An Albuquerque China Wok franchise owned by Hau Fu Chen was recently asked to pay 19 employees a total of $38,508 in back wages to recover lost overtime pay. An investigation by the Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division alleges the restaurant's kitchen staff was not receiving the time-and-a-half they were owed for their employee attendance beyond 40 hours in a single week.

The investigation also found the employer required employees to punch out on a timeclock when their scheduled shifts ended even if they had more work to do.

"The restaurant industry employs some of the most vulnerable workers in the country. In this case, employees worked up to 55 hours in a workweek without receiving overtime compensation. This is illegal and unacceptable," said the regional administrator for the Wage and Hour Division in the Southwest, Cynthia Watson.

Because restaurants employ both tipped and non-tipped employees, it can be difficult to ensure they receive the correct wages for all of their hours worked. Advanced payroll processing systems can make this easier because they can apply various wage rates to employees based on the tasks they perform each day.

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