Crepevine to pay over $500,000 to settle labor violations

The owner of the Crepevine restaurants, including one in Palo Alto, will have to fork over more than $500,000 to settle violations involving unpaid overtime and other workplace rules involving 114 workers, the U.S. Department of Labor announced today.

Among the violations was that the restaurants allowed 14- and 15-year-old employees to work past 7 p.m.

The Department’s Wage and Hour Division found Suleiman Fakhouri & Sons, the operator of Crepevine, did not pay employees overtime properly at its locations in Berkeley, Burlingame, Oakland, Palo Alto and San Jose. The division also learned the employer assigned minors to work later and longer than federal child labor laws permit.

The investigation determined the employees were wrongfully denied of $234,636 in back wages. The investigation also determined that those employees were owed another $234,636 in “liquidated damages” because of the problems caused when they weren’t fully paid. For instance, an employee might have been unable to pay a bill or pay the rent on time because they were wrongfully denied overtime.

In addition, the Wage and Hour Division assessed $82,706 in civil money penalties for the “willful nature of the employer’s violations.”

A call to Crepevine for comment hasn’t been returned.

However, a spokesman for the Department of Labor, Michael Petersen, said today’s announcement was the result of an administrative settlement with the owners.

Investigators determined Suleiman Fakhouri & Sons violated overtime and child labor provisions in the Fair Labor Standards Act. Specifically, the division cited Crepevine for the following violations:

• • Failing to combine hours employees worked at more than one location.
• • Paying overtime hours worked in cash at straight-time rates, when time and one-half is required.
• • Failing to keep records of cash payments for overtime in its payroll records.
• • Allowing 14- and 15-year-old employees to work past 7 p.m., more than 3 hours on school nights and more than 18 hours on school weeks.
• • Not keeping records for several employees and not registering their hours worked and wages due.

Crepevine has nine restaurants in the Bay Area, including Burlingame and Palo Alto. Its restaurants in Mountain View and San Francisco were not part of this case.