Operators of three Asian-style buffet restaurants in Lake Worth, Pembroke Pines and Plantation, Fla., have agreed to pay back wages of $233,234 to 55 current and former low-wage employees following an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division.

Payments include $97,231 to12 employees at New China Buffet (Lake Worth), $58,849 to 18 employees of Kamado’s Japanese Seafood Buffet (Pembroke Pines) and $77,154 to 25 employees of Dragon Gourmet Buffet (Plantation).

Investigators found that the restaurants violated minimum wage, overtime, and record keeping provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The employees waited on customers, cleared tables, cooked, washed dishes and performed other tasks at the establishments.

“The Labor Department is dedicated to enforcing federal minimum wage and overtime laws to protect employees in this labor-intensive industry,” said Will Garnitz, director of the Wage and Hour Division’s district office in Miami.

The FLSA requires that covered employees be paid at least the federal minimum wage for all hours worked, and time and one-half their regular rates of pay for hours worked over 40 per week. Employers must also maintain accurate time and payroll records.

The federal minimum wage for covered, nonexempt employees is $6.55 per hour. Effective July 24, 2009, the minimum wage will increase to $7.25 per hour.

The Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division concluded 30,467 compliance actions and recovered a record $220 million in back wages for more than 341,000 employees in fiscal year 2007. Back-wage collections in fiscal year 2007 represent a 67 percent increase over back wages collected in fiscal 2001. The number of workers receiving back wages has increased by 58 percent since fiscal year 2001.

For more information about the FLSA, call the department’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243), visit the Internet at www.wagehour.dol.gov or contact the Wage and Hour Division office in Miami, Sunset Center, 10300 Sunset Drive, Room 255; phone: 305-596-9874.

 Press Release From U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division Release Number: 08-1826-ATL (002)