Florida Restaurant Owner Ordered To Pay More Than $100K In Back Wages

West Palm Beach, FL (WorkersCompensation.com)- The U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division (WHD) announced that West Palm Beach restaurant chain Hurricane Wings Management LLC will pay back wages to 160 employees for minimum wage and overtime violations at two of its locations; specifically, $115,966 in back pay to employees that got stiffed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

An investigation by WHD determined that Hurricane Wings Management LLC and another location operating as Hurricane Grill & Wings of Winter Haven, Fla., failed to pay their workers any wages after they temporarily closed the establishments due to the coronavirus.

In a press release, Wage and Hour Division District Director Tony Pham, in Miami, stated, "Employers must pay their employees all of the wages they have earned for all of the hours they have worked, no later than their regularly scheduled payday. The U.S. Department of Labor is committed to educating employers and improving compliance with federal wage laws to protect American workers and to level the playing field for law-abiding employers. We encourage employers to reach out to us with questions and to use the wide variety of tools we offer to ensure they clearly understand their responsibilities."

This isn't the first time the company has found itself in trouble.  Last year, the Labor Department ordered the current owner of Hurricane Alley in Carolina Beach, David Cole, and the former owner of The Dive, John Metz, to pay back over $40,000 in wages to 30 of their employers.  In the DOL's investigation, officials said that tipped employees were not paid any wages and were reimbursed according to the federal minimum wage at $7.25.

The investigation also uncovered that Cole's employees had been improperly classified as independent contractors and not regular employers.  This created overtime when employees had worked over 40 hours a week had been paid in straight time, and not the mandatory time-and-a-half.

In a DOL press release pertaining to this violation, Wage and Hour Division district director Richard Blaylock noted, "Employers are obligated to pay employees the wages they have legally earned. Our enforcement ensures employers that violate the law do not gain an unfair competitive advantage over those that comply."

In a media release, the Dive's new owners said these violations did not occur once they took over.

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