DELMONT, PA — Following a three-day trial and three years of litigation, a jury in a federal court in Pennsylvania determined Wednesday that a Delmont restaurant and its owner intentionally shortchanged 15 servers, dishwashers, bussers and cooks more than $214,000 in wages, confirming the findings of a U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigation and litigation by its Office of the Solicitor.
From April 2014 to July 2017, Picante LLC, its successor Picante Grille LLC and its owner Helius Mucino, paid no wages to servers solely compensated through tips. They also failed to pay dishwashers, bussers and cooks overtime when required and did not keep adequate records. After the department uncovered their illegal pay practices, the employers – who operate as Picante Mexican Grille – continued to pay less than the required amount of overtime to certain employees for two more years, until 2019.
In its Sept. 21, 2022, verdict, the jury in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania also concluded that during at least some of the timeframe when the violations occurred Mucino was acting as an employer at the restaurant – a point of contention during litigation – which made him liable under the Fair Labor Standards Act. It also found that the employers willfully violated the law, a finding the department sought to increase the back wages paid to employees for an additional year of violations that went back to 2014.
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