OKLAHOMA CITY – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a consent judgment and injunction to recover $66,000 in back wages and liquidated damages for 13 restaurant workers whose Oklahoma City employer kept employee tips and failed to pay overtime in violation of federal labor regulations.
Entered by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma, the Oct. 23, 2024, judgment against Zachary Edge, owner and operator of Edge Craft LLC, follows an investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division that determined the employer violated the Fair Labor Standards Act by doing the following:
- Paying straight time wages for all hours over 40 in a workweek rather than overtime as required.
- Incorrectly applying the tipped employee designation.
- Failing to keep required wage records.
- Using an inappropriate exemption for a manager, leading to overtime violations.
“Tips are solely the property of workers who earned them. An employer that takes a tip credit against its minimum wage obligations is not allowed to keep any portion of employees’ tips or share them with non-tipped workers,” explained Wage and Hour Division District Director Michael Speer in Oklahoma City. “The Wage and Hour Division is determined to ensure workers receive all of their hard-earned wages and stands ready to assist employers in understanding their responsibilities under the law.”