Popular Kapolei sushi restaurant ordered to pay $91K for keeping workers’ tips
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - A popular sushi restaurant in Kapolei has been ordered to pay back more than $91,000 in unpaid wages and liquidated damages after managers pocketed employees’ tips illegally, the U.S. Department of Labor said Thursday.
The department’s Wage and Hour Division found that Lance Yamamoto, owner of Sushi Bay, withheld the full amount of tips from 35 workers.
Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, a restaurant employer can’t keep tips received by its workers for any purposes.
“Tips earned for service are the property of the people who earned them,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Terence Trotter in Honolulu. “Employers who withhold or allow managers to pocket tips that rightfully belong to those who received them for their hard work are breaking the law and will be held accountable.”
The division also assessed Sushi Bay $3,842 in civil money penalties.
In 2017, the division recovered $22,146 after it found Sushi Bay failed to pay employees overtime.
The restaurant, known for serving sushi via a conveyor belt, opened in 2013.
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Source: Hawaii News Now
