U.S. Department of Labor issued the following announcement on Aug. 26.
After an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division (WHD), Flipper's Pizza T. & B. Inc. – operating 11 Central Florida Flippers Pizzeria restaurants – has paid $27,425 in back wages to 70 employees for violating the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The employer also paid $1,810 in civil money penalties for a child labor violation.
WHD investigators found the employer paid overtime-eligible assistant managers flat weekly salaries, without regard to the number of hours that they actually worked. This practice resulted in overtime violations when those employees worked more than 40 hours in a workweek but were not paid overtime in addition to those salaries. Additional overtime violations resulted when the employer calculated overtime for tipped employees incorrectly, basing those rates on servers' cash rates only. The law requires employers to pay tipped workers overtime at time-and-one-half of at least the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. WHD also found the employer employed a 17-year-old minor to operate a motor vehicle to make deliveries, a violation of FLSA child labor requirements. The employer also failed to maintain accurate payroll records.
"Businesses employing minors have a special responsibility to ensure the safety of these workers by not having them perform any duties deemed hazardous," said Wage and Hour District Director Daniel White, in Jacksonville, Florida. "The Wage and Hour Division staffs local offices and provides online resources to assist employers in complying with the law. We encourage all employers to take advantage of these free compliance assistance resources, and to reach out to us with any questions."
Original source can be found here.