Thai Town Restaurant Fined $500K For Paying Employees Only $4 an Hour | Eater LA

"At the Shrimp Lover on Hollywood Boulevard, I learned state investigators found systemic wage theft and multiple labor violations dating back to 2014: employees — 25 workers in total — were paid well under minimum wage (reportedly as low as $4 per hour), were paid a flat rate of $25 to $30 per shift from 2014 until 2017, and after January 2017 were paid $10 an hour but were required to work off the clock for 30 to 45 minutes per shift; staff shifts typically lasted seven hours and workers were not paid overtime when they worked two shifts in a row, and they were denied rest and meal breaks. Following complaints brought by Asian Americans Advancing Justice and reported by HollywoodPatch, California’s Labor Commissioner ordered owners Jaruwat Sonachai and Sineenart Klinmalai to pay $471,756 for underpaid wages, overtime, and missed meal and rest breaks, plus $230,156 in waiting time penalties and liquidated damages and $47,950 in civil penalties for violations and false wage statements — penalties totaling more than $500,000." - Mona Holmes