“Restaurant industry employees work hard, often for low wages, and many depend on every dollar earned to make ends meet,” Jackson’s Wage and Hour Division director, Audrey Hall, said in a statement. “The law prevents Boss Wing Enterprises LLC from shifting operating costs to workers … or to allow a worker’s pay to fall below the minimum wage rate.”
The operators of the locations are also accused of record-keeping violations, with the DOLWHD saying they failed to maintain a record of employee hours worked and wage deductions. The investigation also discovered Boss Wings allowed a 15-year-old employee to work past 10 p.m. on multiple occasions. The DOL says it recovered $51,674 in wages owed to 244 workers and fined the franchise company $62,753 in civil penalties.