GOOSE CREEK, SC – A Goose Creek restaurant shortchanged 21 workers and allowed minor-aged employees to work more hours than the law permits, a U.S. Department of Labor investigation has revealed.
Investigators with the department’s Wage and Hour Division found that Los Arcos Inc. – operating as Los Arcos Mexican Restaurant – failed to pay the workers their legally earned wages and violated minimum wage, overtime, and recordkeeping provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act when the employer did not pay some employees for all hours worked and failed to include performance bonuses in pay rates to calculate overtime.
The division recovered $108,924 in back wages and liquidated damages for the affected workers.
Investigators also determined that Los Arcos allowed two 15-year-olds to work more than 18 hours during several school weeks. By doing so, the employer violated federal youth employment requirements that limit the times of day and the number of hours youth can work during the school year.
In December 2021, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 958,000 accommodation and food services workers left their positions. The need for restaurant food servers is expected to grow by 20 percent from 2020-2030 to about 2.4 million jobs, the bureau reports.
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