Texas BBQ chain owed employees nearly $900,000

Authored by kiro7.com and submitted by suppersready90
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ROANOKE, Texas — A North Texas barbecue restaurant withheld roughly $867,000 in tips and overtime pay from more than 900 employees, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

An investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour division determined that Roanoke, Texas-based Hard Eight BBQ failed to properly compensate its employees who were earning tips. The inquiry also determined that hourly managers were not being paid appropriate overtime wages, which is typically a time-and-a-half rate, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported.

According to WFAA, a total of $867,572 was withheld from 910 employees, but Hard Eight squared the discrepancies in full by August 2021.

The Fair Labor Standards Act prohibits an employer – or their managers or supervisors – from keeping tips the business’ workers receive for any purposes, “regardless of whether or not the employer claims a tip credit,” the TV station reported.

Meanwhile, Dallas Wage and Hour District Director Jesus A. Valdez confirmed to WFAA that Roanoke Hard Eight broke the law by including managers in its tip pool.

“By doing so, the employer denied tipped workers some of their tips and managers proper overtime wages,” Valdez said. “As businesses struggle to find people to do the work needed to keep operating, employers would be wise to avoid violations or risk finding it even more difficult to retain and recruit workers who can choose to seek jobs where they will receive all of their rightful wages.”

The restaurant’s executive director, Katie Gooch, said in a statement emailed to the Star-Telegram that Hard Eight BBQ corrected the problem in August 2021, noting the tweaks were made after management learned of a 2019 change to labor laws.

“At that time, our floor managers, who are deeply involved in the hands-on guest experience, were included in our tip sharing program,” Gooch stated in the emailed statement.

“We learned about the new rules during a Department of Labor review and IMMEDIATELY changed our practices. We compensated ALL affected hourly employees and former employees. We also gave our floor managers a wage increase.”

The restaurant also posted a video message on Facebook addressing the situation, the Star-Telegram reported.

The Department of Labor confirmed that Hard Eight BBQ is in 100% compliance after paying the back wages and tips to their employees, WFAA reported.

Ssider69 on April 24th, 2022 at 21:50 UTC »

No, seriously, they just "didn't understand the rules." How the hell do you have 900 employees and NOT understand the laws regarding compensation?

Munenmushin on April 24th, 2022 at 21:11 UTC »

They "just learned about the rules"? Bullshit. Time to stop giving these fucking theives the benefit of the doubt. And time to start hitting them as hard for grand theft.

AudibleNod on April 24th, 2022 at 21:08 UTC »

It's Hard Eight.

Big BBQ restaurants around Texas.