Federal jury awards more than $957K in back wages to 168 workers denied full wages by joint owners of Kansas restaurants in Andover, Derby, Wichita

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Federal jury awards more than $957K in back wages to 168 workers denied full wages by joint owners of Kansas restaurants in Andover, Derby, Wichita

US Department of Labor found Los Cocos locations violated overtime, minimum wage, tip rules

KANSAS CITY, KS - A federal jury in Kansas has awarded $957,324 in back wages for 168 workers at three Wichita-area restaurants jointly operated by three owners who willfully violated federal laws by using tips earned by servers to pay hosts and bussers and denying workers minimum and overtime wages.

The favorable verdict, rendered on Aug. 30, 2024, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas comes in response to a U.S. Department of Labor lawsuit against Los Cocos Mexican Restaurant after the department's Wage and Hour Division alleged that, from May 2017 to December 2022, owners Sergio Delgado, Luis Alfaro and Jose Alvaro de Leon violated provisions in the Fair Labor Standards Act. The investigations cover the restaurants' locations in Andover, Derby and Wichita, Kansas. The Wage and Hour Division previously found Los Cocos in violation of the FLSA in 2009.

With the five-day trial ended, the judge will now issue a payment order for the employers to pay the wages and resolve the suit, filed in January 2022. The department continues to seek recovery of an equal amount in liquidated damages for the affected workers.Once recovered, the department will disburse funds to the workers.

"A jury of their peers found the owners of these three Los Cocos restaurants willfully took wages from servers to pay co-workers who bussed tables and greeted diners and did not pay workers overtime or paid some less than the required minimum wage for their hard work," said Regional Solicitor Christine Heri in Chicago. "The Department of Labor will take all necessary actions to ensure workers receive their rightfully earned wages and will present evidence and request the court order the employers to pay employees an amount equal to their back wages in liquidated damages."

Investigators found that, in addition to misusing tips to pay hosts and bussers and failing to pay servers and cooks overtime when required, Los Cocos' owners did not maintain complete and accurate time records, as the law requires. Specifically, the jury awarded $567,291 in minimum wages for loss of the tip credit, $276,115 in overtime pay for "back of the house" employees such as cooks, $88,590 in withheld tips and $25,328 for other minimum wage violations.

In November 2023, the same court ordered the restaurants' owners to pay $16,734 back overtime wages to 43 servers after the department's motion for summary judgment. Those wages remain unpaid, making $974,057 the total restitution owed employees.

"Food service industry investigations find employers frequently operating invalid tip pools and violating federal overtime, minimum wage and recordkeeping regulations," said Wage and Hour Division District Director Reed Trone in Kansas City. "Too often, workers are unaware of their rights and afraid to ask employers about shortages in their paychecks. The wages the department is working to recover will have a tremendous benefit for workers and their families struggling to make ends meet."

Traci Martin, Jeffrey Mendoza and Elaine Smith litigated the case on behalf of the department's Office of the Solicitor.

In fiscal year 2023, the division recovered more than $29 million in back wages for nearly 26,000 food service industry workers nationwide.

The Wage and Hour Division's Handy Reference Guide to the Fair Labor Standards Actand the division's restaurant compliance toolkit explain wage laws for employers and workers.

Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, a search tool to use if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the division and how to file an online complaint. For confidential compliance assistance, employees and employers can call the agency's toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243), regardless of where they are from.

Download the agency's new Timesheet App for iOS and Android devices - available in English and Spanish - to ensure hours and pay are accurate.

U.S. Department of Labor v. Los Cocos Mexican Restaurant, et. al.

Civil Action No. 22-1004-JWB

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