Bay Area Crepevine Chain Slapped with Over $550k Fine for Shocking Child Labor Law Violations

Bay Area's restaurant chain Crepevine, with nine locations, has been slapped with a staggering fine of more than $550,000 for numerous child labor law violations and outstanding back wages owed, according to a jaw-dropping press release from the Department of Labor!

The astonishing report exposed Suleiman Fakhouri & Sons—operators of Crepevine since 1992—as responsible for the illegal pay practices at five locations, including Berkeley, Burlingame, Oakland, Palo Alto, and San Jose. A mind-blowing 114 workers were affected by these practices, leaving numerous employees shortchanged, as reported by the San Francisco Chronicle.

The federal investigation, which scrutinized the chain's payroll from January 1, 2019 to December 15, 2021, uncovered not only improperly paid overtime but also flagrant breaches of federal child labor laws. The shocking outcome: a jaw-dropping total of $236,636 in back wages, the same amount in liquidated damages, and a further $82,706 in fines levied against the chain, according to the Mercury News.

Among the most scandalous violations discovered were employees being paid cash overtime at their regular hourly rate, instead of the legally mandated rate of hourly wage plus 50%–and that's just the tip of the iceberg! Other infractions included allowing 14- and 15-year-old employees not only to work past 7 p.m., which is prohibited by federal law, but also to work more than 3 hours on school nights and 18 hours during school weeks, as reported by the Department of Labor.

Wage theft is nothing new and has long plagued the restaurant industry, lurking under the radar with many cases going unreported. Yet recent years have witnessed a slew of embattled restaurants in the Bay Area being compelled to pay back wages, including San Francisco's STK Steakhouse last year and the esteemed Z & Y Restaurant in Chinatown the year prior, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

The Department of Labor is pulling out all the stops to tackle this issue head-on, with spokesperson Michael Petersen emphasizing the importance of outreach in informing workers of their rights and providing ways to report wage theft. But as one publication poignantly remarked, "Unfortunately, restaurant workers are very vulnerable," spotlighting the need for vigilance in protecting workers across the industry.