Kansas City restaurants sued for underpaying employees

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — The Department of Labor sues two Kansas restaurants and their owner on behalf of dozens of employees.

The lawsuit accused El Toro Loco Legends LLC in Kansas City, and El Toro Loco Lexena LLC in Lenexa, and general manager Eugenio Yanez and location manager Yareli Perez of underpaying employees.

Federal investigators say the kitchen staff, servers, hosts, and food runners at the restaurants allegedly worked up to 66 hours a week without getting overtime pay.

The investigators determined the employees paid other servers $2.30 an hour. They also either didn’t pay overtime, or paid far less than they were legally owed, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

By law, employers must pay tipped workers time-and-one-half the minimum wage minus the tip credit.

The Department of Labor already ordered the restaurants pay $771,794 in back overtime pay to 75 employees. The department said the businesses refused to resolve the wage violations.

“Overtime violations in the restaurant industry are far too common, particularly among vulnerable employees who don’t understand their rights to overtime compensation under federal law,” Reed Trone, Wage and Hour District Director, said.