Labor Department Finds Wakefield Restaurant Workers Owed Back Pay

WAKEFIELD, MA — An area restaurant owner is on the hook for $165,000 in back pay after a U.S. Department of Labor investigation found he intentionally failed to pay overtime wages to 75 employees.

The department's Wage and Hour Division determined that, from January 2017 to August 2020, Wan Feng Ye and his restaurants, Feng's Asian Cuisine in Wakefield and Oye's Chinese Restaurant in Reading and Saugus, paid employees less than the required overtime rate when they worked more than 40 hours a week.

Further, the restaurants failed to accurately record all hours worked, and all payments made to employees, and did not maintain contact information for all workers, according to the findings.

"Unfortunately, the Wage and Hour Division finds violations like these are all-too-common in the restaurant industry," Carlos Matos, Boston division director, said in a statement. "This investigation illustrates how employers who violate the law face costly consequences. This case has recovered the wages these workers should have been paid and held the employers accountable for their failures to comply with the law."

A federal court entered a consent judgment, recovering $165,044 for the employees, and ordered Ye and his three restaurants to pay a civil penalty of $77,750.

The consent judgment also enjoins Ye and his restaurants from future federal minimum wage, overtime and record-keeping violations, failing to cooperate with U.S. Department of Labor investigations, and retaliating or taking adverse action against employees because they exercise their rights under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

"This case has recovered hard-earned wages for 75 essential workers who were denied their rightful pay by their employers," Maia Fisher, regional Solicitor of Labor in Boston, said. "The U.S. Department of Labor is committed to ensuring workers are properly paid and will pursue all appropriate legal actions when employers fail to do so."