Georgia restaurant chain to pay $104,000 in back wages

Following an investigation by the Wage and Hour Division of the United States Department of Labor, a Fayetteville, Georgia-based restaurant chain was ordered to provide 230 workers with more than $100,000 in back wages.

The investigation uncovered several Fair Labor Standards Act time and attendance violations at five This Is It! BBQ & Seafood locations, including failure to pay tipped employees minimum wage and compensate more than 40 hours of employee attendance per week with time-and-a-half payment. Additionally, minors were allowed to work later at night than permitted by law, which incurred an additional $1,867 fine.

"The restaurant industry is rife with wage violations and evasive business practices ... all of which deny low-wage and vulnerable workers the pay guaranteed to them by law," said Oliver Peebles III, regional administrator of the Wage and Hour Division in Atlanta.

Former employees of Welasco, Texas-based Buffalo Wings & Rings recently filed a lawsuit in the hope of securing a similar result. Three women who worked at the restaurant between 2009 and 2010 claim their employer failed to pay them time and attendance compensation, The Monitor reports.