Back pay, damages set for restaurant workers
The Department of Labor yesterday said it had recovered $219,390 in back wages and liquidated damages for 44 area restaurant employees who were misclassified as independent contractors and denied proper compensation.
The 1760 Society Inc. — which does business as The Sherborn Inn and The Sherborn Out in Sherborn — and D’Ann’s Restaurant Inc. in Abington contracted with staffing agency Operations Management Group to move many of their existing employees to the agency’s payroll, according to investigations conducted by the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour division.
Although the workers had received overtime pay when they were on the restaurants’ payrolls, Operations Management Group failed to pay overtime and did not withhold tax deductions from their wages. New workers were also put on the payroll at Operations Management Group and were paid improperly, the division concluded.
“The Wage and Hour Division wants to send a strong message that employers cannot evade their responsibility under the law by using staffing agencies or labor contractors,’’ Nancy J. Leppink, acting administrator of the Wage and Hour Division, said in a statement. “These business practices are not a legal way to reduce labor costs.’’
The restaurants have agreed to put the employees back on their payrolls, and to pay them the back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages that they are owed under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Operations Management Group has refused to cooperate with authorities from the Labor Department and denied them access to time and payroll records, according to the agency. Operations Management Group and its owner, Adilso Bosi, are currently in contempt of court for failing to cooperate with the investigation and incurring a $1,000 fine for each day .
Jenn Abelson can be reached at abelson@globe.com. 
