El Paso Mexican Grill restaurant chain will pay $654,366 in back wages to 567 employees, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
The department found that the chain violated the Fair Labor Standards Act minimum wage requirements at 23 of the chain’s locations in Louisiana and Florida. Investigators found that El Paso Mexican Grill deducted costs for uniforms from workers’ pay and it failed to pay them for all hours worked, which resulted in overtime violations when employees worked more than 40 hours a week and were not paid for that overtime.
Additionally, the chain paid employees time-and-a half of their direct cash wages for their overtime hours instead of basing their rates on the full minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. The failure to keep accurate records of hours wait and kitchen staff’s hours also violated the Fair Labor Standards Act, according to the Department of Labor.
El Paso Mexican Grill has several locations in Louisiana, including but not limited to locations in New Orleans, Metairie, Chalmette, Algiers, Marrero, Mandeville and Slidell.
Employers who find overtime or minimum wage violations can report and resolve the violations through the PAID program. For more information, click here. For more information about the Fair Labor Standards Act, click here.
