MILWAUKEE — Employees at four Milwaukee-area chicken restaurants will receive over $442,000 back wages and damages for wage violations dating back to 2021.
The U.S. Department of Labor obtained a judgment against Chicken Palace LLC and owner Valdemar Escobar for violating federal wage regulations including “[p]aying employees straight-time pay rates for overtime hours over 40 in a workweek” and “[f]ailing to pay employees the required minimum wage” between March 7, 2021 and March 8, 2023. Escobar owned two Chicken Palace restaurants in Milwaukee as well as locations in Kenosha and Waukesha.
An investigation by the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division also found that Escobar did not “maintain complete and accurate time records”. The federal court has ordered the restaurant owner to pay “$221,070 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages to the affected workers, and a civil money penalty of $10,000 to the department for their willful Fair Labor Standards Act violations”, for a total of $442,140…