Wage and Hour Division (WHD)

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MINNEAPOLIS -- Thirteen workers formerly employed at Pasteleria El Rey, 3041 Nicollet Ave., Minneapolis, will receive back pay and liquidated damages totaling more than $38,000 under an agreement reached between the company and the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division.

The agreement resolves a formal complaint filed by the department in federal district court in Minneapolis, which alleged that the business failed to pay the workers time and one-half their regular rates of pay for hours worked beyond 40 in a single workweek in violation of the overtime pay provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

Pasteleria El Rey and owner Nicolas Gonzalez will pay $38,514, which includes $24,323 for unpaid overtime compensation, $1,014 in post-judgment interest and $13,177 in liquidated damages. The agreement also prohibits Gonzalez or the bakery from violating the FLSA in the future.

“While the Labor Department will continue to enforce the law to protect workers, we are also very interested in helping employers understand their compliance responsibilities,” said Jose L. Medina, district director for the Wage and Hour Division in Minneapolis. “We encourage business owners and others to contact the Wage and Hour Division for a better understanding of what the law requires.”

The FLSA requires employees to be paid the federal minimum wage for all hours worked and time and one-half their regular rates of pay for hours worked beyond 40 in a week. Effective July 24, 2007, the federal minimum wage for covered nonexempt employees rose to $5.85 per hour. The minimum wage will increase to $6.55 per hour effective July 24, 2008, and to $7.25 per hour effective July 24, 2009.

The Wage and Hour Division concluded 31,987 compliance actions and recovered more than $171 million in back wages for more than 246,000 employees in fiscal year 2006. Back-wage collections last year represent a 30 percent increase over back wages collected in fiscal 2001. The number of workers receiving back wages has increased by 14 percent since year 2001.

For more information, call the Department of Labor’s toll-free help line at (866) 4US-WAGE (487-9243). Information is also available on the Internet at www.wagehour.dol.gov.Information about the current exemption for white-collar executive, administrative and professional employees can be found on the Internet at http://www.dol.gov/fairpay.

Chao v. Pasteleria El Rey: Case No. 0:05-cv-2258

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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.