El Paso Mexican Grill must pay $654,000 in back wages

MANDEVILLE, La. – A chain of Mexican restaurants has been ordered to pay $654,000 in back wages to employees in Louisiana and Florida.

The U.S. Department of Labor said in a news release Monday that 567 employees from 23 El Paso Mexican Grill restaurants will receive the pay to resolve violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune reports that an investigation found El Paso violated minimum wage requirements. The restaurant deducted costs for uniforms from workers’ pay and failed to pay them for all of the hours they worked. El Paso also paid some kitchen workers flat salaries without regard to the number of hours they worked, denying them overtime when they worked more than 40 hours in a week.