Assistant Managers at Arby’s Receive Overtime Pay Settlement

Assistant managers at Arby’s restaurants have received an overtime pay settlement as a result of an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division. Arby’s has agreed to pay $56,838 in back wages to 759 current and former hourly paid managers in Arkansas, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma. Investigators found that at 255 Arby’s locations in the five states, bonuses paid to managers were not included in regular rates of pay when overtime pay was computed.  The Fair Labor Standards Act requires that covered employees be paid time and one-half their regular rates, including commissions, bonuses and incentive pay, for hours worked beyond 40 per week.  Additionally, managers in training at an Arby’s in Wichita, Kansas, were required to review training material outside their work hours and not properly compensated for this time.  Under the FLSA, employees must receive at least the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour for all hours worked. According to the October 11, 2011 press release from the Department of Labor, fast food restaurants are frequently found by the Wage and Hour Division to be in violation of the FLSA’s minimum and overtime wage provisions.  Because historical data indicates that the majority of violations are committed by franchisees rather than by corporate-owned establishments, the Division is focusing its enforcement efforts on franchisees.