FLSA Violations Forces Restaurant Chain to Pay Back Wages

The parent company of Inlet Harbor Restaurant, Marina & Gift Shop in Ponce Inlet, Florida has agreed to compensate 192 restaurant employees with back wages after it was the subject of a U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) investigation. According to WJXT Jacksonville, Inlet Harbor Inc. has agreed to pay $82,665 after the DOL’s Wage and Hour Division found that the restaurant had committed multiple violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The FLSA sets national standards for overtime pay, minimum wage, recordkeeping, and youth employment requirements.

Inlet Harbor had violated both the overtime and minimum wage requirements of the FLSA, according to the investigation. Instead of paying kitchen workers one-and-one-half times the regular rate of pay over 40 hours in a single workweek, they were paid straight time, or their regular rate of pay. According to WJXT, some workers were employed for as many as 90 hours per week. Furthermore, the restaurant was deducting half hour breaks for every shift longer than six hours, even though employees were not permitted to take this break. As a result, 38 workers were owed back wages of $54,928 and another 154 workers were owed $27,737. Inlet Harbor was allegedly completely cooperative and has pledged compliance going forward.

The Fair Labor Standards Act is the federal legislation that sets minimum standards for overtime pay, minimum wage, recordkeeping, and youth employment standards. The FLSA requires employers to pay one-and-one-half times the standard rate of pay for every hour worked over 40 hours in a single workweek and to pay every non-exempt employee at least the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. In addition, for nonagricultural employment, the FLSA restricts the hours that children under the age of 16 can work and the types of jobs deemed too dangerous for those under the age of 18 to work. For agricultural operations, the FLSA prohibits the employment of children under 16 while school is in session. Furthermore, employers must keep detailed records on work time and pay, as well as display an informational poster of FLSA guidelines in the workplace.

The restaurant industry is among the biggest perpetrators of FLSA violations. Because restaurant workers are often low-wage earners and very vulnerable, the industry frequently improperly classifies workers as “exempt” to prevent them from receiving overtime, makes illegal subtractions from their earned wages, refuses to pay overtime outright, incorrectly calculates time worked, and pays some employees off the books. If you believe that you may be being unfairly treated by your employer, contact a devoted overtime lawyer to see if you might be eligible to receive back wages for unpaid overtime or underpayment.