BOSTON – An order issued by a federal judge in Massachusetts, has fully granted the U.S. Department of Labor’s motion for summary judgment regarding numerous violations of federal law by a Weymouth restaurant and its owner that deprived workers of their hard-earned wages and tips.

Entered in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, the judgment orders Sweet Lemon Inc. – doing business as Sweet Lemons Thai Restaurant – and Pornthip Neampong to pay 13 affected workers $159,899 in back wages and tips, and an equal amount in liquidated damages, plus $25,000 in punitive damages, for a total of $344,798. The court also permanently enjoined the defendants from violating the Fair Labor Standards Act’s overtime, recordkeeping and anti-retaliation provisions in the future.

The court’s action follows a U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigation and litigation by the department’s Office of the Solicitor.

The court determined there was no dispute that Sweet Lemon Inc. and Pornthip Neampong violated the FLSA as follows. The employers:

• Failed to pay employees one and one-half times their rate of pay when they worked more than 40 hours in a workweek.
• Kept all the tips the servers earned.
• Failed to maintain true and accurate records of employees’ work hours and wages.
• Retaliated against workers by having them sign statements containing false information and by interrogating an employee as to whether they spoke with the Wage and Hour Division.

“Sweet...

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