US Department of Labor recovers $475K for 32 employees denied overtime wages by owner of Juan’s Flaming Fajitas & Cantina restaurants in Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS - The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $475,385 in back wages and liquidated damages from the owner of three Juan's Flaming Fajitas & Cantina restaurants in Las Vegas and Henderson who did not combine hours worked by 32 employees at more than one location and improperly withheld overtime wages earned by employees.

The department's Wage and Hour Division determined that the restaurant's owner, Juan Vazquez,failed to paythe affected workers overtime for hours over 40 in a workweek and wrongly exempted two others from overtime eligibility, both violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act. After the investigation, the employer agreed to correct its recordkeeping practices, including total hours worked at multiple locations to ensure proper calculation of overtime.

In addition to the division's recovery of $237,692 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages for the workers, the department assessed $12,050 in civil money penalties for the willful nature of the violations.

"Our investigators found Juan's Flaming Fajitas & Cantina deliberately withheld overtime pay earned by dozens of hard-working employees," explained Wage and Hour Division District Director Gene Ramos in Las Vegas. "This case's outcome highlights the importance of protecting workers' rights, including their right to be paid fairly and fully, and reflects the types of violations we find far too often in food service industry investigations."

Juan's Flaming Fajitas & Cantina operates two Las Vegas locations and one in Henderson.

In fiscal year 2023, the division recovered more than $29.6 million in back wages for nearly 26,000 workers in the food service industry.

For more information about the Fair Labor Standards Actand other laws enforced by the division, contact the agency's toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Workers and employers can call the division confidentially with questions, regardless of where they are from, and the division can speak with callers in more than 200 languages.

Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, including a search tool to use if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the division. Download the agency's Timesheet Appfor iOS and Android devices - free and available in English and Spanish - to track hours and pay.

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