FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) — Hall Drive-Ins Inc., the operator of 10 Allen County restaurants, is being sued by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) over claims the company owes nearly $300,000 to 30 employees.
Investigators with the department’s Wage and Hour Division claim Hall Drive-Ins failed to pay $290,000 in back wages and damages to 30 employees, which violated the Fair Labor Standards Act’s minimum wage and recordkeeping provisions.
According to the lawsuit, Don Hall’s Factory Restaurant required unpaid pre-shift work, took servers’ tips by creating an illegal tip pool and deducted the cost of some servers’ uniforms from their pay, which dropped their hourly wage below the minimum wage.
The lawsuit, filed May 25, listed Don Hall’s Factory Restaurant as the only Hall Drive-Ins location where these incidents reportedly occurred.
Anthony Stites, a lawyer with Barrett McNagny LLP who represents Hall Drive-Ins, provided WANE 15 a statement regarding the lawsuit:
Hall’s disputes the DOL interpretation of the applicable law. Hall’s has tried for months to amicably resolve the matter. Given that the DOL has filed a lawsuit, I cannot comment any further.
Anthony Stites
Wage and Hour Division District Director Aaron Loomis said Luke Hall, general manager of Don Hall’s Factory Restaurant, agreed to change his business’ practices, but he reportedly refused to pay the back wages owed to his employees.
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