Another Florida restaurant caught violating overtime pay laws, shorting workers $47,000
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Florida, food and the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)
Unpaid or underpaid labor can seem as common in Florida restaurants and grocery stores as mahi-mahi.
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A Miramar Beach restaurant ignored federal overtime pay laws, got caught by the U.S. Department of Labor and owed workers $47,088 in back pay, Labor announced.
That money went to 30 workers at Mezcal Mexican Grill, $1,569.60 per employee.
A Wage and Hour Division investigation found that Mezcal management violated the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) by not paying the overtime rate of time-and-a-half for workers who earned it. Bartenders and servers at the North Florida restaurant were paid only their regular pay rate.
Also, the restaurant, despite being a business that pays the vast majority of its workers by the hour, didn’t keep complete time records.
A message left for Mezcal’s general manager has not been returned. Labor says the restaurant is owned by MTLE, LLC, which state of Florida records say is run out of Birmingham, Alabama by Marcus Osborn.
abor says MTLE leased workers from the staffing company Good Stand, a company that state records say also operated as Good Stand San Destin. Good Stand was dissolved in October 2020, but Miramar Beach’s Carlos Massu got that dissolution revoked in February 2021. It was dissolved again in September 2021 for not filing its annual report.
“Employers who use staffing agencies to provide workers and then continue to control and manage them are responsible for ensuring they are paid as the law requires,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Wildalí De Jesús.
The Wage and Hour complaint section of Labor’s website contains information on how to file a complaint if you believe your employer has violated FLSA. Miami’s Wage and Hour Division office can be reached at 305-598-6607. The national helpline is 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243).
No matter a worker’s immigration or citizenship status, he or she can speak with the department, which says it can handle calls in more than 200 languages.
This story was originally published March 3, 2022 at 10:11 AM.
