Wage and Hour Division (WHD)

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IRVING, Texas -- M Crowd General Partners LLC in Irving, Texas, doing business as 15 Mi Cocina restaurants, five Taco Diner restaurants, Main Stream Fish House, Mercury Chop House and Mercury Grill, has paid $210,715 after an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division and an employer self-audit found 501 former and current employees were not paid the federal minimum wage as required by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

“The employer charged bus staff for work clothing, resulting in workers being paid below the minimum wage,” said Cynthia Watson, the Wage and Hour Division’s southwestern regional administrator. “We hope this settlement will be a model for the industry.”

The division’s Dallas District Office initially completed a full investigation of Mercury Chop House in Fort Worth, Texas, and found that the bus staff worked for $2.13 per hour prior to the restaurant opening each day with no possibility of earning tips. Additionally, deductions were charged for chef jackets, bringing these employees’ pay below the minimum wage. The employer conducted a self-audit of all of its other 22 full service restaurants for the same violations.

The FLSA requires that covered employees be paid at least the federal minimum wage for all hours worked, plus time and one-half their regular rates of pay for hours worked more than 40 per week, unless otherwise exempt. Traditionally, restaurants consider tips part of an employee’s wages but must pay at least $2.13 an hour in direct wages. If the combined wages fall below the federal minimum wage, the employer must make up the difference to bring the employee’s pay up to the minimum wage.

The Wage and Hour Division concluded 31,987 compliance actions and recovered more than $171 million in back wages for more than 246,000 employees in fiscal year 2006. Back-wage collections last year represent a 30 percent increase over back wages collected in fiscal year 2001. The number of workers receiving back wages has increased by 14 percent since 2001.

For more information about the FLSA and other federal wage laws, call the U.S. Department of Labor’s toll-free helpline at (866) 4US-WAGE (487-9243) or the Wage and Hour Division’s Dallas District Office at (817) 861-2150. Information is also available on the Internet at www.wagehour.dol.gov.

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U.S. Department of Labor releases are accessible on the Internet at www.dol.gov. The information in this news release will be made available in alternate format (large print, Braille, audio tape or disc) from the COAST office upon request. Please specify which news release when placing your request at (202) 693-7828 or TTY (202) 693-7755. The Labor Department is committed to providing America’s employers and employees with easy access to understandable information on how to comply with its laws and regulations. For more information, please visit www.dol.gov/compliance.