Bloomington company pays $50K in back wages, damages for dishwashers, cooks at Indiana Cantina

SPENCER, Ind. (WISH) — Toremac LLC, a Bloomington company with multiple Mexican restaurant locations in Indiana, failed to pay overtime to non-exempt employees and must pay $50K in wages and damages, the U.S. Department of Labor announced.

An investigation by the U.S. Departmet of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found willful violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act’s overtime and record keeping provisions by Toremac LLC that operates the full-service Mexican cuisine restaruant Papi Chulo’s Cantina and five other locations under the names El Ranchero an La Una in Bloomington and Spencer, according to a news release.

Investigators say the company paid back-of-house, non-exempt employees such as dishwashers and cooks a salary for all hours worked and did not pay for overtime for hours over 40 in workweek.

The employer also failed to record work hours for these employees.

Per the release, the company confirmed it used the same pay practice at the El Racnhero location in Bloomington and Spencer along with the La Una location in Bloomington.

The company was orderd to pay $50,566, which represents $25,283 in back wages and an egail amount in liquidated damages to 30 employees.

The Wage and Hour Division also assessed $35,610 in civil money penalties for willfull violations of the FLSA, which the company has since paid.

“This restaurant’s practice of paying a set salary to cooks and dishwashers, regardless of hours worked, is a willful violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act, which requires most workers to be paid overtime for all hours worked over 40 in a work week,” said Wage and Hour District Director Aaron Loomis, in Indianapolis, in a release. “Restoring these wages puts money back in the pockets of vulnerable workers, who may not know their rights under federal wage laws.”