Last week’s action by the U.S. Department of Labor against three Houston area restaurants should dispel any notion that the federal agency does not take wage and hour violations seriously.
The DOL announced that the three restaurants, operated by Ernesto Enterprises Corp. and Jonathan Enterprises Corp., doing business as Taconmadre Mariachi & Grill, have agreed to pay $275,706 in minimum and overtime back wages to 72 current and former employees following an investigation by the Wage and Hour Division that found violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Affected employees worked at three restaurants located on Edgebrook Avenue, Bellfort Street and Brownwood Street in Houston.
The restaurants improperly classified the workers as exempt from wage and hour requirements, worked them up to 91 hours a week without payment them overtime, illegally deducted the cost of uniforms from their paychecks, and did not maintain proper records, the agency’s investigation found.
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