U.S. Department of Labor Investigation Results in Pizzerias Paying 55 Employees $93,304 in Back Wages for Overtime Violations

OMAHA, NE – After an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD), United Holdings Group LLC – operating as Pitch Pizzeria and based in Omaha, Nebraska – has paid 55 employees a total of $93,304 in back wages to resolve violations of the overtime requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The employer also paid a penalty of $2,049 for violating the child labor provisions of the FLSA.

The WHD investigation found violations at Pitch Pizzeria locations in Omaha, Nebraska, and Scottsdale, Arizona. Specifically, the company violated overtime requirements by failing to include employee bonuses in the calculation when determining workers’ overtime rates. Basing overtime on hourly rates alone and excluding bonuses resulted in the employer paying overtime at rates lower than those required by law. Additionally, Pitch Pizzeria failed to combine hours that employees worked across multiple locations in the same workweek when determining whether overtime was due. By doing so, the employer failed to pay overtime when workers’ combined hours totaled more than 40 in a workweek. The employer also violated overtime requirements for tipped workers when they based overtime rates on the employees’ direct cash wages, rather than on the full minimum wage.

Additionally, the company violated child labor requirements by employing 15-year-olds to work past 7 p.m. and more than three hours on school days, and violated FLSA recordkeeping requirements when it failed to maintain records of all the hours employees worked.

“The Wage and Hour Division works to ensure compliance with federal labor laws so that every employer is competing on a level playing field and every employee receives the wages they have legally earned. The Department takes the enforcement of child labor laws seriously and reminds employers of the importance of understanding and complying with those requirements,” said Wage and Hour District Director Marcy Boldman, in Des Moines, Iowa. “We encourage all employers to reach out to us and to use the wide variety of tools we offer to understand their responsibilities and ensure that their labor practices comply with federal law.”

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 and confidential calls to local WHD offices.

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/agencies/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 paid sick leave and expanded family and medical leave provisions of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, 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.

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