Westbury, NY - December 9, 2013 - Two area restaurants and an individual will pay $261,887 in back wages and liquidated damages to 70 low-wage workers as part of a consent judgment obtained in federal court by the U.S. Department of Labor. The two Nassau County restaurants are Grand Saga Restaurant Inc. and Xaga Sushi Restaurant Inc., both doing business as Xaga Sushi. Mei Yu Zhang is president of both corporations. Because the violations were considered willful, the defendants have been ordered to pay $26,322 in civil money penalties.
“These at-risk workers will now receive the wages and tips to which they are entitled under the FLSA,” said Irv Miljoner, the division’s Long Island district director. “Not paying legally required minimum wage and overtime deprives these workers and their families of money for daily living expenses. It also undercuts those employers who choose to obey the law and pay their workers properly.”
An investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division found that the two restaurants violated the minimum wage, overtime and record-keeping requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Specifically, they paid employees, who regularly worked from 42 to 50 hours per week, a flat monthly salary with no overtime pay for those hours worked above 40 in a workweek. The restaurants also operated an illegal tip pool in which tipped employees were required to share their tips with kitchen staff. The employees were paid in cash, and adequate payroll records were not kept by the restaurants.
The judgment, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York in Central Islip, was filed by the department’s Regional Office of the Solicitor in New York City. The judgment prohibits the defendants from withholding payment of the back wages and damages, requires them to pay proper minimum wage and overtime to employees, and to maintain adequate and accurate records of wages and work hours.
The investigations were conducted under the Wage and Hour Division’s multiyear enforcement initiative, which focused on various sectors of the Long Island restaurant industry. In addition to identifying wage violations and recovering money for underpaid workers, the initiative’s goal is to permanently change industry behavior to ensure proper compensation for all workers and a level playing field for all employers
The case was litigated by the department’s Regional Office of the Solicitor in New York City.
The FLSA requires that covered employees be paid at least the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour, as well as time and one-half their regular rates for every hour they work beyond 40 per week. The law also requires employers to maintain accurate records of employees’ wages, hours and other conditions of employment, and prohibits employers from retaliating against employees who exercise their rights under the law. The FLSA provides that employers who violate the law are, as a general rule, liable to employees for back wages and liquidated damages payable to the workers.
For more information about the FLSA, call the Wage and Hour Division’s Long Island District Office in Westbury at 516-338-1890 or call the division’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Information is also available at http://www.dol.gov/whd.
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Perez v. Grand Saga Restaurant Inc., doing business as Xaga and Mei Yu Zhang
Civil action number: CV-13-4801
Perez v. Xaga Sushi Restaurant Inc., doing business as Xaga and Mei Yu Zhang
Civil action number: CV-13-4806
U.S. Department of Labor news materials are accessible at http://www.dol.gov. The information above is available in large print, Braille or CD from the COAST office upon request by calling 202-693-7828 or TTY 202-693-7755.