HONOLULU (STL.News) The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $91,097 in unpaid wages and liquidated damages for workers employed by a Kapolei restaurant that allowed its managers to pocket some of the tips earned by its servers, cooks, and kitchen helpers.
The department’s Wage and Hour Division found Lance Yamamoto, owner of Sushi Bay, deprived workers of the full amount of tips they earned for serving the restaurant’s customers, violating the Fair Labor Standards Act.
A restaurant employer cannot keep tips received by its employees for any purpose, including allowing managers and supervisors to keep any portion of those tips.
“Tips earned for service are the property of the people who earned them,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Terence Trotter in Honolulu. “Employers who withhold or allow managers to pocket tips that rightfully belong to those who received them for their hard work are breaking the law and will be held accountable.”
In addition to recovering $45,549 in wages and an equal amount in damages, the division assessed Sushi Bay $3,842 in civil money penalties.
In 2017, the division found Sushi Bay violating federal law for failing to pay employees overtime and recovered $22,146 in that investigation. The restaurant, which serves...
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