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VIENNA -- A local restaurant is one of three ordered to pay a combined $1.45 million in back wages and damages to workers paid off the books and denied overtime rates.
Fusion Japanese Steakhouse Inc. in Vienna was included in the consent judgment issued by a federal court following litigation by the U.S. Department of Labor Office of the Solicitor, along with Z&S International Cuisine Inc., operating as Fusion Japanese Steakhouse of Wheeling and Fusion Japanese Steakhouse Inc. in Washington, Pa., and owners Yuan Zheng Xiao and Christine Xiao. According to a release from the Labor Department, investigators found the restaurants paid back-of-the-house employees off-the-books salaries for all hours worked and denied them overtime pay for hours worked over 40 in a workweek.
The judgment was entered last week in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. The restaurants and owners were ordered to pay $1.45 million, comprised of $725,000 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages, to 116 current and former workers.
The department also assessed the restaurants and their owners $76,724 in civil penalties for the willful nature of their violations. The employers’ pay practices and failure to maintain records of hours worked violated the Fair Labor Standards Act.
On three prior occasions following investigations in 2012, 2011 and 2010, the restaurants and owner Yuan Zheng Xiao have paid back wages to workers after violations of minimum wage, overtime and recordkeeping provisions were discovered, the release said.
Read more in Thursday’s edition of The Parkersburg News and Sentinel.