A Broward restaurant shorted workers an average of $23,600 per person, feds say

A Pompano Beach restaurant not only paid workers less than the minimum wage, but didn’t properly pay employees who worked overtime, the U.S. Department of Labor said.

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The agency said Thursday that it recovered $732,976 from Lucky King LLC, the owner of Miyako Japanese Buffet, 1157 S. Federal Hwy. That’s money owed to 31 employees — an average of $23,644.39 per worker.

Lucky King “paid most employees a monthly salary between $1,000 to $3,000, even though employees typically worked more than 40 hours per week. The department’s Wage and Hour Division investigators determined the employer also failed to pay minimum wage for all hours worked and maintain required records, all in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act.”

State corporation records say Lucky King is managed by Hui Fang Zhang, who hasn’t returned a phone message from the Miami Herald.

As a restaurant, Miyako’s last three inspections have ended in “Follow-Up Inspection Required.”

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Among the violations noted on the latest inspection, Aug. 26, was “Establishment charging operational charges without properly disclosing the information on the menu/web/app and the bill/receipt.” Miyako’s policy of automatic 15% tips for groups of eight or more is on a board at the front of the restaurant, not on the receipt.

Also, onions got hit with a Stop Sale order after the inspector saw a “can of Red Bull stored in a pan of cooked onions in a flip top cooler.”

Employees who believe their employer might have committed federal pay violations can call Labor’s Wage and Hour Division at 866-487-9243 (4US-WAGE).

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