San Francisco East Bay Restaurant Pays $172,862 to 14 Employees For Overtime Violations Found by U.S. Department of Labor

SAN JOSE, CA – New Thai Bistro – a restaurant based in Pleasanton, California – has paid $172,862 to 14 employees after a U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division (WHD) investigation found the employer violated the overtime requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Due to the willful nature of the violations found, the Department also assessed $1,974 in civil money penalties.

WHD investigators found New Thai Bistro paid employees flat rates per day or per week, without regard to the number of hours they actually worked. This practice resulted in overtime violations when those employees worked more than 40 hours in a workweek, yet the employer did not pay overtime. The employer paid some hourly workers for overtime, but at straight-time rates. The law requires payment of overtime hours at time-and-one-half employees’ regular rates of pay. Investigators found the overtime hours worked by employees ranged from four hours per week for some servers to up to 11 hours per week for chefs and other kitchen employees.

“Our goal is to pair compliance assistance with rigorous enforcement to ensure that employers follow the rules and that employees receive the pay they have legally earned,” said Wage and Hour District Director Susana Blanco, in San Jose, California. “We encourage all employers to make use of the wide variety of tools we offer to explain their responsibilities so that violations like those found in this case can be avoided.”  

The Department offers numerous resources to ensure employers have the tools they need to understand their responsibilities and to comply with federal law, such as online videos, confidential calls, or in-person visits to local WHD offices. In addition, WHD provides employers with compliance assistance resources related to overtime to help them comply with the FLSA.

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). 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 www.dol.gov/whd including a search tool to use if you think you may be owed back wages collected by WHD.

WHD’s mission is to promote and achieve compliance with labor standards to protect and enhance the welfare of the Nation's workforce. WHD enforces Federal minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping, and child labor requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act. WHD also enforces the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act, the Employee Polygraph Protection Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, wage garnishment provisions of the Consumer Credit Protection Act, and a number of employment standards and worker protections as provided in several immigration related statutes. Additionally, WHD administers and enforces the prevailing wage requirements of the Davis Bacon Act and the Service Contract Act and other statutes applicable to Federal contracts for construction and for the provision of goods and services.

The mission of the Department of Labor is to foster, promote, and develop the welfare of the wage earners, job seekers, and retirees of the United States; improve working conditions; advance opportunities for profitable employment; and assure work-related benefits and rights.