Michigan supermarket, restaurant must pay $192K in back wages and penalties
(CBS DETROIT) — A Mexican specialty supermarket and restaurant in Pontiac must pay $192,500 in back wages, damages and penalties after illegally denying workers overtime wages, officials said.
The U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division found Carnival Market Inc. failed to pay 14 employees overtime wages between October 2018 and September 2020.
According to officials, after initially agreeing to pay workers back wages for overtime violations in 2020, Carnival Market asked five employees to return their back wages and threatened them if they refused to comply. Investigators say Carnival Market reportedly told its employees not to speak with investigators or tell them there were labor violations.
"The U.S. Department of Labor will not allow employers to retaliate against workers in an effort to prevent their cooperation with federal investigations," said Regional Solicitor of Labor Christine Z. Heri. "Employers who fail in their legal obligation to pay workers their rightfully earned wages and violate workers' rights to participate in a federal investigation will be held accountable under the law."
The Wage and Hour Division conducted a second investigation from January 2021 to January 2023 and found that the employers continued violating overtime provisions in the Fair Labor Standards Act by not paying some employees required overtime wages and paying non-exempt bakery workers on a salary basis without overtime compensation.
"Employers who shortchange their workers also harm local economies by reducing the amounts workers can spend day-to-day," explained Wage and Hour Division District Director Timolin Mitchell in Detroit. "Wage theft is a common problem, especially for low-wage workers who may be afraid to question their employers' pay practices or to share their concerns with authorities. We encourage workers with questions about their rights to contact the Wage and Hour Division. They can speak to us anonymously if needed and in one of the many languages our staff understands."
Carnival Market must pay $5,000 in compensatory damages for retaliating against workers during the 2020 investigation, $5,000 for violating the Fair Labor Standards Act's overtime and recordkeeping provisions, as well as $182,500, which represents $91,250 in back wages and an equal amount for liquidated damages, to 12 employees who were denied overtime pay over two years.
