In Davie, Florida, a restaurant was fined an amount of more than $314,500 for getting employee wages and tips. Pho 79, the reported Vietnamese restaurant is a chain restaurant that has over six locations across the city.
The Vietnamese Restaurant's Stealing Fiasco
According to the report of the U.S. Department of Labor last Friday, Vietnamese chain restaurant's employees have reported the management for illegally diverting federal overtime pay and tips for over 65 employees.
A report revealed that according to computations, the pho restaurant would have to pay about $4,800 per employee.
Additionally, the Labor Department also said that Pho 79 had a huge amount of other violations, one of them is forcing their employees to work unlimited hours, without keeping a record of their actual catered working hours. They did not even keep a record of the employee's contact information. Tips were also not handed to the frontline employees, which is a violation of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, or FLSA.
With the restaurant violating several rules, Tony Pham, Wage and Hour's division district director in Miami, explained how employers are not supposed to take tips that are intended for employees.
"Employers may not keep tips received by employees," he said. "The Wage and Hour Division will continue working to ensure that workers receive all the wages they have legally earned and that employers compete on a level playing field."
Businesses in Florida
With the pandemic still going around not only in America but all over the whole world, Florida officials are still having conversations about their next steps in controlling the spread of coronavirus.
With the increasing number of cases in the state, especially in Brevard County, municipal and county officials are considering setting some mandatory guidelines to the public. The guidelines are said to be made for flattening the COVID-19 curve in different regions in Florida. One of those mandatory guidelines is the wearing of masks.
Last Friday, Bryan Lober, who is the County Commission Chair of Brevard, officially announced that he would be proposing an idea where individuals are required to wear face masks or any face coverings to workers, employees, business owners, and everyone else that is in the business industry.
However, the usage of masks is only for protection and prevention of catching the virus. The masks can be taken off when they are eating or exercising. This mandatory rule will be on until the local officials declare an end of this pandemic emergency, or if the County Commission calls the situation as modified.
Along with the proposal, Lober also pointed out concerns regarding the possible shortage of hospital personnel and front liners because of the increasing number of COVID-19 victims.
Brevard is not the only county that will possibly mandate people to wear protective masks, but as well as other country commissioners and officials in neighboring regions.
City and county officials are also expected to walk the mandatory first for the public to follow. By wearing masks, they will be able to encourage other citizens to wear masks as well.
