GRAND RAPIDS, Michigan — It has been a year since a Grand Rapids restaurant was sued by the U.S. Department of Labor over back wages not paid to over two dozen employees. Now, that restaurant's owner will need to pay those back wages to their former employees, plus additional damages.
In July of 2023, the U.S. Department of Labor sued The Saucy Crab Grand Rapids location and its owner Jixi Qiu for illegally using a tip pool and denying employees the correct minimum and overtime wages from at least August 2020 through October 2022, when the restaurant closed.
The Saucy Crab and Qiu were ordered by a federal court to pay $105,000 in back wages and liquidated to 28 former employees. The court also ordered The Saucy Crab and Qiu to pay an additional $10,000 in civil penalties for its Fair Labor Standards Act violations.
“The Saucy Crab’s owner took tips from servers and bartenders to benefit his company and denied servers, cooks and dishwashers their fully earned wages. This judgment puts those wages back in the hands of former employees shortchanged by Qiu and the restaurant,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Mary O’Rourke in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Court documents reveal that Qiu agreed to pay the amount ordered over the next 180 days.