Florida supermarket owner caught shorting workers’ pay (again). This time, over $13,000
The owner of a Fort Myers supermarket with a history of not paying workers what they’ve earned just got caught doing it again, the U.S. Department of Labor announced.
S&O Groceries, the owner of a Bravo Supermarket, paid $13,781 in back pay to two store clerks — $6,890.50 per clerk — after Wage and Hour Division investigators found the clerks were paid flat salaries regardless of hours worked in a week.
S&O, owned by Oqab Abuoqab, also paid a civil penalty of $806 for being a repeat offender, Labor said. The company got busted doing the same thing in 2017.
Abuoqab bought several stores in the U-Save supermarket chain in 2011. He turned some into Bravo Supermarkets while others were shuttered while reportedly being under investigation for pay violations. As first reported by the Tampa Bay Times, a 2013 lawsuit said Abuoqab’s S&O U-Save Group, which owned a St. Petersburg Bravo, stopped paying rent a few months after signing the lease.
Online court records say the company eventually paid $74,271 of back rent and $100,000 overall in a settlement.
“Employers must pay their workers all the wages they have legally earned. Simply paying an employee a salary does not necessarily mean they are not still entitled to overtime,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Nicolas Ratmiroff in a statement. “Employees paid on salary basis are also entitled to overtime pay unless they meet all the requirements of a specific exemption. We encourage all employers to reach out to us for assistance in complying with federal wage laws.”
Employers that find they’ve committed overtime or minimum wage violations can self-report through the Payroll Audit Independent Determination (PAID) program.
For online information on how to file a complaint, go to the Wage and Hour complaint section of the Department of Labor website. Miami’s Wage and Hour Division office can be reached at 305-598-6607.
