Two Hawaii restaurants found in violation of overtime pay requirements

Employers: HSC Hilo LLC, doing business as Hawaiian Style Café Hilo; and Bajcka LLC, doing business as Hawaiian Style Café Waimea

Sites: 681 Manono St #101, Hilo, HI; and 65-1290 Kawaihae Road, Kamuela, HI   

Investigation findings: Investigators from U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found that the restaurants failed to pay workers the legally required overtime rates of pay for hours worked beyond 40 in a workweek, in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Specifically, the owners paid any hours in excess of 40 in cash at the employee’s straight time rates, failing to pay all those overtime hours worked at time-and-a-half their regular rates of pay.

Resolution: The restaurants were jointly owned and operated during the period of investigation. Hawaiian Style Café Hilo will pay $21,798 in unpaid overtime wages plus an equal amount in liquidated damages, totaling $43,596 to 41 employees. Hawaiian Style Café Waimea will pay $5,200 in unpaid overtime wages plus an equal amount in damages, totaling $10,400 to four employees.

Quote: “Employers who deny low-wage workers their legally required overtime earnings diminish the ability of those workers to care for themselves and their families,” said Terence Trotter, director of the division’s Honolulu District Office. “Employers that circumvent the wage provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act also unlawfully obtain an economic advantage when competing with other businesses that properly record and pay their workers. As the back wages and damages collected in this case demonstrate, we are serious about putting a stop to these violations. Other workers being paid in this manner should give us a call.”  

Information: The FLSA requires that covered, nonexempt employees be paid time-and-one-half their regular rates of pay 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.

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), or the Honolulu office at 808-541-1361. Information also is available at http://www.dol.gov/whd/.