Federal suit says employees at Old Town restaurant weren’t paid minimum wage, overtime
Dozens of restaurant workers at Fredo’s Wine and Tapas in Old Town weren’t paid the minimum wage or overtime pay for more than a year, the U.S. Department of Labor alleges in a new federal lawsuit filed against the business on Friday.
The complaint lists 27 current and former employees affected by the alleged wage violations between July 2018 and October 2019. Fredo’s opened in summer 2018. The DOL does not yet know what dollar amount is owed to the workers.
The complaint accuses Fredo’s owner Alfred Abdelmaseh of violating portions of the Fair Labor Standards Act, which established the right to a minimum wage and “time-and-a-half” overtime pay when employees work more than 40 hours per week, among other things. The U.S. labor department seeks to recover the unpaid wages and damages, including interest payment, for the workers.
The lawsuit names Abrams Group, doing business as Fredo’s, and Abdelmaseh as defendants. Abdelmaseh owns Abrams Group, according to Kansas state business records.
Abdelmaseh, reached by phone Tuesday afternoon, said he had not heard about the lawsuit. He said he would call his attorney and they would move forward from there.
“Nothing like that has ever happened here at Fredo’s,” Abdelmaseh said of the wage violations.
The federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour. The restaurant owner “willfully violated” federal law by failing to pay certain employees at least $7.25 an hour, according to the lawsuit. In addition, employees who worked more than 40 hours per week were not paid time-and-a-half overtime wages, the department alleges.
A tipped worker in Kansas can be paid a minimum wage of $2.13 an hour, but if the employee’s tips combined with that wage do not add up to $7.25 an hour, the employer must make up the difference.
The complaint also alleges Abdelmaseh didn’t keep accurate records of employees’ wages, hours and other working conditions as required by the FLSA.
This isn’t the first time Abdelmaseh has been accused of federal minimum wage and overtime violations. The U.S. Department of Labor filed a lawsuit against him in November accusing the same FLSA offenses, also under his business Abrams Group and Shesha Lounge, which is now closed, according to Google.
The November complaint listed 64 employees who claimed they had not been paid all their wages by Abdelmaseh for their work at Shesha Lounge. In April, the court ordered Abdelmaseh to pay a total of $183,876 in back wages and damages to the workers. Court records show various workers were owed anywhere from $40 to as much as $36,000.
Are you a current or former employee at Fredo’s or Shesha Lounge who has experienced wage theft and would like to talk with a reporter? You can reach reporter Megan Stringer at 316-347-7442 or mstringer@wichitaeagle.com.
This story was originally published September 15, 2020 at 4:06 PM.
