Thai restaurant Sweet Lemons in Weymouth, Mass., was ordered to pay 13 workers damages in accordance with the Fair Labor Standards Act
Thai restaurant Sweet Lemons in Weymouth, Mass. has been ordered by a federal judge to pay 13 workers a total of $345,000 in overtime pay and owed tips, the court ruled last week.
The U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts found that the restaurant, led by owner and director Pornthip Neampong, denied workers tips, withheld overtime pay, didn’t keep accurate records of wages and retaliated against some workers, ultimately violating the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
The court ordered Sweet Lemon and Neampong to pay 13 affected workers $130,018 in back wages, $29,881 in tips that were taken, and $159,899 in liquidated damages. They were also ordered to pay $25,000 in punitive damages, for a total of $344,798.
“The biggest complaint we hear is ‘my client has no money’ and we’ve been hearing that more and more with COVID,” said Darren Rumack, partner at The Klein Law Group about people filing lawsuits like this one.
There is a similar lawsuit in New York City against The Old Homestead
Restaurant, with 40 employees, which is still in the courts over backpay and lost tips.
“There are going to be a few more years of this getting out of the pandemic, and we’ll see things continue on this path,” said Rumack.
Part of that is due to the tip pooling and cash tip rules.
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