TULSA, Okla. – A federal judge in Tulsa overturned a jury verdict and ruled that El Tequila LLC and owner Carlos Aguirre willfully violated the minimum wage, overtime, and recordkeeping provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act. El Tequila and Aguirre must pay $2.1 million in back wages and liquidated damages to over 300 vulnerable workers.

Employer name: Today’s Generation LLC, doing business as Jaws Shirts & Gifts

Investigation site: 3535 Parkway, Pigeon Forge, Tennessee

RALEIGH, N.C. – Investigations by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division have found violations of the minimum wage, overtime and recordkeeping provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act at 10 San Jose Mexican Restaurant locations throughout the state. As a result, the restaurants will pay a total of $511,745 in back wages to 125 employees. The division’s Raleigh District Office led the initiative.

Violations found include:

Employer: Taqueria La Herradura LLC

Site: 6613 S. Jackson Rd., Pharr, Texas

Employer name: Financial Carrier Services Inc.

Investigation site: 13325 South Point Blvd., Charlotte, North Carolina

Employer: Bonifacio Ontiveros, doing business as Benny’s Tire and Road Service

Site: 31514 Castaic Road, Castaic, California 91384

ATLANTA — U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigations have identified widespread violations of the minimum wage, overtime and record-keeping requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act in Georgia's restaurant industry. As a result, restaurants are paying a total of $2,277,480 in back wages and damages to more than 3,000 employees.

Employer name: Vartek LLC

Investigation site: 6715 North 53rd St., Tampa, Florida 33610

Employer name: One Global Security Inc.

Investigation site: 8552 Keswick Pointe Drive, Orlando, Florida 32829

MALVERN, Pa. — For telemarketing workers of a Malvern publishing company, deciding when to take water, bathroom and rest breaks was a matter of dollars and cents. The workers had their pay docked for virtually all time not spent making sales calls, sometimes bringing their wages below the federal minimum wage.

Employers: VLS, LLC doing business as Vegas Limousine Service

Sites: 1400 Commerce Street Las Vegas Nevada 89102

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — After ending their 12-hour shifts, workers at Citgo's Corpus Christi refinery spent an average of 15 minutes briefing incoming workers on the next shift — time that was not compensated.

Following a U.S. Department of Labor investigation, those employees will receive $460,853 in unpaid overtime wages, or roughly two weeks of income for each of the 239 affected employees.

In the Sparkling City by the Sea, that two-week paycheck pays a mortgage and auto loan for one month.

SAN JOSE, Calif. — A translation and interpretation company that provided services to the federal government and other clients violated federal labor laws and underpaid its nationwide corps of interpreters by $1.47 million in wages and benefits, the U.S. Department of Labor says.

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Drivers experience frustrations when stuck in congested traffic areas, such as Los Angeles. Sometimes, other factors test their tolerance, such as spending multiple hours behind the wheel each day for work and not getting paid for all that time, as required by law. That is what happened to 127 workers in Riverside.

Employer: Arizona Painting Company LLC

Site: 3235 N. Arizona Avenue, Suite D-10, Chandler, Arizona 85225

CANTON, Ohio — A teenage worker had his left leg amputated below the knee when his employer illegally allowed him to clean a giblet chiller machine at a Canton chicken processing facility.

Employer: Leonardo M. Rodriguez, doing business as 3 Amigos Fresh Mexican Grill

Sites: Three Los Angeles-area locations: 365 E. Avenida de los Arboles, Thousand Oaks; 20040 Ventura Boulevard, Woodland Hills; and 139 N. Reino Rd., Newbury Park.

Date of Action: Nov. 18, 2015

Type of Action: Fair Labor Standards Act Lawsuit

Names of Defendants: Sunshine Motel Inn LLC; and Rajiv Sauson, an individual

Employer: Salinas Inc.

Site: 1537 E. McFadden Avenue, Suite G, Santa Ana, California 92705

Employers: Able Industries of the Pacific, Inc.

Sites: Formerly located at 341 South Marine Corps Drive, Jay Ease Building Suite 204, in Tamuning, Guam. (Business has closed)

Investigation findings: Able Industries failed to pay legally required health and welfare benefits to hundreds of employees who provided dining, janitorial and maintenance services at several facilities at Anderson Air Force Base and Naval Base Guam from 2011 to 2013 in violation of the Service Contract Act.