PEWAUKEE — An investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor alleges that the operator of four Wisconsin restaurants violated several federal regulations.
According to the report, Casa Tequila LLC of Pewaukee and owner Maria Campuzano operated an invalid tip pool at its Pewaukee restaurant, failed to pay the proper overtime rate of pay when required and miscalculated overtime wages due to some employees.
The report goes on to state Casa Tequila violated the Fair Labor Standards Act’s minimum wage, recordkeeping and child labor provisions when it:
- Operated an invalid tip pool at the Pewaukee location by including kitchen staff and cooks, which are not tipped occupations. By doing so, the employer lost its ability to claim credit for tips toward its minimum wage and overtime obligations for tipped employees, such as servers.
- Based the overtime rate paid to tipped employees on their cash wage rather than minimum wage, which led to overtime violations.
- Failed to include all of the compensation Pewaukee cooks’ earned in their average hourly rate of pay for overtime purposes. Since the employer illegally included cooks in the tip pool, the tips they received must be included in their regular rates of pay to determine their required overtime wages.
- Paid straight-time rates instead of time and one-half for hours over 40 in a workweek at all locations.
- Employed three children between the ages of 14 and 15 past 9 p.m. and for more than 8 hours at its West Bend and Waukesha locations in violation of federal child labor standards.
- Failed to display Fair Labor Standards Act posters as required.
In addition to Pewaukee, the investigation covered the employer’s restaurants in Hartford, Waukesha and West Bend. The division found Casa Tequila owes the affected employees a total of $272,177 in back wages.
WTMJ has reached out to Casa Tequila LLC for comment.
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