US Department of Labor recovers $227K in wages, tips from Grand Prairie Happy Lamb Hot Pot franchisee who denied 47 workers full wages

DALLAS – The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $227,834 in back wages from the owner and operator of a Happy Lamb Hot Pot franchise in Grand Prairie that denied 47 restaurant workers required minimum and overtime wages and illegally allowed a manager to keep a portion of servers’ tips.

The recovery follows an investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division of Xfy Time Square LLC that found the employer violated federal regulations when it did the following:

Paid the affected workers for scheduled hours but did not calculate actual hours worked, which led to overtime and, in some cases, minimum wage violations.
Incorrectly paid the restaurant’s cooks straight-time rates for overtime hours worked.
Allowed the general manager to include himself in the front-of-house workers’ tip pool illegally.

“Far too often, our investigators find restaurant industry workers falling victim to wage theft,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Jesus A. Valdez in Dallas. “Employers must pay workers all of their rightful wages, including overtime when required and tips earned for serving customers. The outcome in this case should remind all employers that wage violations can have very costly consequences.”

The Happy Lamb Hot Pot investigation in Grand Prairie is part of the division’s ongoing enforcement initiative to identify wage violations in the restaurant industry and recover back wages. The division will also recover damages and assess civil money penalties if warranted.

In fiscal year 2023, the division recovered more than $29.6 million in back wages for nearly 26,000 food service workers and assessed more than $6.1 million in penalties.

Xfy Time Square LLC owns and operates the Happy Lamb Hot Pot location in Grand Prairie under license with Happy Lamb Investment International Ltd., based in Inner Mongolia, China. The company licenses the Happy Lamb Hot Pot brand to independent owners and operators of more than 100 locations in the U.S. in California, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Washington and in 11 countries.

For more information about the Fair Labor Standards Act and other laws enforced by the division, contact the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, including a search tool to use if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the division.

Download the agency’s new Timesheet App, which is available in English and Spanish for Android and Apple devices, to ensure hours and pay are accurate.

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