Angola restaurant owes $40,000 in unpaid wages
Associated PressANGOLA - A Steuben County restaurant has been ordered to pay 20 workers about $40,000 in back wages for allegedly violating federal minimum wage and overtime rules.

The U.S. Department of Labor conducted a two-year investigation into Las Limas restaurant in Angola.

It found that the eatery's kitchen workers were not given overtime pay while being salaried, and wait staff were paid below minimum wage and were not paid a required overtime premium.

According to statement sent Wednesday by the agency's Wage and Hour Division in Indianapolis, the restaurant had failed to keep proper records of workers' hours.

Javier Lopez, one of the three former owners of Las Limas, said in an e-mail to the Herald-Republican of Angola that the problem arose from his restaurant's fast growth.

"As a result of growing my businesses so quickly, I was not following up with my employees on their clock-outs," Lopez said.

Juan Gonzalez, the new owner of Las Limas, said it is the previous ownership that operated as the Las Limas corporation that will be responsible for paying those back wages.

Labor Department spokesman Brad Mitchell said that despite ownership changes, the Las Limas corporation would ultimately be responsible for paying the back wages.

The Las Limas corporation isn't the only area restaurant to be accused of violating federal minimum wage and overtime rules.

The Department of Labor recovered more than $350,000 in back pay from 11 Indiana restaurants facing similar allegations two years ago. The businesses included Guerrero Inc., which operated three Cebollas Mexican Grill restaurants in Fort Wayne, and El Nopal Mexican Restaurant Inc., which operated Los Amigos Mexican Restaurant in Huntington.

Jenni Glenn of The Journal Gazette contributed to this story.