Department of Labor recovers $99K for 58 workers after finding upstate South Carolina restaurant illegally used tips to offset operating costs

Employer:      Nick & Ken & Stelios LLC, operating as The Big Clock of Powdersville

                             3540 SC-Highway 153

                             Greenville, SC 29611

Investigation findings: U.S. Department of Labor investigators found Nick & Ken & Stelios LLC – operators of The Big Clock of Powdersville restaurant in Greenville – kept a portion of its servers’ tips and used that money to offset wages paid to other restaurant staff, a minimum wage violation and one of several violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The employer also made illegal deductions from employees’ pay for uniforms, name tags and other items. In addition, the employer paid some staff straight-time rates for all hours worked, failing to pay the required half-time rate for hours worked over 40 in a workweek.

The Big Clock of Powdersville also allowed four minor-aged employees, 14 and 15 years old, to work after 7 p.m. on a school night, a violation of the child labor provisions of the FLSA.

Back wages and liquidated damages owed to workers:    $99,731 to 58 employees.

Civil money penalties assessed:       $2,936 to address the child labor violations.                     

Quote: “Some of the most common restaurant industry wage violations we find involve tips. Employers cannot offset their operating costs and increase their profits by using employees’ earned tips,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Jamie Benefiel in Columbia, South Carolina. “In addition to shortchanging workers’ wages, we found The Big Clock of Powdersville allowed minors to work beyond legal limits designed to protect their work experience from jeopardizing their schooling.”

Background: In fiscal year 2021, the Wage and Hour Division recovered more than $34.7 million for more than 29,000 workers in the food service industry. 

Employers can contact the Wage and Hour Division at its toll-free number, 1-866-4-US-WAGE. Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, including information about protections for young workers on the department’s YouthRules! website. Workers can call the Wage and Hour Division confidentially with questions – regardless of their immigration status – and the department can speak with callers in more than 200 languages. Workers and employers alike can help ensure hours worked and pay are accurate by downloading the department’s Android Timesheet App for free, which is available in English and Spanish.