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Restaurant paid workers below minimum wage, feds say. Now it must pay back $168,000

The Super King Buffet, an all-you-can-eat Asian restaurant in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, about 80 miles north of Biloxi, paid 17 kitchen workers a fixed, monthly salary that fell below the minimum wage hourly pay. Now it must give back pay to its employees.
The Super King Buffet, an all-you-can-eat Asian restaurant in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, about 80 miles north of Biloxi, paid 17 kitchen workers a fixed, monthly salary that fell below the minimum wage hourly pay. Now it must give back pay to its employees. Screengrab of the Super King Buffet on Google Maps.

A Mississippi restaurant paid kitchen employees a monthly salary that fell below the federal minimum wage, according to labor department officials.

Now, the restaurant has to pay back its workers.

The Super King Buffet, an all-you-can-eat Asian restaurant in Hattiesburg, about 80 miles north of Biloxi, paid 17 kitchen workers a monthly salary that fell below the minimum wage hourly pay, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Labor.

The restaurant’s owner could not be reached for comment on May 25.

“Paying a worker a monthly salary does not relieve an employer from their obligation to pay their workers at least the federal minimum wage or overtime premiums, should those apply,” Wage and Hour Division District Director Audrey Hall in Jackson, Mississippi, said in the release.

The labor department said it recovered $168,864 in back wages and damages for employees.

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This story was originally published May 25, 2022 at 12:46 PM with the headline "Restaurant paid workers below minimum wage, feds say. Now it must pay back $168,000."

Cassandre Coyer
mcclatchy-newsroom
Cassandre Coyer is a McClatchy National Real-Time Reporter covering the southeast while based in Washington D.C. She’s an alumna of Emerson College in Boston and joined McClatchy in 2022. Previously, she’s written for The Christian Science Monitor, RVA Mag, The Untitled Magazine, and more.
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