The Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor recovered $608,000 in wages and liquidated damages from the operators of six northern California pizza restaurants who failed to properly compensate workers for overtime.
Mountain Mike’s Pizza outlets did not combine the hours 33 workers spent at several restaurants, which resulted in more overtime infractions of the Fair Labor Standards Act, according to a July 28 DOL news release.
“Sumeet Singh and Mandeep Saini required their employees to work extremely long hours but ignored their obligations to pay overtime and to protect the well-being of minor-aged workers,” Wage and Hour District Director Susana Blanco in San Jose, Calif., said in the release.
The investigation by the department also found that the employer enabled minor-aged workers to deliver pizza and work at the restaurants in Pittsburg, Hercules, Pinole, Fairfield, Martinez and Danville above the hours permitted under federal child labor rules, according to the release. To resolve the child labor breaches, Singh and Saini were fined $13,058.
Pay practices that violate the law cause employers to face costly repayment of wages and damages, Blanco said in the release. Those practices may make it more difficult for them to retain or recruit workers.
