Florida Restaurant Pays $50,391 in Back Wages and Damages After U.S. Department of Labor Investigation Finds Overtime Violations

NAPLES, FL – Fish Ristorante LLC has paid $50,391 in back wages and liquidated damages to 57 employees after a U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division (WHD) investigation found the Naples, Florida, restaurant violated the overtime provision of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

WHD investigators determined that Fish Ristorante LLC – doing business as Fish – failed to pay employees overtime at time-and-one-half their regular rates of pay when they worked more than 40 hours in a work week, as the law requires. Instead, Fish Ristorante LLC paid workers their straight time rates without regard to the number of hours they worked. The violations affected employees including servers, cooks, food runners, and kitchen staff.

"Employers must not gain an unfair competitive advantage by paying employees below the wages they have earned," said Wage and Hour Division District Director James Schmidt, in Tampa. "The Department's Wage and Hour Division offers a wide variety of tools to help employers understand their obligations, and encourage anyone with questions to call us confidentially at any time for guidance."

For more information about the FLSA and other laws enforced by the Wage and Hour Division, contact the toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Employers who discover overtime or minimum wage violations may self-report and resolve those violations without litigation through the PAID program. Information is also available at https://www.dol.gov/whd.