EAST HARTFORD — The U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Wage and Hour Division (WHD) announced that East Hartford’s “Nolita Ristorante” and, owner Vishal Sharma, has to pay $19,657 in back wages to employees. They also have to pay an equal amount in liquidated damages.
The money will go to 14 current and former employees to resolved violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FSLA).
According to the report, the Wage and Hour Division employers violated FLSA minimum-wage provisions by failing to pay the federal minimum wages of $7.25 per hour for all the hours that they worked.
DOL said some dishwashers and front-of-the-house employees were paid flat weekly salaries in cash that failed to cover all the hours they worked at the minimum wage. According to the DOL, this practice lead to overtime violations when those employees worked more than 40 hours and yet were not paid any overtime.
Other minimum wage violations happened when the employer failed to record to pay for all of the hours that some employees worked, DOL reported. The report also states that the employers also violated recordkeeping requirements when they failed to keep accurate time and payroll records as required by law.
“Employers must pay their employees all the wages they have legally earned,” said Wage and Hour District Director David R. Gerrain in Hartford, Connecticut. “Our goal is to ensure that employers have the tools they need to comply with the law, which levels the playing field for law-abiding competitors in the restaurant industry.”
Employers who discover overtime or minimum wage violations may self-report and resolve those violations without litigation through the PAID program. For more information about the FLSA and other laws enforced by the Division, contact its toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Information is also available at https://www.dol.gov/whd including a search tool to use if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the Division.
