US Department of Labor recovers $48K in back wages, damages for 18 cooks at two Davenport restaurants

Employer:      El Compita Mexican Bar and Grill

                            14010 112th Ave., Davenport, IA 52804                         

                            1720 E. Kimberly Road, Davenport, IA 52804         

Investigation findings: An investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found a Davenport, Iowa restaurant failed to pay cooks overtime at time and one-half their hourly rate of pay, for hours over 40 hours in a workweek.

Investigators found that El Compita Mexican Bar and Grill’s two locations wrongly classified cooks as salary exempt and denied overtime pay. The restaurant also failed to maintain employee timecards as required and did not post posters informing workers of  their wage rights as required by law. 

Resolution: The company paid a total of $48,914, representing $24,457 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages for 18 employees. 

Quote: “This restaurant’s practice of paying a set salary to cooks, regardless of hours worked, is a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act, which requires most workers to be paid overtime for hours over 40 in a workweek,” explained Wage and Hour District Director Marietta Taylor in Des Moines, Iowa. “Recovering these wages allows us to put money back in the pockets of vulnerable workers, who may not know their rights under federal wage laws.”

Background: Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, the restaurant employment toolkit, 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. 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.