The Tampa District Office of the Department of Labor Wage & Hour Division found that the restaurant, Hibachi Buffet, failed to properly pay its servers and kitchen workers under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”). The investigators found that the restaurant violated the overtime, minimum wage, and record keeping requirements of the FLSA. The restaurant did not pay its kitchen employees overtime pay for the hours worked beyond 40 in a workweek and did not compensate its servers beyond tips, room and board.
The restaurant agreed to pay 12 employees over $48,000 in back wages plus an equal amount in liquidated damages for a total of over $97,000. Under the FLSA, employers can be required to not only pay back wages but also “liquidated damages” which are also call “double damages” because they double the damages entitled to employees.
The DOL stated that “[u]nderpaying and improperly paying workers cheats them out of their hard-earned income and puts those responsible employers, who play by the rules, at a competitive disadvantage. We strongly encourage workers who may be in similar situations, where their employer is not paying overtime after 40 hours of work in a workweek or paying the correct minimum wage pay, to contact us with the knowledge that the information they share is kept confidential under the maximum extent of the law.”