1B presentation and confidential calls to local Wage and Hour Division offices.

VoiceXnet uses telecommunications, speech and Web technologies to develop and deploy customized voice and email applications for its clients.

For more information about H-1B visa, FLSA and other laws enforced by the division, contact the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, and use its search tool if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the division. Workers can call the Wage and Hour Division confidentially with questions – regardless of their immigration status – and the department can speak with callers in more than 200 languages.

BOSTON – A federal court has entered a consent judgment that recovers $165,044 for 75 workers at three Massachusetts restaurants that intentionally failed to pay overtime wages. The consent judgment also orders the defendants to pay $77,750 in civil money penalties given the willful nature of the violations.  

An investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division determined that – between January 2017 and August 2020 – Wan Feng Ye and his restaurants, Feng’s Asian Cuisine in Wakefield, Oye’s Chinese Restaurant & Bar in Reading and Oye’s Chinese Restaurant in Saugus, willfully paid employees less than the required overtime rate when they worked more than 40 hours in a workweek. The employers also failed to record all hours worked by employees and all payments to employees accurately, and did not maintain contact information for all employees, as the Fair Labor Standards Act requires.

“Unfortunately, the Wage and Hour Division finds violations like these are all-too-common in the restaurant industry,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Carlos Matos in Boston. “This investigation illustrates how employers who violate the law face costly consequences. This case has recovered the wages these workers should have been paid and held the employers accountable for their failures to comply with the law.”

The consent judgment issued by the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts in Boston also enjoins Wan Feng Ye and his restaurants from future FLSA minimum wage, overtime and recordkeeping violations, failing to cooperate with U.S. Department of Labor investigations, and retaliating or taking adverse action against employees because they exercise their FLSA rights.

“This case has recovered hard-earned wages for 75 essential workers who were denied their rightful pay by their employers. The U.S. Department of Labor is committed to ensuring workers are properly paid and will pursue all appropriate legal actions when employers fail to do so,” said regional Solicitor of Labor Maia Fisher in Boston.

For more information about the FLSA and other laws enforced by the division, contact the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, including a search tool to use if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the division. Workers can call the Wage and Hour Division confidentially with questions – regardless of their immigration status – and the department can speak with callers in more than 200 languages.

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HOUSTON – The operators of three Houston-area Texas buffet BBQ restaurants that shortchanged its workers’ wages repeatedly by failing to pay them overtime when required has paid $40,043 in back wages to 179 workers, following a recent federal investigation.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found Harris County Smokehouse Restaurant – operated by Chambers Foods Inc. and Fine Texas Food LLC – violated the Fair Labor Standards Act when it failed to pay overtime when employees worked beyond 40 in a workweek. Investigators also found the employer included managers in its tip pool, another FLSA violation. Federal law prohibits an employer from keeping tips received by its workers for any purposes, including allowing managers or supervisors to keep any portion of other employees’ tips, regardless of whether or not the employer takes a tip credit.

The investigation covered Harris County Smokehouse’s three locations in Cy-Fair, Katy and Tomball.

 In addition to the wage violations, the division determined the employer also violated federal child labor laws when it employed five minors – ages 14 and 15 – in violation of FLSA child labor hours regulations. The young employees worked more than 8 hours per day and more than 40 hour per week during non-school periods, and more than 3 hours daily and 18 hours weekly during school weeks, all FLSA violations. The employer also allowed minors to work before 7 a.m. and later than 7 p.m. between Labor Day and June 1, and continue working past 9 p.m. between June 1 and Labor Day – all child labor violations.

The division assessed Harris County Smokehouse with $3,455 in civil money penalties for its child labor violations.

“Harris County Steakhouse failed in its responsibility to pay workers all of their hard-earned wages and ignored federal child labor laws by requiring 14- and 15-year-olds to work well past the allowable limits,” said Wage and Hour District Director Robin Mallett in Houston. “Our investigation has recovered the wages these workers should have been paid, stopped minor-aged workers from being exploited and held the employer accountable for its failures to comply with the law.”

For more information about the FLSA and other laws enforced by the division, contact the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, including a search tool to use if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the division. Workers can call the division confidentially with questions – regardless of their immigration status – and the department can speak with callers in more than 200 languages.

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TULSA, OK – A Tulsa oilfield construction company denied overtime wages to nine electricians and electrician helpers when it paid them a flat salary for all the hours they worked in an attempt to avoid overtime pay, a federal investigation has found.

An investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division recovered $27,027 in overtime back wages owed to the nine workers for violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Investigators found that ME3 Oilfield Services LLC failed to pay the employees the overtime they earned when they worked over 40 hours in a workweek. The division determined that because the electricians and electrician helpers were not managers or supervisors, they should be paid overtime when required.

“Workers have the right to be paid all of the wages they’ve earned,” said Wage and Hour District Director Michael Speer in Oklahoma City. “When employers violate this right, they hinder the worker’s ability to provide for themselves and their families. To avoid similar violations, we encourage all employers with questions to use our online compliance assistance tools or to contact their local Wage and Hour Division office directly.”

For more information about the FLSA and other laws enforced by the division, contact the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, including a search tool to use if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the division. Workers can call the Wage and Hour Division confidentially with questions – regardless of their immigration status – and the department can speak with callers in more than 200 languages.

GAINESVILLE, FL – A Gainesville roofing contractor learned it must pay its employees for all of the time they work, including pre-shift prep work and post-shift work at day’s end, following a U.S. Department of Labor investigation.

Investigators with the department’s Wage and Hour Division found that Crosier & Son Roofing Inc. required workers to report at 6:45 a.m. to get their trucks and equipment prepared for the day’s work but failed to pay them until they arrived at their first job site. The employer also failed to pay workers for the time spent returning trucks and equipment from job sites. Investigators also found when the roofers worked more than 40 hours in a workweek, Crosier & Son did not record overtime hours in payroll, and paid overtime earnings in cash.

The actions of Crosier and Son Roofing Inc. led to violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act, and to the division’s recovery of $46,302 in back wages for 29 workers. This is the second Gainesville-area roofing company found in violation this year.

“Workers deserve to be paid all the wages earned for all the hours they work. When workers are required to complete any tasks before their shift begins, the workday begins at the start of those tasks and it continues through the completion of the last post-shift activity,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Wildalí De Jesús in Orlando, Florida. “We encourage other employers to use this investigation’s outcome as an opportunity to review their pay practices to avoid similar violations.”

For more information about the FLSA and other laws enforced by the division, including compliance assistance toolkits, contact the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, including a search tool to use if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the division. Workers can call the Wage and Hour Division confidentially with questions – regardless of their immigration status – and the department can speak with callers in more than 200 languages.

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MONACA, PA – A federal court has ordered a Beaver County gas station and convenience store to cease violating the Fair Labor Standards Act and pay back wages and liquidated damages to two underpaid employees. The judgment follows a U.S. Department of Labor investigation that determined the owners of Monaca Sunoco, located at 1479 Old Brodhead Road, intentionally underpaid a married couple who lived and worked there.

On November 5, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania entered a consent judgment requiring the employers – Om Shiva Enterprise Inc., Durlabhju Ukani and Bhartiben Ukani – to pay $281,029 in back wages and liquidated damages, and prohibiting them from future FLSA violations. In addition to back wages and damages, the court ordered the employers to pay a $1,762 civil money penalty, which the department assessed due to the willfulness of the employer’s violations.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found the owners of Monaca Sunoco failed to pay the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour and did not pay the overtime rates when the employees worked more than 40 hours in a workweek. Investigators determined the wife worked 70 hours a week, typically without any pay at all, while her husband worked additional unpaid hours after his scheduled shift ended.

“These employers violated the law intentionally and exploited this vulnerable couple,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director John DuMont in Pittsburgh. “The Wage and Hour Division will be tireless in its efforts to stem exploitation and hold employers accountable when they shortchange workers by denying them legally earned wages.”

The division also found the employers had no records of the wife’s hours of work from November 2018 to April 2021, and the limited records they did provide showed start and end times without daily or weekly totals, an FLSA recordkeeping violation.

“Monaca Sunoco stole wages from these workers, harming them and their family and cheating employers who play by the rules,” said Regional Solicitor Oscar L. Hampton III in Philadelphia. “This judgment sends a clear message to employers that failure to pay employees their rightfully earned wages comes at a high cost.”

View the complaint and consent judgment. 

Workers can call the Wage and Hour Division confidentially with questions – regardless of their immigration status – and the department can speak with callers in more than 200 languages. For more information about the FLSA and other laws enforced by the agency, contact the division’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, including a search tool to use if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the division.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor has announced a proposal to rescind the final rule “Implementing Legal Requirements Regarding the Equal Opportunity Clause’s Religious Exemption.” The final rule has been in effect since Jan. 8, 2021. The Federal Register will publish the proposal on Nov. 9, 2021. Rescinding this rule would have the effect of returning department policy and practice to those that were operative during the presidencies of George W. Bush and Barack Obama.

Enforced by the department’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, Executive Order 11246 prohibits federal contractors and subcontractors from discriminating in employment decisions on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or national origin. The order contains a religious exemption for certain religious corporations, associations, educational institutions and societies with respect to the employment of individuals of a particular religion. The EO 11246 religious exemption is based on the religious exemption in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. When analyzing potential discrimination under EO 11246, OFCCP follows the principles of Title VII, which prohibits employers from discriminating against applicants and employees on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation and gender identity), or national origin.

The final rule that took effect on Jan. 8, 2021 departed from OFCCP’s long-standing policy and practice of applying Title VII principles and case law to interpret the exemption. OFCCP’s proposed rescission would preserve EO 11246’s religious exemption which would still be available to qualifying contractors. The proposed rescission would ensure that the EO 11246 religious exemption is applied consistent with principles and case law interpreting the Title VII religious exemption.

“The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs’ proposed rescission would protect against discrimination and safeguard principles of religious freedom. With this proposal, OFCCP would simply return to our policy and practice of considering the facts of each case and applying Title VII principles and case law and other applicable law,” said Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs Director Jenny R. Yang.

In addition to EO 11246, OFCCP enforces Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974. These laws, as amended, make it illegal for contractors and subcontractors doing business with the federal government to discriminate in employment because of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran.

Learn more about OFCCP, or call its toll-free helpline at 800-397-6251.

HONOLULU – The owner of a Honolulu restaurant made earning a living difficult for its employees by allowing a manager to illegally keep a portion of workers’ tips and denying overtime pay to salaried cooks who worked an average of 55 hours a week, a recent federal investigation has found.

The department’s Wage and Hour Division investigation cited R-International Inc., owner of Rinka Restaurant, for its violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act, and recovered $85,000 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages for 13 employees. The division also assessed the employer $10,000 in civil money penalties for the reckless nature of its violations.

“By failing to pay employees all of the tips they earned and refusing to pay overtime rates to cooks as required, the owner of Rinka Restaurant violated the law and demonstrated a reckless disregard for their workers’ rights,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Terence Trotter in Honolulu. “This case should serve as a warning that violating federal law can have costly consequences. We encourage all employers to contact us or use department’s online resources before implementing potentially non-compliant practices.”

Since 2016, the Wage and Hour Division has conducted more than 2,650 investigations in the drinking and eating establishments industry in the Western Region, recovering $24 million in back wages for more than 15,300 employees. The division’s Honolulu District office conducted 228 of these investigations, finding violations in 219 cases and recovering more than $1.4 million in back wages for almost 1,700 employees.

For more information about the FLSA and other laws enforced by the division, contact its toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, including a search tool to use if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the division. Workers can call the Wage and Hour Division confidentially with questions – regardless of their immigration status – and the department can speak with callers in more than 200 languages.

SAN ANTONIO – The operator of 19 San Antonio-area Dairy Queen locations failed to pay 31 managers as required and must pay back wages and interest to the employees, following a U.S. Department of Labor investigation and federal court order.

The department’s Wage and Hour Division recovered $358,200 in back wages and interest from R&S Dairy Queens Inc. for the employees. The division determined the managers, who received less than the required minimum salary for managers under the Fair Labor Standards Act, were entitled to the minimum wage for every hour of work and overtime when they worked more than 40 in a work week.

The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas in San Antonio affirmed the division’s findings in a consent judgment and issued an injunction prohibiting R&S Dairy Queens from future violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act’s overtime and recordkeeping provisions.

“Employers cannot avoid overtime requirements by simply giving an employee a title and paying them a salary,” said Wage and Hour District Director Cynthia Ramos in San Antonio. “Most employees – even those paid a fixed salary or flat amount per day or shift – are entitled to overtime unless specific FLSA requirements are met. We encourage other employers to review their pay practices, and to contact us with questions to avoid similar violations.”

R&S Dairy Queens Inc. operates 19 franchise locations in San Antonio and the surrounding area with approximately 350 full- and part-time employees.

For more information about the FLSA and other laws enforced by the division, contact the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, and use its search tool if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the division. Workers can call the Wage and Hour Division confidentially with questions – regardless of their immigration status – and the department can speak with callers in more than 200 languages.

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