Yuma, Arizona – A federal investigation into the pay practices of Yuma’s sports bars and grills hired three owners after they learned that intentionally and willfully refusing to pay their employees overtime was a vicious and expensive gamble. Recovered $114,996 in unpaid wages and damages for 86 employees.

The investigator U.S. Department of Laborof Wage/time division Wheezy’s Sports Bar & Grill, operated by Tres Sisters LLC and its owners Maria Stefanakos, Yianula Stefanakos, and Elene Stefanakos, issued a flat rate to affected workers for hours they worked in violation of regulations. I discovered that I had paid in cash. Fair Labor Standards Act.

The department also found that employers did not keep records of hours or wages for employees who worked more than 40 hours a week, or cash payments for overtime.

“Wheezy’s Sports Bar & Grill in Yuma violated an employee’s basic right to be paid overtime in excess of a 40-hour workweek,” said Eric Murray, District Director of Wages and Hours in Phoenix, Arizona. Stated. “The U.S. Department of Labor’s efforts to protect workers’ rights can be very detrimental to employers who violate the law, especially if they do so knowingly.”

In addition to recovering liquidation damages equal to $57,498 in unpaid wages, the Department imposed a civil penalty of $14,231 on Tres Sisters LLC for the willfulness of the violation.

In 2022, Collected more than $27 million in unpaid wages for more than 22,500 people employed in the food service industry.

“Our research in the restaurant industry shows that workers are deprived of their fully earned wages by employers who misunderstand their legal obligations and by unscrupulous employers who deliberately ignore the law. There are so many,” Murray added.

Learn more about federal regulations governing the restaurant industry here.

FLSA mandates payroll for most U.S. employees over time in half the time their Normal salary level If you work more than 40 hours per week. Find out more about the Wages and Hours Department, including search tools to use if you think you may have an outstanding payment that the Wages and Hours Department collects. Employers and workers can confidentially ask questions to this department regardless of where they come from. The Department can speak to callers in more than 200 languages ​​through the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Download the agency’s new timesheet app for iOS and Android devices for free and now also available in Spanish to track time and make payments.