SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KTXL) — A group of workers at a small restaurant chain in Yolo County was given tens of thousands of dollars in back pay after their employers allegedly failed to pay them.
The U.S. Department of Labor said the owners of the two Taqueria Guadalajara restaurants in Woodland and Davis and the Taqueria Guadalajara Grill in Davis violated federal law when they didn’t properly keep accurate overtime records for six of their employees.
According to the department’s Wage and Hour Division, $42,496 in back wages and liquidated damages were recovered for a cook and five other Taqueria Guadalajara workers.
“Liquidated damages are intended to compensate workers for damages they may have incurred as the result of not having been paid timely for all the wages they legally earned,” the Department of Labor explains.
The ownership group behind Taqueria Guadalajara will also have to pay $4,230 in penalties.
In Wednesday’s release, the Department of Labor said more than $31.7 million were recovered in back wages for food service workers.
“The pandemic clearly demonstrated that restaurant workers are essential, frontline workers,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Cesar Avila. “Many are also among the lowest-paid workers in our economy. When a restaurant employer shortchanges their workers, it hurts them and their families.
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