Wage and Hour Division (WHD)

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NEW YORK -- Four Long Island, N.Y., restaurant and catering establishments --The Water Mill Restaurant, Smithtown; Westbury Manor, Westbury; Fox Hollow, Woodbury; and Chateau Briand, Carle Place-- and their corporate officers have agreed to pay a total of $1,045,000 in back wages, interest and penalties to settle a U.S. Department of Labor lawsuit. The suit alleged violations of the minimum wage, overtime-pay, record-keeping and youth employment requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

“This Department has zero tolerance for employers who short-change workers,” said Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao. “We have recovered almost a million dollars in back wages for these Long Island workers and will be closely monitoring the defendants’ compliance with the law in the future.”

An investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division revealed that nearly 2,000 current and former low-wage employees in these establishments, primarily kitchen and wait staff, were required to work long hours each week, for which they were not paid the federal minimum wage or proper overtime compensation. The defendants also failed to maintain adequate and accurate records of their employees’ wages, hours and other conditions of employment. Investigators also found that minors under 16 years of age were required to work excessive hours.

A consent judgment, signed by U.S. District Judge Leonard D. Wexler on August 31, 2005, prohibits the defendants from future violations of the FLSA and orders payment of $972,000, plus interest, in back minimum wage and overtime pay. The judgment also requires the defendants to pay a civil money penalty of $69,000 to the Labor Department and $4,000 to an employee alleged to have been retaliated against for cooperating with the department’s investigation. The company is prohibited from any future retaliation. Finally, the judgment orders the defendants to retain an independent monitor at their own expense to check and report to the U.S. Department of Labor on their compliance with the FLSA over the next two years. The defendants agreed to entry of the judgment but neither admitted nor denied the allegations.

Filed last November in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, the suit officially names: Scotto’s Smithtown Restaurant Corp.; Scotto Bros. Restaurant, Westbury, Inc.; Scotto Bros. Woodbury Restaurant Inc., and DVVA Carle Place Restaurant Inc. Also named as individuals and officers of the corporations were Anthony Scotto, Vincent Scotto, Victor Scotto, Domenico Tallarico and Vincenzo Pugliese.

The FLSA requires that employers pay employees at least the applicable minimum wage and time and one-half their regular rate of pay for hours worked over 40 per week, as well as keep accurate records of employees’ wages, hours and other conditions of employment. The law also prohibits retaliation by employers against employees for cooperating in an investigation and regulates the employment of young workers under age 18.

The department’s Wage and Hour Division office in Westbury, NY (516-338-1890), investigated this case, and the lawsuit was filed by the department’s Regional Solicitor’s Office in New York City. For more information about the requirements of 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.