Employees of a Eugene restaurant are recovering tens of thousands of dollars after a federal investigation found the owner violated labor laws.
Investigators with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found that the owner of Bao Bao House, located at 868 W. Park St. in downtown Eugene, kept all the tips that workers they earned and then used them to pay their salaries, according to a press release. .
The investigation found the owner saved about $43,000 in tips between Feb. 1, 2020 and Jan. 31, 2022, a spokesman said.
The federal agency also found that Ji Li, the owner of the restaurant, did not keep accurate records. Both are violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Five employees will receive a combined sum of $86,026 in back wages and damages that the Department of Labor recovered from Bao Bao House. Individual employees will get between $5,000 and $35,000, a spokesman added.
Li will also pay $1,725 in civil penalties.
The federal department is “determined to protect the rights of workers to keep all their earnings, including tips, and prevent employers from gaining a competitive advantage by lowering their labor costs,” said Carrie Aguilar, who heads the Division’s office. of Hours and Wages in Portland.
“Customer tips to restaurant staff belong to the workers who received them. Any attempt by employers to pocket those earnings is a direct violation of the wage rights of tipped workers,” Aguilar said in a statement.
Find back wages, file complaints
The Wage and Hour Division recovered more than $34.7 million in back wages for workers in the food service industry in the most recent fiscal year, according to the agency’s website.
People who think they are owed back wages collected by the division can use a search tool available at dol.gov/agencies/whd/wow.
Learn how to file a complaint at dol.gov/agencies/whd/contact/complaints.
Contact the city government watchdog, Megan Banta, at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @MeganBanta_1.
Source: www.registerguard.com