WALKER, Michigan — A group of restaurant workers in Walker will receive back wages and damages, a US District Court Judge has ordered.
Some employees of Tacos El Cunado on Alpine Avenue filed a lawsuit claiming they had unpaid wages and that the restaurant kept incomplete records.
That lawsuit jumpstarted a US Department of Labor investigation into the allegations.
The investigation reviewed the employer’s payroll records from Aug. 13, 2020, to Aug. 12, 2022. The department filed its complaint after Tacos el Cuñado Alpine LLC and owner Jessica Lopez failed to resolve the wage violations administratively.
The federal investigation found violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Division investigators learned the employer failed to keep accurate pay records and to pay tipped and non-tipped workers time-and-one-half their average rate of pay for hours over 40 in a workweek. The FLSA requires the payment of minimum wage and overtime.
U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan Judge Robert J. Jonke ordered Lopez to pay $31,206 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages to the restaurant’s affected current and former employees.
“The failure to pay overtime wages is far too common in the restaurant industry, particularly among vulnerable employees who may not understand their rights to overtime,” said Wage and Hour District Director Mary O’Rourke in Grand Rapids, Michigan. “The Wage and Hour Division provides confidential advice, if needed, to workers and employers unsure of federal wage standards and compliance with the law.”
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 and how to file an online complaint. For confidential compliance assistance, employees and employers can call the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243), regardless of where they are from.
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