After an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor, a federal court has ordered five pizza franchise operators of Rosati’s restaurants in Illinois and Indiana to pay $250,000 in back wages and damages to 35 restaurant and delivery employees.

According to the Department of Labor, the franchise operators were found to have misclassified delivery drivers as independent contractors, failed to pay some workers overtime wages, improperly classified certain management employees as exempt from overtime, and maintained inadequate pay records, all of which violated the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Wage and Hour Division District Director in Chicago, Thomas Gauza explained that the pizza franchise will be responsible for paying the employees.

"A federal court has agreed with our finding that these Rosati’s franchisees must pay 35 employees fully for their hard work," Gauza said.

The court's order mandates that OM Matteson Pizza Inc., OM Richmond Pizza Inc., OM Plainfield Pizza Inc., OM Krat Pizza Inc. and OM Dyer Pizza Inc. make the owed payments in three installments. Co-owned by Kalpesh Patel and Ketan "Kevin" Limbachiya, the franchise operators will make the payments following an investigation by the division from May 1, 2019, through June 23, 2021.

There is a toolkit for people who work in the restaurant industry which provides information on the wage laws.

The department’s Quick Service Restaurants Compliance Assistance Toolkit provides information on wage laws for the industry. To learn more about wage laws in the industry or determine if back wages are owed, workers can use the division's Quick Service Restaurants Compliance Assistance Toolkit or call the division's toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243).