Cumberland County restaurant operator fined $102K for violating federal labor laws
Photo / El Rodeo Facebook page
The U.S. Department of Labor recovered $102,000 in tips, back wages and liquidated damages from the operator of three Cumberland County restaurants, including El Rodeo in South Portland shown here.
An operator of three southern Maine eateries has paid $102,000 to the U.S. Department of Labor for violating federal labor laws, the agency said Monday.
El Grand Rodeo, the owner of El Rodeo in South Portland, El Rodeo Brunswick in Brunswick and Azul Tequila in Gorham, was ordered to pay $51,217 in restored tips and back wages, plus that same amount in liquidated damages, for denying 25 workers their full overtime wages or illegally keeping portions of their earned tips.
Investigators determined that the employer failed to combine the hours of employees working at more than one location when calculating overtime for more than 40 hours worked in each work week.
They also found Azul Tequila improperly diverted money from a tip pool to a part owner and a manager and failed to pay overtime to one non-exempt salaried employee. The employers’ actions violated the Fair Labor Standards Act, according to Tuesday's announcement.
“The overtime and tip-related violations found in these investigations are all-too-common in the food service industry,” said Steven McKinney, the department's Manchester, N.H.-based Wage and Hour Division district director, in Monday's news release. “Workers who rely on tips depend on them to supplement their hourly wages to make ends meet. Employers who deprive workers money they earn may face costly consequences when they violate the law.”
Federal law prohibits employers, managers and supervisors from keeping employees’ tips, including pooled tips. The law applies even if tipped workers are paid hourly at rates equal to or above the full minimum wage.
In fiscal year 2021, the Labor Department's Wage and Hour Division recovered more than $34.7 million in back wages for 29,209 food service industry workers.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects there were 1.2 million job openings in the accommodations and food service industry in August 2022, while 1,022,000 accommodations and food service industry workers left their jobs.
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