Wage and Hour Division (WHD)

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INDIANAPOLIS --

The U.S. Labor Department today announced the recovery of $350,041 in minimum wage and overtime back pay for 245 workers at 11 restaurants in Indiana following the first phase of an initiative designed to secure rightful pay for low-wage workers in the state.

“Our priority at the Department of Labor is to protect low-wage workers,” said Ella M Johnson, district director in Indianapolis for the department’s Wage and Hour Division, “We will not hesitate to aggressively enforce the law.”

Restaurants in Fishers, Indianapolis, Elkhart, Goshen, New Albany, Huntington, three in Fort Wayne and two in Muncie were investigated to determine compliance with the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which requires payment of the federal minimum wage and overtime pay for hours worked over forty in a workweek. The investigations, initiated in 2004, covered all workers at the businesses including cooks, servers and bus persons.

The department announced that back wages identified as due in these cases have been paid, and that a second set of investigations initiated in 2005 throughout the state should be concluded before the year is out. Additional investigations into businesses employing low-wage workers will be conducted in 2006.

The Wage and Hour Division, part of the Labor Department’s Employment Standards Administration, enforces the FLSA which requires that covered employees be paid the federal minimum wage of $5.15 and time and one-half their regular rate of pay for hours worked over forty in a single workweek. The law also requires employers to maintain accurate time and payroll records.

For more information about the FLSA, call the Department of Labor’s toll-free help line at 1-866-4USWAGE (1-866-487-9243). Information is also available on the Internet at www.wagehour.dol.gov.

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U.S. Department of Labor releases are accessible on the Internet at www.dol.gov. The information in this news release will be made available in alternate format (large print, Braille, audio tape or disc) from the COAST office upon request. Please specify which news release when placing your request at (202) 693-7828 or TTY (202) 693-7755. The Labor Department is committed to providing America’s employers and employees with easy access to understandable information on how to comply with its laws and regulations. For more information, please visit www.dol.gov/compliance.