Arizona Restaurant to Fork Over $115,000 in Back Wages

Yet another restaurant has been stealing from its employees: According to the Phoenix Business Journal, Uncle Bear's Grill & Bar, a local chain, will reimburse employees over $115,000 in overtime pay. An investigation into the restaurant by the Department of Labor found that the restaurant failed to properly compensate 54 of its employees.

Numerous employees worked as many as 60 hours per week, well over the typical 40 hour work week. While the company's payroll system properly calculated wages for some employees, the owners apparently ignored the calculations when it came to paying the cooks. Instead, cooks were given "pay stubs without any indication of hours worked" which made it tough for employees to determine how much they were paid. Some employees were shorted as much as $300 per month. Because of this shady move, Uncle Bear's must also pay just under $15,000 in fines.

Uncle Bear's Grill & Bar is far from the first restaurant to short their employees. A growing number of restaurants are finally being forced to pay employees huge sums in back wages. Last month, a non-profit legal aid group announced a settlement with a group of restaurants in Los Angeles that owed over $220,000 in back wages to 60 workers. Another restaurant in Los Angeles owed 13 of its workers $200,000 in unpaid wage claims. Also last month, two Aspen, Colo, restaurateurs were forced to pay over $119,000 in back wages to 100 past and present employees.