Feds Award Restaurant Employees Who Worked In Newington Back Wages

NEWINGTON, CT — The U.S. Department of Labor has "recovered" $11.4 million in back wages and liquidated damages for more than 1,000 employees of the Plaza Azteca restaurant chain after a series of investigations and litigation by the department, the agency announced Thursday, including a Newington location.

A total of $471,096 in back wages and liquidated damages are due to 22 employees who worked at the Plaza Azteca location at 3260 Berlin Turnpike, Newington.

The recovery is related to a consent judgment entered by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in Norfolk that resolves litigation by the department's Office of the Solicitor related to pay practices at more than 40 Plaza Azteca Mexican restaurant locations owned by Ruben Leon in seven states. After an investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division, the department filed a complaint alleging Leon and the restaurants violated overtime and minimum wage provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

The employers agreed to the consent judgment after months of litigation and just before a jury trial was scheduled to begin. The lawsuit included Plaza Azteca locations in Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

In addition to the Newington workers, a total of $288,988 in back wages and liquidated damages are due to 29 employees who worked at the Plaza Azteca location at 170 Slater St. in Manchester and a total of $162,508 in back wages and liquidated damages are due to 13 employees who worked at the Plaza Azteca location at 39 Hazard Ave., Enfield.

"Our investigators found Plaza Azteca knew of its legal obligations to pay workers minimum wage and overtime and keep accurate payroll records and yet, willfully disregarded federal law," Wage and Hour Administrator Jessica Looman said. "The employers failed to pay full wages to more than 1,000 employees. The court’s action in this case is an important step in our efforts to make a meaningful difference in the lives of these workers by recovering their hard-earned wages."

Specifically, the department accuses that numerous Plaza Azteca Mexican restaurants paid back-of-the-house employees predetermined amounts. By doing so, the employers failed to pay some employees who worked up to 40 hours in a work week the required minimum wage and did not pay some employees time-and-a-half for hours beyond 40 in a work week. The employers also failed to maintain accurate records of employees' work hours and wages, as required, according to the labor department.

Due to" the repeat and willful nature of the violations," the consent judgment also recovered $625,000 in civil money penalties from the employers.

"This outcome sends a strong message to other restaurant industry employers of the costly consequences that can occur when they deprive employees of their full and rightful wages," Solicitor of Labor Seema Nanda said. "As we did in this case, the U.S. Department of Labor will strategically deploy our investigative and litigation resources to remedy systemic violations of the law at a national scale across an enterprise’s locations."

In addition to the back wages and penalties, the consent judgment forbids the employers from violating the FLSA in the future and requires them to retain a qualified independent consultant to make certain the employers’ payroll and record-keeping practices comply with the FLSA.
View the consent judgment and order.

The back wages and liquidated damages are due to certain current and former employees of Plaza Azteca restaurants regardless of their immigration status, officials said.