US Department of Labor recovers $155K in back wages, damages from Kansas supermarket for 158 workers denied overtime

Employer:      Supermart El Torito Inc.

                        1409 Central Avenue

                         Kansas City, KS 

Investigation findings: An investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division recovered $155,990 ‒ representing $77,995 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages ‒ for 158 employees of Supermart El Torito Inc. in Kansas City, Kansas. The division also assessed the employer with $187,546 in civil money penalties for repeated violations of Fair Labor Standards Act’s overtime provisions.

Investigators found that Supermart El Torito paid employees overtime at time and a-half the employee’s rate of pay, as required when they worked between 41 and 58 hours a week. When an employee worked more than 58 hours per week, the employer paid the additional time at the worker’s straight-time hourly rate in cash. By law, Supermart El Torito should have paid employees time and one-half their hourly rate for all hours over 40 in a workweek. The employer also failed to record and retain accurate employee time records. 

The division cited the employer for violations found at its Kansas City location at 1409 Central Avenue. Supermart El Torito operates two food stores in Kansas City and one in Topeka. 

Quote: “When an employer shortchanges its workers their rightfully earned wages, such as overtime, knowingly, they take money out of workers’ pockets,” explained Wage and Hour District Director Reed Trone in Kansas City, Missouri. “Our investigation found Supermart El Torito chose to ignore the law.”

Background: 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 and how to file an online complaint, including if you think you are misclassified as an independent contractor. For confidential compliance assistance, employees and employers can call the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243), regardless of where they are from.

Download the agency’s new Timesheet App for iOS and Android devices – also available in Spanish – to ensure hours and pay are accurate.