Toledo, Ohio, area restaurant owner pays more than $38,000 in back wages to workers following US Labor Department investigation

TOLEDO, Ohio — Toledo area restaurant owner Nicholas Tokles has paid 69 cooks, bartenders and servers a total of $38,425 in back wages after an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division found violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act's minimum wage, overtime and record-keeping provisions at his restaurants. A consent judgment, entered in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, Western Division, ordered the payment.

"Failure to pay legally required minimum wage and overtime deprives workers and their families of money for daily living expenses," said George Victory, district director of the Wage and Hour Division's Columbus Office. "The restaurant industry employs some of our country's lowest paid workers, who are vulnerable to exploitation. As illustrated by the consent judgment secured in this case, we will not hesitate to pursue legal action to protect these workers."

Wage and Hour investigators found that the restaurants violated minimum wage requirements by making illegal deductions from employees' pay for meals, cash drawer shortages, uniforms and customer walkouts. The investigation also found that some workers were paid a straight salary regardless of the number of hours they worked, and were not compensated at one-and-a-half times their regular rates of pay, which must be at least minimum wage, for hours worked beyond 40 in a workweek.

Under the terms of the consent judgment, Tokles agreed to comply with the minimum wage, overtime and record keeping provisions of the FLSA and pay back wages to employees at his four establishments: Nick & Jimmy's Bar and Grill, Jimmy's North, Basin St. Grille and the Village Inn.

The FLSA requires that covered, nonexempt employees be paid at least the federal minimum wage of $7.25 for all hours worked, plus time and one-half their regular rates of pay for hours worked beyond 40 per week. In accordance with the FLSA, an employer of a tipped employee is required to pay no less than $2.13 an hour in direct wages, provided that amount plus the tips received equals at least the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. If an employee's tips combined with the employer's direct wages do not equal the minimum wage, the employer must make up the difference. Employers also are required to provide employees notice of the FLSA tip credit provisions, to maintain accurate time and payroll records and to comply with the hours, hazardous orders and other restrictions applying to workers under age 18.

For more information about federal wage laws administered by the Wage and Hour Division, call the agency's toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Information is also available at http://www.dol.gov/whd/.

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Civil Case Number: 3:14-cv-1300