A New Jersey restaurant was forced to hand out more than $300,000 to 63 employees after the Department of Labor (DOL) found that in some cases they had been paid less than the minimum wage.
According to the DOL’s Wage and Hour Division, Aquarius Restaurant Group, responsible for managing the Aquarius seafood restaurant in Fort Lee, violated minimum wage and overtime pay laws.
According to a DOL spokesperson quoted by Insider, the restaurant compensated workers at a daily rate, no matter how many hours they worked, which ranged from $25 to $50 per day.
In addition to failing to adequately pay overtime, the Aquarius restaurant also used checks and cash to pay its kitchen staff twice a month.
“The company was able to provide some records of cash payments, but was unable to provide an accurate representation of hours worked, resulting in the overtime violation,” they said.
The DOL found that the restaurant had paid less than $11,287.20 in total to 11 workers because they were not paid minimum wage.
During the investigation period, which spanned from April 2019 to April 2022, there were reportedly sporadic minimum wage violations.
In addition to recovering $150,805 in back wages and the same amount in damages for affected staff, the division imposed civil penalties totaling $35,274 due to the willful nature of the restaurant’s violations. .
“Most people employed in the restaurant industry work long hours to support themselves and their families and are entitled to be paid all of their earned wages,” said Paula Ruffin, district director for the Division of Hours and Mountainside, New Jersey, wages in a statement.
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