Two La Nopalera restaurants in Jacksonville, Fla., must pay 30 employees $934,425 in back wages and liquidated damages based on the requirement of consent judgments, says the U.S. Department of Labor.

"All workers deserve to be paid fairly, and the Labor Department will hold accountable employers that take advantage of their employees," says Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis. "We want workers to know we will defend their rights under the law to compensation for all hours worked, and we want companies that play by the rules to know we will take action against those that use illegal tactics to gain a competitive advantage."

According to investigators, kitchen employees were wrongly classified as exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act's overtime pay specifications and did not offer compensation for over 40 hours of work in a week.  Each week tipped employees received their tips as well as paycheck that combined to equal minimum wage, but management told employees they had to sign and return the paychecks. Management would then cash the checks and deposit the money back into the restaurants, which means employees were only paid in tips.