Employer:                             Bulletproof Plumbing & Heating Inc. 

Investigation site:             6920 Ropers Point 

LOS ANGELES – The U.S. Department of Labor has filed a suit in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California alleging that Coway USA Inc., a Los Angeles-based company that sells, leases and services household appliances, failed to pay overtime wages earned by more than 180 employees, a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act. 

CHICAGO – A federal judge has ordered Mariusz Lekarczyk, the owner and operator of four Chicago-area We Wash Hand Wash and Car Detail Centers, and We Wash Car Care Center Inc. to pay $799,566 in back wages and damages to 110 employees and $110,990 in penalties to the U.S. Department of Labor, as part of a consent judgment and order obtained by the department. 

Employer:      Angry Fish Sushi Inc.

                        16250 E 14th St.

San Leandro, CA 94578

DALLAS – The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $227,834 in back wages from the owner and operator of a Happy Lamb Hot Pot franchise in Grand Prairie that denied 47 restaurant workers required minimum and overtime wages and illegally allowed a manager to keep a portion of servers’ tips.

NEW ORLEANS –Renowned for its food and restaurant options, New Orleans’ economy depends on the city’s service workers, including 359 people employed by five restaurants that, U.S. Department of Labor investigators found, made illegal wage deductions and paid them less than minimum wage. 

Employer:      Humberto Castaneda Produce

                        2859 Fulton Road

Fulton, CA 95439 

JEFFERSON CITY, MO – The U.S. Department of Labor has filed suit in federal court against a Jefferson City buffet restaurant and its owner, after investigators with the department’s Wage and Hour Division found servers worked for tips only and cooks were paid a set cash salary regardless of how many hours they worked, leading to violations of minimum wage or overtime regulations. 

Empleador:    Humberto Castaneda Produce

                        2859 Fulton Road

Fulton, CA 95439 

LAS VEGAS – El Departamento de Trabajo de EE.UU. ha obtenido una sentencia por consentimiento con la que logra recuperar $550,000 en salarios atrasados ​​y compensación por daños para 614 empleados de una empresa de construcción de Las Vegas cuyas prácticas salariales negaron a trabajadores sus salarios completos.

LAS VEGAS – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a consent judgment recovering $550,000 in back wages and liquidated damages to 614 employees from a Las Vegas construction company whose pay practices deprived the workers of their full wages.

BOSTON – A U.S. Department of Labor investigation has recovered $77,206 in back wages for five workers employed on a federally funded construction project after finding one subcontractor failed to pay prevailing wages and fringe benefits and another submitted falsified payroll records.

Date of action:           August 19, 2024

Type of action:          Temporary restraining order, preliminary injunction

Employer:      Teracom Inc., Saline, Michigan

KANSAS CITY, KS – A federal jury in Kansas has awarded $957,324 in back wages for 168 workers at three Wichita-area restaurants jointly operated by three owners who willfully violated federal laws by using tips earned by servers to pay hosts and bussers and denying workers minimum and overtime wages.

Employer:   Walker White Inc.

Employer address:    7402 Fairfield Road, Columbia, SC 29203

Date of action:                       August 1, 2024 

FORT WAYNE, IN – A federal lawsuit has recovered $178,000 in back wages, damages and penalties from Hall Drive-Ins Inc., operator of 10 Fort Wayne-area restaurants, to resolve U.S. Department of Labor litigation filed in 2023 in light of the employers’ violations of tip-pool requirements in the Fair Labor Standards Act. 

Participants: U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division

                        Consulate of Mexico in San Jose, California

NASHVILLE, TN – The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $31,761 in back wages and damages from a Tennessee operator of assisted living communities that illegally fired one worker for questioning the employer’s pay practices and denied full overtime wages to seven care workers.