US Department of Labor recovers $61K for 140 workers after investigations find Lamesa, Lubbock restaurants kept, misused tips illegally

LUBBOCK, TX – Many people who work in the restaurant industry depend on tips in exchange for good service which, like quality food at fair prices, can bring customers back and allow their employer to succeed. Despite the need for good service, the U.S. Department of Labor too often finds restaurant employers, including three businesses in Lamesa and Lubbock, withholding tips that legally belong to the people who earned them.

Investigators with the department’s Wage and Hour Division recovered a total of $61,646 for 140 workers and assessed the operators of Ohana’s Japanese Steak Restaurant in Lamesa, and at The Catch and Johnny Fab’s Cadillac Grill in Lubbock a total of $7,200 in penalties.

“Tips are the property of the people whose hard work earned them,” explained Wage and Hour Division District Director Evelyn Ortiz in Albuquerque, New Mexico. “The employers in these cases illegally withheld workers’ tips and either kept them, shared them with non-tipped employees or used them to pay business expenses. Employers who shortchange tipped workers face costly consequences, which can include penalties in addition to back wages owed.”

Specifically, investigators found the owner of Tang Ohanas LLC, operator of Ohana’s Japanese Steak Restaurant illegally included themselves in the workers’ tip pool and kept most of the tips. The division recovered $43,641 for eight employees and assessed the employer $768 in civil money penalties. 

At The Catch, operated by Catch Lubbock South LLC, the division determined the employer illegally allowed salaried managers to participate in the restaurant’s tip pool, recovering $13,752 owed to 107 employees and assessing the owners with $3,036 in penalties.

Investigators found Tres Patos Management LLC, operator of Johnny Fab’s Cadillac Grill, kept tips illegally to compensate for the company’s bar register shortages, which caused the rate of pay for bartenders to fall below the required minimum wage. The division recovered $2,126 for 25 employees and assessed the employer $3,425 in penalties.

These investigations are part of an ongoing food service industry initiative to identify wage violators, recover back wages and, when appropriate, assess damages and civil money penalties.

In fiscal year 2023, the Wage and Hour Division recovered more than $29.6 million in back wages for nearly 26,000 food service workers and assessed $6.1 million in penalties.

The Wage and Hour Division enforces laws governing pay practices and other labor standards, including the Fair Labor Standards Act, and determines if employers have misclassified employees as independent contractors and denied them critical benefits and worker protections. 

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. The division protects workers regardless of immigration status and can communicate with workers and employers confidentially in more than 200 languages at its toll-free helpline, 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243).

Download the agency’s new Timesheet App, which is available in English and Spanish for Android and Apple devices, to ensure hours and pay are accurate.