Love Meat Korean BBQ, a popular Korean restaurant in Stamford, Connecticut, has been sued by the Department of Labor for its failure to pay proper minimum wage and overtime rates, engagement in unlawful retaliation and tip theft, and failure to maintain and provide accurate employment-related records, all of which violate the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
According to the Complaint, Love Meat Korean BBQ unlawfully improperly kept employee tips by including the owner in the tip pool. Moreover, the restaurant took a tip credit towards FLSA minimum wage, something which they were not entitled to due to the tip pool violation. Under the law, no managers, supervisors, owners, and back-of-house employees are not allowed to take money from the tip pool.
Under the FLSA, an employer is required to compensate employees at one and one-half times their regular rate of pay for all hours worked above 40 in a work week. For example, if you work 50 hours in a single week and are paid at a regular rate of $16 an hour, then 40 of those hours will be paid at the regular rate of $16 an hour and the other 10 should be paid at a rate of $24 per hour. In this scenario, you should not be paid $16 an hour for all 50 hours worked that week.
Several Love Meat Korean BBQ employees were allegedly fired for asking about their wages. The Complaint alleges that the restaurants termination of employees in response to inquiries about payment of wages constitutes an act of unlawful retaliation.
Love Meat Korean BBQ also failed to maintain records as required by the FLSA, including those with employees’ full names and accurate records of hours work by individual employees.
The Complaint demands Love Mean Korean BBQ to be held liable for withheld tips, the sum of any tip credit taken, back wages for minimum and overtime, and punitive damages for the 34 current and former employees affected.
Tip theft and unpaid overtime wages are on the rise in Korean restaurants. If you or someone you know are victims of wage theft or have questions about workers’ rights, contact the attorneys of Pechman Law Group at 212-583-9500 for a confidential consultation. We have recovered over $30 million for victims of wage theft.
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