Department of Labor recovers $52K in tips, unpaid wages, damages after investigators found Saipan restaurants recklessly disregarded workers’ rights

Employer:      R&I Corp., operating as Mura Ichiban Restaurant and Nam Dae Moon Restaurant

                            PMB 303 Box 10003

Saipan, MP 96950                                                                                                     

Investigation findings: An investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found R&I Corporation, operating as Mura Ichiban Restaurant and Nam Dae Moon Restaurant, illegally kept credit card tips from its tipped employees at both locations, failed to pay at least federal minimum wage for all hours worked and did not pay overtime wages to several Mura Ichiban employees, all violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act.  

Back Wages Recovered:     $12,316 in withheld credit card tips for 10 employees

$11,093 in unpaid minimum wage for 6 employees                                                                             

                                                        $2,736 in unpaid overtime for 6 employees

                                                        $26,146 in liquidated damages for 13 employees

                                                        $1,500 in civil money penalties

Quote: “The U.S. Department of Labor is determined to fight against wage theft in the restaurant industry,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Terence Trotter in Honolulu. “This restaurant recklessly violated their employees’ most basic rights, including pocketing a portion of their tips. This case should remind restaurant employers that all tips, including those left on customer credit cards, are the property of the workers who earned them.”

Context: Workers can use the division’s Workers Owed Wages search tool to see if they are owed back wages collected by the division. Employers and workers can contact the Wage and Hour Division for help and assistance at its toll-free number, 1-866-4-US-WAGE. Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, including the agency’s restaurants compliance assistance toolkit and an overview about the FLSA protections for restaurant workers. Workers and employers alike can help ensure hours worked and pay are accurate by downloading the department’s Android and IOS Timesheet App for free in English or Spanish.