Home News & Events Maine Dept. of Labor Announces Recovery of Nearly $500,000 in Owed Back Wages for Maine Workers in 2021

For Immediate Release: January 25, 2022

Maine Dept. of Labor Announces Recovery of Nearly $500,000 in Owed Back Wages for Maine Workers in 2021

Department highlights 2021 wage & hour enforcement activities as part of new website

AUGUSTA - The Maine Department of Labor (MDOL) announced today that it recovered nearly half a million dollars in owed back wages for Maine workers in 2021.

The Department published the information publicly for the first-time on a new website outlining final actions taken against employers who were assessed penalties by the Department's Wage and Hour Division in 2021.

In total in 2021, through both settlement agreements and other enforcement actions, MDOL recovered $474,971.15 in owed back wages for workers, including more than $60,000 from an employer in South Paris who cooperated with the Department to make back payments to fourteen workers whose tips were withheld illegally.

Investigators with MDOLs Bureau of Labor Standards (BLS) Wage and Hour Division found that Luchador Tacos in South Paris had violated several sections of Maine employment law involving misallocation of tips, timely and full payment of wages, and failure to properly maintain time records which resulted in hundreds of violations. When cited for these violations in August 2021, the company fully cooperated with BLS to ensure that the full amount...

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