Wage and Hour Division (WHD)

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HOUSTON -- China Border Inc. in Houston has paid $714,648 in back wages after an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found its owners had failed to properly pay overtime wages to 213 current and former wait and bus staff, hostesses, cashiers, dishwashers and cooks.

Headquartered on the North Freeway in Houston, China Border operates restaurants in Beaumont, Texas City, Galveston and Houston. The company has agreed to future compliance with the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The back wages have been paid in full.

“Workers are entitled to the wages they have earned,” said Victoria A. Lipnic, assistant secretary of labor for the Employment Standards Administration. “We have recovered $714,648 in back wages for these workers and the employer is on notice to properly compensate all their workers in the future.”

The suit resulted from an investigation by the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division office in Houston, which found overtime and recordkeeping violations of the FLSA.

A complaint and consent judgment were filed on July 11, 2006, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas Houston Division against China Border Inc., its owners and all its affiliated restaurants: China Border Northwest Inc., China Border Express Inc., Wong’s Independent Enterprises Inc., Red China Inc., China Galveston Enterprises Inc., White China Inc., Lucky Palace Inc., Lucky Garden Inc., Huynh Brothers Ltd. Partnership, Wilson Huynh, Tan Tai, David Tat and Bransford Wong.

The investigation covered the period Jan. 4, 2004 to Jan.18, 2006 and determined that China Border violated the FLSA by not properly paying employees one and one-half times their regular rate of pay for the overtime hours they worked. In addition, required time and payroll records were not maintained.

The FLSA requires that covered employees be paid at least the minimum wage of $5.15 per hour for all hours worked, plus time and one-half their regular rate of pay, including commissions, bonuses and incentive pay, for hours worked more than 40 per week. Employers must also maintain accurate time and payroll records.

The Wage and Hour Division concluded 34,858 compliance actions in fiscal year 2005 and recovered more than $166 million in back wages for more than 241,000 employees. Back-wage collections last year represent a 26 percent increase over back wages collected in fiscal year 2001. The number of workers receiving back wages has increased by 11 percent since fiscal year 2001.

For more information about federal overtime laws, call the U.S. Department of Labor’s toll-free help line (866) 4US-WAGE (487-9243) or contact the Wage and Hour Division’s Houston district office at (713) 339-5500. Information is also available on the Internet at www.wagehour.dol.gov.

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