Jacksonville Mexican restaurant forced servers to work for tips only, investigators say

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The U.S. Department of Labor says a Jacksonville Mexican restaurant failed to properly pay its employees.

E & E Quezada Food Service Corp, operator of Rosy’s Mexican Restaurant, “forced servers to work for tips alone, denied overtime wages to others and failed to keep accurate records of the hours employees worked,” according to a release from the DOL.

The DOL’s Wage and Hour Division found $118,042 in back wages and liquidated damages due to 10 employees at Rosy’s Mexican Restaurant.

“The Division also found Rosy’s failed to pay overtime at a rate of one and one-half the rate of pay to dishwashers, cooks, and certain servers for hours worked over 40 in a workweek,” the release stated.

Rosy’s Mexican Restaurant on Oldfield Crossing Road, which is near Interstate 295 and Old St. Augustine Road in Mandarin, also failed to maintain accurate payroll and document hours worked, investigators found.

During the investigation, the Division also found a 15-year-old working after the hours of 7 p.m. and earning only tips from customers.

“By denying servers a cash wage and forcing them to live on tips alone and denying other workers their overtime pay, Rosy’s Mexican Restaurant made it harder for these employees, who depend on every dollar, to take care of themselves and their families,” Wage and Hour Division District Office Director Wildalí De Jesús said in the news release.

The Wage and Hour Division provides tools to help employers adhere to their responsibilities to their employees.

For more information about laws enforced by the division, contact the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243) or WHD | U.S. Department of Labor (dol.gov)

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