U.S. Department of Labor Retrieves $61K in Misused Tips in Lubbock and Lamesa

LUBBOCK, TX – ​​Investigators with the U.S Department of Labor recovered a total of $61,646 for 140 workers and assessed the operators of Ohana’s Japanese Steak Restaurant in Lamesa, and at The Catch and Johnny Fab’s Cadillac Grill in Lubbock with a total of $7,200 in penalties.

According to a press release from the departments' Wage and Hour Divison, investigators discovered three restaurant employers in Lamesa and Lubbock were withholding tips that should legally go to the workers who earned them.

The owner of Tang Ohanas LLC, operator of Ohana’s Japanese Steak Restaurant illegally included themselves in the workers' tip pools and kept most of the tips. The division recovered $43,641 for eight employees and assessed the employer $768 in civil money penalties.

The Catch, operated by Catch Lubbock South LLC, the division determined the employer illegally allowed salaried managers to participate in the restaurant’s tip pool, recovering $13,752 owed to 107 employees and assessing the owners with $3,036 in penalties.

Investigators also found Tres Patos Management LLC, operator of Johnny Fab’s Cadillac Grill, kept tips illegally to compensate for the company’s bar register shortages, which caused the rate of pay for bartenders to fall below the required minimum wage in Texas, $2.13 an hour. The division recovered $2,126 for 25 employees and assessed the employer $3,425 in penalties.

“Tips are the property of the people whose hard work earned them,” explained Wage and Hour Division District Director Evelyn Ortiz in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in the news release. 

“The employers in these cases illegally withheld workers’ tips and either kept them, shared them with non-tipped employees, or used them to pay business expenses. Employers who shortchange tipped workers face costly consequences, which can include penalties in addition to back wages owed,” said Ortiz.

These investigations are part of a larger effort to crack down on wage violations in the food service industry. The goal is to recover unpaid wages, and if needed, impose damages and fines.