KANSAS CITY, KAN. - A Merriam restaurant owner was sentenced Tuesday to 10 months in federal prison for falsifying records he submitted to prove he was paying his workers minimum page, U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister said.
Yong Lin, 39, Overland Park, Kan., who owned the China Garden restaurant at 5860 Antioch in Merriam, Kan., pleaded guilty to one count of falsifying records submitted to the U.S. Department of Labor.
In his plea, the defendant admitted that a federal investigation determined he was not complying with the Fair Labor Standards Act because he did not pay employees overtime after 40 hours. After he agreed to pay employees back wages, a subsequent investigation revealed he was feigning compliance by paying his servers with paychecks to bring their hourly pay up to minimum wage. In fact, however, he was requiring the servers to cash their payroll checks and turn the money back over to him.
McAllister commended the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division, Office of Solicitor General, Office of Inspector General and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jabari Wamble for their work on the case.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
