Wichita Golden Corral employees say they weren’t paid minimum wage for two years
At least 21 employees at an east-side Golden Corral restaurant say they weren’t paid the minimum wage or overtime pay for nearly two years, according to a federal complaint.
The complaint, filed by the U.S. Department of Labor, alleges the Golden Corral franchise owner violated sections of the Fair Labor Standards Act. It seeks to recover unpaid wages and damages totaling $48,877.69.
The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 established the right to a minimum wage and “time-and-a-half” overtime pay when people work more than 40 hours per week, among other things. The federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour. 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 wages are owed to employees for a period from September 2017 to September 2019, according to the complaint.
The complaint also alleges that Guillermo Perales, whom state business filings list as the franchise owner of the Golden Corral at 11006 E. Kellogg, failed to accurately record the total working hours for each day and week worked by employees, a type of record-keeping also required by the FLSA.
Shelley Wolford, senior vice president for strategy and communications with Golden Corral, said in an email that “It is our policy not to engage in interviews about pending litigation.”
Perales did not respond to emailed questions.
Perales is a Dallas-based longtime franchise owner of more than 800 locations of various brands, according to his online profile with Sun Holdings, a franchisee company he founded. He employs nearly 17,000 people across the country, his biography says.
If you’re an employee at Golden Corral or elsewhere in Wichita who has experienced wage theft and would like to talk, you can reach reporter Megan Stringer at mstringer@wichitaeagle.com or 316-347-7442.
This story was originally published June 4, 2020 at 2:16 PM.
