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An investigation by the US Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found that Pedro Coelho willfully violated the Fair Labor Standards Act by paying bakers and counter staff straight time instead of time-and-a-half, even though they worked more than 40 hours per week.
Coelho operates Westchester County's Padaminas Brazilian Bakery, located in Mount Vernon, and Fairfield County's Padaminas NY Bakery, which has two locations in Danbury.
The businesses also failed to keep proper records of employees’ work hours and compensation paid, the labor department said.
The consent order, entered in the US District Court in Connecticut, requires Coelho and his business to pay $952,433 in back wages and liquidated damages to the employees.
The employers must also pay $41,568 in civil penalties to the labor department.
“This is a significant recovery of back wages and liquidated damages for low-wage workers in Connecticut and New York, who were deprived of the hard-earned wages they rightfully earned and that their families need to make ends meet,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Donald Epifano.
“Such violations are avoidable if employers take the time to know and understand their responsibilities under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
"The Wage and Hour Division is available to answer questions and address concerns and will not tolerate attempts to circumvent federal employment laws.”
The order prohibits Coelho from violating federal overtime laws and recordkeeping requirements, and requires him to cooperate with future investigations and provide relevant information and documents.
It also bars him from asking employees to “kick back” the wages or damages.
The Wage and Hour Division conducted more than 4,200 investigations in the food service industry in fiscal years 2021, the agency said.
That resulted in $34.7 million recovered for 29,209 workers.
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