Companies May Owe Overtime Even When a Staffing Agency Is Involved

 The U.S. Department of Labor recently recovered significant unpaid overtime wages from a restaurant (MTLE LLC) that had illegally denied these wages to its employees.  The DOL found that the company, which operated as Mezcal Mexican Grill, did not pay time-and-a-half overtime wages to its employees who worked over 40 hours in a workweek, instead paying them only straight time wages regardless of how many hours they worked in a workweek.  The restaurant had acquired many of these employees through a staffing agency, and the DOL found that both companies were joint employers over the employees at issue.  The use of a staffing agency does not absolve a company of its responsibility to ensure that employees are properly paid for their overtime hours.  Any company that controls and manages the work of an employee is also responsible for making sure that they are paid all wages to which they are entitled.  See: https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases/whd/whd20220204-0