A federal investigation found an Algood, Tenn., restaurant reportedly used misused workers' tips and violated child labor laws.
McCurdy Enterprises LLC, doing business as Red Oak Roasters, was found to have withheld tips and used the money to inflate hourly wages by dividing it among the workers, including managers, according to a March 20 U.S. Department of Labor news release.
“What Red Oak Roasters did is wage theft, plain and simple. Tips are the property of the employees who earn them and rewards them for providing good service to customers,” Department of Labor Wage and Hour District Director Lisa Kelly said in the release. "Employers have no right to keep those earned tips and use them to reduce their cost of doing business."
The DOL Wage and Hour Division recovered $42,373 for the 44 works shortchanged of their tips, the release reported. The investigation also found Red Oak Roasters failed to pay overtime premiums to a salaried employee who worked more than 40 hours in a week, and allowed five minors to operate a prohibited vertical dough mixing machine, resulting in a $9,900 civil penalty.
“Power-driven bakery machines have the potential to cause serious injuries to even experienced workers. Allowing minor-aged workers – in this case 16 and 17-year-olds – to operate these machines is both troubling and illegal," Kelly added, according to the release.
Wage and Hour Division investigators recovered more than $27 million for more than 22,500 workers in the food service industry during the fiscal year of 2022, the release said. In fiscal years 2020 and 2021, more than 190 food service employers investigated in the Wage and Hour Division's Southeast region were found to have gone against child labor standards, resulting in a surplus of $1 million in penalties doled out to the employers.
Workers are encouraged to call the Wage and Hour Division if they have concerns or feel they are earned back wages, the release reported. Call can be made confidentially in more than 200 languages.
