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Restaurant pays nearly $113K in tips, back wages, damages to 120 employees
Pineapple Grill in Kapalua, Hawaii has paid back $112,980 in tips, other back wages, and liquidated damages to 120 employees for the violations found under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Investigators from the Wage and Hour Division in Honolulu found that the cash wages of tipped employees were reduced below the minimum wage of $7.25 per hour, while the servers were unlawfully required to pay a portion of their tips to the kitchen staff that was already paid at or above the full minimum wage.
“Employers must count and pay for all hours worked by employees, including required duties that occur before and after the servers’ scheduled shift,” said Terence Trotter, the division’s district director in Honolulu. “The Fair Labor Standards Act also prohibits any arrangement between employers and tipped employees where any part of the tip received from the customer becomes the property of the employer.”
Additionally, investigators found that servers were required to report to the restaurant before the start of their evening shifts to clean glassware, fill up salt and pepper shakers, and polish the silverware without compensation.
For more information about federal wage laws administered by the Wage and Hour Division, call the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243), or the Honolulu office at 808-541-1361. Information is also available at http://www.dol.gov/whd.
