WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor has renewed a multi-year nationwide initiative to help workers and increase federal compliance by food service employers, an industry where – in fiscal year 2021 – the department’s Wage and Hour Division found violations in nearly 85 percent of its restaurant investigations.
These investigations led the division to recover more than $34.7 million in back wages for more than 29,000 workers and to assess employers with $3.2 million in penalties.