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ESA-WHD New Release: [12/09/1999]
Contact Name: John M. Chavez
Phone Number: (617) 565-2075
Release Number: BOS 99-226
BOSTON RESTAURANT COMPANY ORDERED TO PAY WORKERS OVER $76,000 IN BACK WAGES FOR FEDERAL WAGE-HOUR LAW VIOLATIONS; ALSO AGREES TO PAY $40,000 IN PENALTIES ARK
BOSTON, MA — Boston Corporation, of Boston, Massachusetts, which operates two restaurants in Boston's Fanueil Hall Marketplace, has been ordered to pay employees of those restaurants over $76,000 in back wages, the U.S. Department of Labor has announced. The company also agreed to pay the Labor Department $40,000 in penalties for violating the Federal wage and hour law.
According to Corey Surett, Massachusetts district director for the Labor Department's Wage and Hour Division in Boston, a judgment issued by the US District Court for Massachusetts requires the defendant to pay 210 employees of the Market Place Café and the Market Place Grill (formerly called Shenandoah) a total of $76,029.79 in back overtime wages.
Surett noted that the consent judgment, agreed to by the parties and signed by US District Judge Rya W. Zobel, resolves a suit filed against ARK Boston by the Labor Department alleging violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), specifically failure to pay employees proper overtime wages. He indicated that the 210 employees, who worked for the defendant's restaurants for the period of time between January 1, 1994 and August 1, 1998, included tipped employees such as bartenders, waitpersons and buspersons, as well as kitchen workers.
Surett stressed that the court order also prohibits the defendant, who agreed to entry of the judgment without contest, from future violations of the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act. He noted that ARK Boston also agreed to resolve a lawsuit before a Labor Department judge by paying a $40,000 civil money penalty assessed by the Labor Department against the company as a result of the FLSA violations. (more) - 2 - Passed in 1938, the FLSA -- also known as the federal wage and hour law -- today covers more than 110 million workers nationwide, explained Surett.
The law, enforced by the Labor Department's Wage and Hour Division, sets the federal minimum wage at $5.15 per hour and generally requires overtime for hours worked over 40 in any workweek. It also prohibits child labor abuse and requires employers to keep adequate time and payroll records. The department's legal action against ARK Boston Corporation followed an investigation by the Wage and Hour Division district office headquartered in Boston. The civil action file number for this case is 99 CV 10634 (RWZ).
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