Department of Labor recovers almost $115,000 from Yuma sports bar
YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) - The U.S. Department of Labor conducted an investigation into the pay practices of Wheezy's Sports Bar & Grill, which has recovered $114,996 in back wages and damages for 86 employees.
According to a press release, the employees learned that their employers, Tres Sisters LLC, deliberately and knowlingly denied them overtime wages.
The Labor Department said their investigators for their Wage and Hour Division found Wheezy's owners, Maria Stefanakos, Yianoula Stefanakos and Elene Stefanakos, paid their workers straight-time rates and in cash for overtime hours worked, which according to the press release, is in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
The investigators also learned that the employers failed to keep track of employee's times and pay records for those who worked over 40 hours as well as not keeping track of any cash payments for overtime.
"Wheezy’s Sports Bar & Grill in Yuma violated their employees’ fundamental rights to earn overtime wages for hours over 40 in a workweek,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Eric Murray in Phoenix. “The U.S. Department of Labor’s efforts to protect workers’ rights can have costly consequences for employers who violate the law, especially when they do so deliberately.”
In addition to recovering $57,498 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages, the Department of Labor said they assessed Tres Sisters LLC with "$14,231 in civil money penalities for the willful nature of the violations."
