While the following story didn’t occur here in the Bay Area, it is not the location that is important about this story. The wage and hour case brought by the Department of Labor, however, most certainly is.

According to the claim made by the Department of Labor a restaurant chain consistently failed to pay workers the minimum wage from 2012 to 2014. According to the claim, 17 workers were not paid the federally-mandated minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. In addition to this breach, the chain of restaurants also apparently didn’t pay their workers appropriately for working more than 40 hours in a week. The lawsuit is seeking more than $60,000 in total back pay and damages for the 17 affected workers.

There will surely be more to come on this story, but the basic premise is, sadly, far too common. Many companies have been held accountable in the past for failing to pay their workers the appropriate amount for the time they have worked. It is a negligent and unfortunately common violation. Sometimes, the company may not even know it’s going on. A technical glitch could account for someone not being paid the right amount. But there are also cases where the company is well aware of what it is doing.

Workers shouldn’t have to suffer like this. When someone puts in a good, honest day at work and they aren’t paid the right amount for it, it affects their desire to work harder — let alone their ability to pay for basic things such as living costs. No company can, and no company should, get away with despicable practices such as this.

Source: WFMJ, “Salsitas restaurant sued for wage and overtime violations,” March 15, 2016