3 Amigos Fresh Mexican Grill Restaurants Fined $104K For Labor Violations

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A small Southern California restaurant chain will pay 33 of its workers a total of nearly $104,000 in back pay and damages following a federal investigation.

The two-year probe by the U.S. Department of Labor found 3 Amigos Fresh Mexican Grill restaurants did not pay employees the required time-and-a-half rate for overtime work.

Officials said this week that the violations occurred at locations in Thousand Oaks, Woodland Hills and Newbury Park. Leonardo Rodriguez, who owns the chain, agreed to the payments.

The labor department says hourly employees, including cooks, assistant managers and kitchen managers, were paid only their straight time rates, regardless of how many hours they worked. That was a violation of the overtime requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act.