U.S. Department of Labor Obtains Consent Judgment Ordering Boston Pizza Restaurant to Pay $240,000 in Back Wages, Damages, and Penalties

BOSTON, MA – The U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts has entered a consent judgment requiring Boston-based Village Pizza and Grill and its owner, Klaundjon Totoni, to pay $115,841 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages to 14 employees, plus $8,317 in civil penalties. The judgment follows an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division (WHD) that identified violations of the child labor, overtime, minimum wage, and recordkeeping requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

Investigators alleged Village Pizza and Grill and Totoni allowed employees under the age of 18 to operate a dough mixer and a meat slicer, in violation of the FLSA's child labor restrictions, and allowed a 15-year-old employee to work more hours than allowed under the FLSA. The FLSA's child labor provisions regulate the numbers of hours employees under 18 can work and prohibits their working in certain jobs and with certain equipment.

In addition, the defendants failed to pay delivery drivers for hours they worked "off-the-clock" cleaning the restaurant or shopping for it, and failed to pay overtime to food preparation and counter workers, cooks, and delivery drivers when they worked more than 40 hours in a work week. They also failed to keep accurate records of employees' wages and work hours, resulting in recordkeeping violations.

The consent judgment requires the defendants to hire a qualified independent consultant to create a system to ensure that their pay and recordkeeping practices comply with the FLSA, conduct quarterly reviews of those practices, and inform WHD of any pay or recordkeeping problems and corrective action.  In addition to the judgment, a consent preliminary injunction and order prohibits the defendants from, among other practices, retaliating against employees, requesting employees to work off the clock or reclassifying employees as independent contractors in a manner that violates the FLSA. The defendants must also allow a WHD representative to inform employees, during their paid working hours, of their FLSA rights in the languages they speak.

"Employers must provide young workers with appropriate and safe employment and pay their employees the full wages that they have earned," said Wage and Hour Division Boston District Director Carlos Matos. "We encourage all employers to contact us with any questions they may have, and to use the wide variety of tools we offer to help them understand their obligations and to comply with the law."

"The U.S. Department of Labor will take appropriate steps to enforce compliance with the law and help ensure a level playing field for law-abiding employers," said Regional Solicitor Maia Fisher in Boston.

WHD's Boston District Office conducted the investigation. Senior Trial Attorney Susan Salzberg of the department's Regional Office of the Solicitor in Boston litigated the case for WHD.

Employers who discover overtime or minimum wage violations may self-report and resolve those violations without litigation through the PAID program.  For more information about the FLSA and other laws enforced by the Wage and Hour Division, contact the Division's toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243).

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Acosta v. Klaus Restaurants Inc., d/b/a Village Pizza and Grill, and Klaundjon Totoni, President.
Civil Action Number:  1:17-cv-10767-LTS