Wisconsin restaurant owner owes more than $270K in employee back pay, violated child labor laws

The owner of four Wisconsin restaurants allegedly shortchanged more than 100 employees more than $272,000 in wages and violated several federal regulations, including child labor laws, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

“Violations like those found in our investigation of Casa Tequila are all-too-common in the food service industry,” Kristin Tout, wage and hour division director for the department, said in a statement. “Restaurants often employ people unfamiliar with their legal rights and protections as workers and who may be fearful about raising or reporting their concerns.”

A woman who answered the phone at Casa Tequila’s Pewaukee location said owner Maria Campuzano was not available. The woman, who did not identify herself, said the company was working on a statement.

Casa Tequila has locations in Pewaukee, West Bend, Waukesha and Hartford.

Investigators found Casa Tequila violated the Fair Labor Standards Act’s minimum wage, record keeping and child labor provisions when it did the following:

• Operated an invalid tip pool at the Pewaukee location by including kitchen staff and cooks, which are not tipped occupations. By doing so, the employer lost its ability to claim credit for tips toward its minimum wage and overtime obligations for tipped employees, such as servers.
• Based the overtime rate paid to tipped employees on their cash wage rather than minimum wage, which led to overtime violations.
• Failed to include all the compensation Pewaukee cooks earned in their average hourly rate of pay for overtime purposes. Since the employer illegally included cooks in the tip pool, the tips they received must be included in their regular rates of pay to determine their required overtime wages.
• Paid straight-time rates instead of time and one-half for hours over 40 in a workweek at all locations.
• Employed three children between the ages of 14 and 15 past 9 p.m. and for more than eight hours at its West Bend and Waukesha locations in violation of federal child labor standards.
• Failed to display Fair Labor Standards Act posters as required.

In addition to requiring Casa Tequila LLC to pay 110 employees back wages, the company has been fined $2,373 for its child labor violations.

“Restaurant operators are legally required to understand and comply with federal laws governing how tipped and hourly workers’ wages must be paid and how young workers can be employed safely with a schedule that does not interfere with their education or well-being,” Tout stated.