Wage and Hour Division (WHD)

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NEW YORK -- Water’s Edge Restaurant, an upscale eatery in Long Island City, Queens, New York, has paid 112 employees a total of $124,084 in minimum wage and overtime back pay following an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division. A subsequent investigation of the restaurant, owned by Quinn Restaurant Corp., resulted in a consent judgment ordering the company to pay an additional $78,683 in back wages to workers and a $12,000 civil money penalty to the Labor Department.

According to Philip Jacobson, district director for the department’s Wage and Hour Division in New York City, the first investigation by his office revealed violations of the minimum wage and overtime requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Some employees were paid less than the required federal minimum wage and many employees worked more than 40 hours a week without being properly compensated for overtime hours. The second investigation revealed that the employer was changing employees’ hourly rates each week, depending on the number of hours they worked, to limit overtime compensation liability.

As a result of the first investigation, the Wage and Hour Division recovered approximately $593 in minimum wage back pay for four maintenance workers and nearly $124,000 in overtime back wages for 112 employees. Following the second investigation, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York ordered the employer to pay an additional $78,682 in back wages and a $12,000 civil money penalty.

Jacobson said, “The U.S. Department of Labor is committed to ensuring that employees, especially low-wage workers as were many of the workers in this case, are properly paid for all the hours they work. Our recent court action demonstrates that we will not tolerate attempts by employers to skirt the law.”

The FLSA requires that employees be paid at least the minimum wage and time and one-half their regular rate of pay for hours worked over 40 per week. It also requires employers to keep accurate records of employees’ wages, hours and other conditions of employment.

In addition to ordering Water’s Edge Restaurant to pay the back wages and penalties, the consent judgment, signed Dec. 2 by U.S. District Judge Dora L. Irizarry, prohibits future violations of the FLSA and specifically orders the company always to pay employees covered by the law proper overtime wages. The order also requires the defendant to notify all current employees that their regular rates of pay will not be decreased in weeks in which they work overtime and to place, in plain view of all employees, official Labor Department posters describing worker rights under the law. The company agreed to the consent judgment without admitting or denying any violations of the FLSA.

The Wage and Hour Division has been unable to locate some former employees due back wages in this case. “I would encourage these workers to call my office at 212-264-8185 to make sure they receive the back wages they are owed,” said Jacobson, noting that the last known addresses for many of these workers were in Queens.

Information on the requirements of the FLSA may be obtained by calling the department’s toll-free help line at 1-866-4USWAGE (1-866-487-9243) or through the Internet at www.wagehour.dol.gov.

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