Central Pa. workers get a $750,000 payday from Arooga’s after back pay settlement

Arooga’s Grille House has paid more than $750,000 in back wages after not paying servers, cooks and assistant kitchen managers minimum wages and overtime over a 30-month period, the U.S Department of Labor said.

“Employees depend on receiving the wages they have rightfully earned,” said Alfonso Gristina, director of the wage and hour division of the Wilkes-Barre district office. “We encourage all employers to make use of the many tools we provide to help them understand and comply with the law, and to call us for assistance.”

In a settlement, the company agreed to pay the workers, who came from stores in York, Camp Hill, Lower Paxton, Mechanicsburg, Hanover and Harrisburg. 

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Investigators found Arooga’s violated the Fair Labor Standards act when it failed to pay:

• Tipped employees the federal minimum wage when deductions for cash drawer shortages, walk-outs and order mistakes reduced wages to below $7.25 per hour
• Employees for all of the hours they worked, resulting in overtime violations for servers who worked an estimated 65-70 hours per week
• Cooks overtime when they worked an estimated 65 hours per week
• Assistant kitchen managers overtime after erroneously categorizing them as exempt from overtime.

“We will vigorously enforce the law to level the playing field for companies that play by the rules and to safeguard employees’ hard-earned wages,” Oscar L. Hampton III, regional solicitor, said.

Arooga's co-founder Gary Huether, Jr. told PennLive that the investigation took place from 2010 to 2013, and that "everyone has been paid. It's nothing new."

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The Fair Labor Standards act requires employers to pay no less than $2.13 an hour in direct wages, as long as that amount plus tips equals the federal minimum wage of $7.25. Employers are also expected to be paid time-and-a-half for hours worked beyond 40 per week.

Anthony J. Machcinski is the food reporter for the York Daily Record. Follow him on Facebook, @ChinskiTweets on Twitter or email him at amachcinski@ydr.com.