News Release
Federal court requires Rosati’s pizza franchisees to pay $250K in back wages, damages to 35 employees after US Department of Labor investigation
CHICAGO – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a consent judgment in federal court requiring the operators of five pizza franchise locations in Illinois and Indiana to pay $250,000 in back wages and damages in its effort to recover unpaid overtime wages for 35 restaurant and delivery employees.
On April 19, 2023, Judge Lindsay C. Jenkins of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago ordered OM Matteson Pizza Inc., OM Richmond Pizza Inc., OM Plainfield Pizza Inc., OM Krat Pizza Inc., and OM Dyer Pizza Inc. — operating as Rosati’s in Bloomingdale, Matteson, Plainfield and Richmond, Illinois; and Dyer, Indiana — to pay the back wages and damages owed in three payments. The companies are co-owned by Kalpesh Patel and Ketan “Kevin” Limbachiya.
The court’s action follows an examination by the department’s Wage and Hour Division of the companies’ pay practices from May 1, 2019, through June 23, 2021. Investigators found the employers misclassified delivery drivers as independent contractors, even though store management controlled their hours and assigned tasks. They also determined the employers failed to pay some workers’ overtime wages at time and one-half their regular rate of pay for hours over 40 in a workweek, incorrectly categorized some management employees as exempt from overtime, and failed to maintain adequate pay records. These actions violated the Fair Labor Standards Act.
“A federal court has agreed with our finding that these Rosati’s franchisees must pay 35 employees fully for their hard work, and as the law requires,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Thomas Gauza in Chicago. “Employers who fail to understand wage laws that apply to individual employees may find there are costly consequences for not complying with the law. The Wage and Hour Division encourages workers to contact us if they believe their employer is denying them their fully earned wages.”
The department’s Quick Service Restaurants Compliance Assistance Toolkit explains wage laws for the industry.
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). Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, including a search tool to use if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the division. Download the agency’s new Timesheet App to ensure hours and pay are accurate.
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
