Marietta Huddle House Among Those Cited

The Marietta restaurant was among 28 locations of the chain that had "significant" violations of labor laws, including child labor laws, according to a press release from the U.S. Department of Labor.

The Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division identified violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act at Huddle House restaurants in Georgia, Missouri and West Virginia.

The Labor Department announced that 128 employees of the chain will get $60,594 in minimum and overtime back wages. Furthermore, the division assessed $48,317 in civil money penalties for repeat and child labor violations.

Some Huddle House employees did not receive at least the minimum wage because the cash wage paid by the employer plus tips received did not equal the federal minimum wage of $7.25. In other cases, employees only received tips and were not paid a cash wage, the Labor Department said.

Additionally, some employees' pay dropped below the minimum wage because they were required to share tips with non-tipped employees or because deductions were made for breakage losses, damages and check-cashing fees. Salaried nonexempt employees, such as cooks, were paid a salary that did not equal minimum wage, according to the release.

Under the FLSA, an employer of a tipped employee is only required to pay $2.13 an hour in direct wages if that amount plus the tips received equals at least $7.25 an hour. If tips combined with the direct wages do not equal the minimum wage, the employer must make up the difference.

The child labor violation involved a 15-year-old employee who was allowed to work more hours than permitted by the FLSA, which limits minors to no more than three hours on a school day or 18 hours in a school week.

Overtime violations involved tipped employees not receiving overtime at the correct rate and salaried nonexempt employees not receiving overtime pay.

The investigation covered Huddle House restaurants in Adel, Barnesville, Buford (two restaurants), Calhoun, Cedartown, Dallas, Douglas (two restaurants), Dublin, Elberton, Gray, Jeffersonville, Marietta, Milledgeville, Reidsville, Rockmart, Rome, Royston, Sandersville, Springfield, Summerville, Swainsboro, Sylvania, Toccoa and Waynesboro as well as West Plains, Mo. and Buckhannon, WV.

The Kennesaw and Cartersville locations were not cited.