Investigation recovers $215K in back wages, liquidated damages for 47 workers denied overtime by New Hampshire restaurant operators

CONCORD, NH – A U.S. Department of Labor investigation has recovered $215,675 in back wages and liquidated damages for 47 employees employed by Miguel Reynosa and Crescencio Reynosa, the operators of two restaurants in Dover and Epping, who denied workers their full wages and permitted four minors to work longer and later than legally permitted.

The department’s Wage and Hour Division found Cinco De Mayo Bar & Grill LLC, doing business as Cinco De Mayo Bar & Grill in Dover, and Tellez Brothers LLC, doing business as Cinco’s Cantina in Epping, violated the Fair Labor Standards Act’s overtime, child labor, and recordkeeping provisions as follows:

• Failing to pay certain employees, such as cooks, dishwashers, and bussers, at time and one-half their regular rates of pay for all hours worked over 40 in a workweek.
• Not calculating tipped employees’ overtime properly by basing overtime on their cash wage rates instead of their regular rates of pay.
• Employing four 14- and 15-year-olds to work as late as 10 p.m. and more than 3 hours on school days.
• Failing to maintain complete and accurate records of hours worked and payments made to employees.

“Cinco De Mayo Bar & Grill and Cinco’s Cantina deprived dozens of employees of their rightful pay, making it much harder for these workers to support themselves and their families,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Steven McKinney in Manchester, New Hampshire. “The more than $215,000 in wages and liquidated damages recovered for these workers by the department will go a long way towards making them whole.” 

The department also assessed, and the employer paid, a total of $29,795 in civil money penalties. The willful nature of the overtime violations resulted in $26,631 in penalties, while the child labor violations resulted in $3,164 in penalties.

The FLSA requires that most employees in the U.S. be paid at least the federal minimum wage for all hours worked and overtime pay at not less than time and one-half the regular rate of pay for all hours worked over 40 in a workweek.

“We are committed to helping employers understand their responsibilities under federal labor law and urge them to proactively contact our office for compliance assistance,” McKinney added. “The Fair Labor Standards Act allows for developmental experiences but restricts the hours that young employees can work on school days and in the evening to protect their educational opportunities.”

The FLSA prohibits children under the age of 14 from working in most situations and 14- and 15-year-old employees from working later than 9 p.m. from June 1 through Labor Day and past 7 p.m. the remainder of the year. Additionally, they cannot work more than three hours on a school day, eight hours on a non-school day or more than 18 hours per week when school is in session. The law also prohibits children under the age of 18 from operating dangerous equipment, such as power-driven meat slicers and certain types of bakery machines.

The YouthRules! initiative promotes positive and safe work experiences for youth by providing information about protections for young workers. Through this initiative, the U.S. Department of Labor and its partners promote developmental work experiences that help prepare young workers to enter the workforce. The Wage and Hour Division has also published Seven Child Labor Best Practices for Employers to help employers comply with the law.

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. Employers and workers can call the division confidentially with questions, regardless of where they are from. The department can speak with callers in more than 200 languages through the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Download the agency’s new Timesheet App for iOS and Android devices – free and now available in Spanish – to ensure hours and pay are accurate.