Wage theft in United States’ restaurant business is not new. In the last few years, many cases have been reported where restaurant employees demanded their unpaid salaries and overtime from employers. Many popular food industry franchises and establishments have faced lawsuits from workers over unpaid salaries.
Recently, the restaurant King Buffet was confronted with allegations of wage theft. Thirty-eight workers claimed that the employer owes them approximately $600,000 in fair payments.
According to the plaintiffs, they received salaries less than minimum wages determined by the law. Workers also worked for extra hours for which they never received any payment. The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) took legal action in this case.
In 2012, the DOL helped food industry employees in receiving over $600,000 in unpaid wages and overtime. These workers were from two different cities, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
The government took action against another restaurant chain, El Tequila LLC. In this case, the owner is alleged to owe nearly one million dollars in unpaid salaries and overtime to the employees.
In another case, a Mexican restaurant faced allegations of wage theft last year. This business was ordered by the DOL to pay more than $200,000 to employees in back payments and damages. Their workers never received payments for the extra hours over 40 hours in a regular workweek.
Recently, another food venue was ordered to pay nearly $45,000 in unpaid payments. This order was made by the department when they found that workers were cheated out of their fair pay. This was the clear violation of minimum payments and overtime laws.
Another inquiry conducted by the federal department alleged that Xanh Restaurant never paid overtime to their employees. After investigation, the business owner was told to pay more than $90,000 in unpaid overtime and damages.
Whether its food business or any other industry, it is necessary that employers pay their staff according to the rules and regulations determined by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
There are many ways waiters, servers, cook, bus boys, and other workers in the restaurant industry are shorted pay. Sometimes, they are improperly paid a day rate and not paid any overtime. Same with improperly paying them a salary. Oftentimes, the employer takes a tip credit against the minimum wage and improperly pays less than minimum wage and sometimes nothing at all to allege the employee is tip dependant.
If you work in a restaurant and are the victim of wage theft, then you should immediately contact an unpaid wages attorney. An experienced lawyer can provide you legal counsel and can help you in receiving your fair payments from the employer as well as in getting appropriate compensations for the damages.
Wage Warriors 