Overtime Violations Found in Two Mexican Restaurants

After an overtime investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division, two Tennessee Mexican restaurants have been hit with large fines for multiple labor and wage violations. Atlas Inc., doing business as two La Campina Mexican Grill restaurants in Kingsport and Piney Flats was hit with $39,232 in back wages and $4,301 in fines after the investigation found that they had willfully and repeatedly committed minimum wage, overtime, and recordkeeping violations. Twenty-three restaurant workers will receive the back pay from Atlas Inc., which was also charged with labor violations after a 2008 investigation.

The investigation found that the restaurant management failed to accurately record work hours and wages paid; employees were often made to work more than 40 hours per week without overtime compensation, and were not always paid enough to give them an average salary over the federal minimum of $7.25 per hour. These labor and wage actions by Atlas Inc. were deemed to have violated the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), legislation which sets countrywide standards for recordkeeping, minimum wage, and overtime pay.

The U.S. DOL commented that "The Wage and Hour Division is committed to strengthening compliance in Tennessee industries that employ low-wage workers, such as restaurants, where we often find FLSA violations due to practices like requiring employees to work only for tips or not recording all hours worked, to avoid making legally required overtime payments.” In response to the specific violations by Atlas Inc., the DOL reports that “La Campina Mexican Grill restaurants and owner Ricardo Sanchez have agreed to come into compliance with the FLSA, and have committed to implementing new business procedures to record and compensate employees accurately for all hours of their work, in accordance with the law.”

If an employer has illegally withheld pay by not paying the federal or state minimum wage or not properly calculating overtime, you may be entitled to receive back pay. If you have reason to believe that you or a loved one is not being paid fairly by an employer, contact an experienced overtime lawyer to pursue legal recourse and compensation.