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OREM — A Utah restaurant has been ordered by the U.S. Department of Labor to pay $167,000 in back wages and damages to 56 employees who were denied overtime, the department announced Tuesday.
The Labor Department said the Orem, Provo and food truck locations of Jurassic Street Tacos paid employees straight time for all hours worked, even when employees exceeded working 40 hours in a week, violating the Fair Labor Standards Act.
The restaurant started in Utah County in 2016 and grew from a food truck to having six brick-and-mortar locations spread throughout the Salt Lake Valley, according to the company's website.
Jurassic Street Tacos didn't respond to requests for comment from KSL.com.
Along with failing to pay overtime, the department said Jurassic Street Tacos failed to "maintain accurate time records as the law requires."
"Jurassic Street Tacos denied its workers their rightful wages by not paying them the overtime premium as required by federal law. Unfortunately, this type of violation is common in the food service industry and deprives too many hard-working people of their full pay," Kevin Hunt, Wage and Hour Division district director in Salt Lake City, said in a statement.
In total, the department recovered $83,539 in back wages and $83,539 in liquidated damages to be paid to the 56 employees.
"We encourage employers to contact us to make sure they understand the laws governing pay practices so they can avoid the costly consequences of not complying with the law," Hunt said.
