Las Vegas Restaurant Company Pays $190,195 to 66 Employees For Overtime Violations Found by U.S. Department of Labor

LAS VEGAS, NV – After an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD), Jesus Felipe Vazquez and Martha Vazquez – owners of a restaurant company with three locations in Las Vegas, Nevada – have paid $190,195 in back wages and damages to 66 employees for violating the overtime requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

WHD investigators determined the owners of La Mojarra Loca #1, La Mojarra Loca #2, and La Mojarra Loca Grill, failed to pay required overtime when dishwashers, servers, cooks and food preparers worked more than 40 hours in a week, as required. Instead, they continued to pay employees their straight-time rates for the overtime hours, in cash. They also violated FLSA recordkeeping requirements by failing to maintain accurate payroll and time records for employees.

“Employers are responsible for ensuring employees receive all the wages they have legally earned, including overtime,” said Wage and Hour District Director Gaspar Montanez, in Las Vegas, Nevada. “Investigations like these ensure that employees get paid and that employers compete on a level playing field. In addition to our enforcement we continue our robust educational efforts to help employers understand their responsibilities and to help workers understand their rights.”

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.