BOSTON – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a consent judgment and order prohibiting a Somerville, Massachusetts, restaurant and its owner from retaliating against employees who cooperate in the department’s efforts to enforce the Fair Labor Standards Act. Fakhouri Inc. – operating as Sound Bites Café – and Yasser Mirza must also pay $15,000 in punitive damages to the affected current and former employees in connection with the department’s retaliation claim.

The department obtained the consent judgment as part of a May 2022 lawsuit alleging the restaurant and Mirza took serious and ongoing adverse actions against employees who engaged in activities protected under the FLSA. Such alleged actions include threatening an employee who sought unpaid overtime wages and telling other employees to provide false information to investigators with the department’s Wage and Hour Division. Also in May 2022, the department obtained a consent preliminary injunction to halt the alleged retaliation.

The consent judgment, obtained in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, permanently restrains the defendants from the following:

• Instructing current or former employees not to speak with – or to provide false information to – investigators or influencing employees’ participation in any departmental investigation or legal proceeding.
• Taking adverse action against any employee or former employee or telling them they will suffer adverse action because they engaged or...

Read Full Story: https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMiNWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmRvbC5nb3YvbmV3c3Jv...