St. Petersburg’s Red Mesa restaurants are accused of violating labor laws, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
Federal investigators probed Red Mesa Restaurant and Red Mesa Cantina and found that owners and management withheld tips from servers and bartenders to pay for customers who left without paying their bills, according to a media release. Workers lost between $10 to $175 in tips per day, the release said.
The restaurants, which serve Mexican fusion food, are also accused of deducting work uniforms from employee paychecks. In some cases, server paychecks were less than the required minimum wage, which is illegal under the Fair Labor Standards Act, the release said. Red Mesa also didn’t combine hours when employees worked at both locations within a week, resulting in them not receiving overtime pay.
The Department of Labor said they recovered $190,730 in lost wages and damages, which affected 89 workers.
Peter Veytia, the owner and operator of Red Mesa, did not respond to phone calls and emails Thursday requesting comment.
Even though Red Mesa Cantina is under a separate corporation name — Veytia Ventures LLC — from Red Mesa Restaurant, the restaurants are still considered a “single enterprise” because they have the same owner. Red Mesa Mercado, also owned by Veytia, was not named in the investigation.
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