A Pompano Beach, Florida, buffet paid most of its 31 workers a flat monthly salary of $1,000 to $3,000 even though they regularly worked more than 40 hours a week, the U.S. Labor Department says. The department’s Wage and Hour Division recovered $732,976 for those workers, which averages out to about $23,644 each. The recovery was announced September 3, and the division runs a search tool for workers who think it collected wages in their name.
What the Wage and Hour Division found at the buffet
The employer is Lucky King LLC, operating as Miyako Japanese Buffet in Pompano Beach. The release headline calls the business a seafood restaurant, while the text names it as the buffet. The division’s investigators made the findings under the Fair Labor Standards Act, the federal law that sets minimum wage and overtime.
The division says the employer paid most employees a monthly salary between $1,000 and $3,000 despite regular overtime. Covered workers who are not exempt must receive at least one and a half times their regular rate for hours past 40 in a workweek. The division also found the buffet failed to pay minimum wage for all hours worked and failed to keep required records…