ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The US Department of Labor says a popular St. Petersburg restaurant group violated labor laws.

According to federal investigators, Red Mesa Restaurant and Red Mesa Cantina withheld tips earned by bartenders and servers to pay for customers who skipped out on their bill.

What You Need To Know

• Federal investigators: Red Mesa Restaurant and Red Mesa Cantina withheld tips


• Authorities said restaurants illegally charged employees for uniforms, denied workers required minimum wages and failed to pay kitchen staff


• Recovered more than $190,000 in back wages

The labor department also says the restaurants illegally charged employees for uniforms, denied workers required minimum wages and failed to pay kitchen staff and other workers’ overtime.

As a result of the investigation, the department's wage and hour division recovered more than $190,000 in back wages.

Specifically, the division found the employers did the following:

• Withheld bartenders and servers’ tips to cover the cost of customer walkouts, which ranged from $10 to $175 per day.
  
  
• Deducted the cost of uniforms from employees’ wages which led some workers to be paid less than minimum wage.
  
  
• Paid an incorrect overtime rate to tipped employees and failed to combine hours when these employees worked at both restaurants in the same workweek. By doing so, the restaurants paid overtime at rates lower than required by law for hours over 40 in a workweek and failed to pay for all overtime hours in...

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