HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - Two Oahu restaurants have been ordered to pay tens of thousands of dollars after an investigation found they “shortchanged” their kitchen cooks by failing to pay workers overtime wages and accurately record the hours they worked, the U.S. Department of Labor said.
Investigators said the operator of Himalayan Kitchen restaurants in Honolulu and Kailua — under Himalayan Kitchen LLC — owed $40,000 in back wages and another $40,000 in liquidated damages.
The investigation found that kitchen cooks worked 10 and a half hours per day on average and that the employer did not pay them the legally required overtime pay.
Records also showed that Himalayan Kitchen paid one cook below federal minimum wage in certain weeks. .
“By law, employers must pay salaried cooks additional overtime pay when they work more than 40 hours in a workweek,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Terence Trotter, in a statement. “Through this investigation, Himalayan Kitchen has learned that disregard for federal labor laws can have costly consequences.”
Because of the violations, Himalayan Kitchen was also hit with $1,000 in civil penalties.
Copyright 2021 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.
PHOENIX — A Peoria man pleaded guilty April 8 to filing false claims for refund, taking home $1.8 million in tax credits related to COVID-19, authorities said. Leslie Victor Gentry, 54, prepared a...