In this case, the owner of three restaurants in Hawaii, Sujin Tomita, was found to be in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Tomita denied his workers’ overtime and minimum wages and discarded time records. An investigation by the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division was conducted.
It was revealed that Tomita and her restaurants knowingly paid workers less than the minimum wage and failed to provide overtime pay for hours worked beyond 40 hours in a workweek. Additionally, the employer discarded time records every month. Many of the affected employees worked an average of 46 hours per week. The investigation also found that one of the restaurants, Sura Hawaii I, paid servers and other workers a flat salary without ensuring that it met the required minimum wage.
The U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii affirmed the findings of a U.S. Department of Labor investigation and ordered Tomita and her restaurants to pay $210,000 in back wages and liquidated damages to 71 workers, along with $10,000 in civil money penalties for willful violations of the law.
The court’s ruling highlighted that paying a flat salary for all hours worked does not exempt an employer from their legal obligation to provide overtime wages to staff.
Key lessons from this case:
- Paying a flat salary for all hours worked does not exempt an employer from this requirement.
- Discarding or tampering with time records is a violation of labor laws and can hinder investigations into wage and hour violations.
- Employers who knowingly disregard their legal obligations may face not only back wages and damages but also civil money penalties.
If you want to know more about overtime regulations, read our guide on Hawaii Overtime Laws.
