Employers Cannot Retaliate for Wage and Hour Investigation

A federal judge has ordered that Sweet Lemon Inc., which does business as Sweet Lemons Thai Restaurant, pay unpaid overtime and liquidated damages to 13 of its employees because it illegally denied employees of overtime wages and tips to which the employees were entitled.  The Department of Labor found these violations after it investigated the company.  The Department of Labor also found that the company retaliated against employees after the DOL’s investigation started by interrogating them about whether they had talked to DOL investigators.  This alleged conduct is a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act, which requires employers to pay overtime non-exempt employees time-and-a-half overtime wages for their hours worked over 40 in a workweek and prohibits discrimination for complaints about unpaid overtime or cooperation in a Department of Labor investigation.  See Walsh v. Sweet Lemon Inc., et al., No. 20-12217-RGS.