U.S. Department of Labor Recovers $17,266 in Back Wages and Damages After Investigation of Tampa-Area Restaurant

DUNEDIN, FL – Falzon Management Corp. – a restaurant operating as Kelly’s Chic-a-Boom Room in Dunedin, Florida – has paid $17,266 in back wages and liquidated damages to 48 employees after a U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division (WHD) investigation found the employer violated minimum wage and overtime requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

WHD investigators determined the employer failed to pay some employees for all the hours that they worked. The employer also paid overtime to tipped employees incorrectly by computing the rate based upon their direct cash wage, while the employer must base overtime instead on the full applicable minimum wage for those employees. In addition, the investigation found that the employer paid some employees straight time rates when they worked overtime, instead of paying time-and-one-half their regular rates of pay as the law requires.

Investigators also found Falzon Management Corp. failed to pay correct overtime rates to employees that worked multiple jobs within the restaurant at different rates of pay. This violation occurred when the employer regularly paid overtime based upon the lowest rate of pay for the affected employee, instead of the rate applicable to the job they performed when they worked the overtime hours, or to a weighted average of those rates.

“Employers should use the results of this investigation as an opportunity to examine their own pay practices to ensure that they comply with federal law,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director James Schmidt, in Tampa, Florida. “The Tampa Wage and Hour Division office is available to assist any employers in understanding their obligations. The employer in the case could have avoided these violations.”

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.

For more information about the FLSA and other laws enforced by the WHD, 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.

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.