A recent U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) enforcement action serves as a reminder that employers must ensure that wage deductions do not create minimum wage violations.
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El Azteca restaurant group, which operates restaurants in Wisconsin, has agreed to pay 129 workers a total of $700,000 in back wages and damages to resolve findings from a DOL investigation.
The department said that the employer failed to pay its employees for all hours worked and paid kitchen staff a salary, regardless of the number of hours they worked, in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The restaurant also committed minimum wage violations when it made deductions from workers’ pay for uniform shirts, nametags, and aprons, DOL said.