SHAFTER, CA –Investigators of the Wages and Hours Division The US Department of Labor found that employees at four restaurants in Central California worked hard to give customers a good experience but their employer did not pay them the full wages they had legally earned.
The division’s analysis of La Fonda Taquería y Mariscos’ pay practices revealed that the employer paid workers regular hourly rates, regardless of the number of hours they worked each workweek. In doing so, La Fonda violated the overtime requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act by not paying overtime wages for hours worked beyond 40 per week. Rather, the employer paid workers their first 40 hours per week by payroll and by check, but paid the additional hours separately, at regular rates, and often in unrecorded cash. The employer also did not keep complete time and payroll records, which is also a violation of the FLSA.
Following the investigation, La Fonda Taquería y Mariscos will pay $ 200,682 to 49 employees, including cooks and cashiers. The division also imposed fines of $ 23,265 due to the intentionality of the violations.
“Restaurant industry employees are among the lowest paid essential workers in our nation and are often unaware of their most basic rights,” said Wage and Hour Division Assistant District Director Patricia Canites in Sacramento, California. “Violations like these are far too common, and the US Department of Labor is committed to using every tool at its disposal to achieve compliance by employers who intentionally break the law, harm workers, and take advantage of illegally from its competitors ”.
La Fonda Taquería y Mariscos has restaurants in Shafter and Wasco, and two in Bakersfield.
The Wage and Hour Division is charged with ensuring compliance with the law, regardless of the employee’s immigration status, and can communicate confidentially in more than 200 languages with callers to the division.
For more information about the FLSA and other laws the division enforces, call the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Learn more about the Hours and Wages Division and use your research tool if you think you are owed back wages recovered by the division.
Read this news release in English.
–
