Greenwich Restaurant Ordered To Pay Back Wages Settlement

GREENWICH, CT — The owners of the Old Greenwich-based restaurant Applausi Osteria and two others will have to pay back wages to employees following a victory by the workers in an overtime dispute, announced officials this week from the United States Department of Labor.

Frank Marchetti and Michael Marchetti - who not only own Applausi Osteria, but also Westport-based Tarantino Restaurant and Columbus Park Trattoria in Stamford - will have to pay $180,007 in back pay and damages to a total of 49 employees at the three restaurants.

"Employers must pay employees correctly for all the hours that they work. Failure to do so deprives employees of the wages they've earned and places law-abiding employers at a competitive disadvantage," stated David Gerrain, the Wage and Hour Division District Director in the federal agency's Hartford office. "These types of violations can be avoided. We encourage employers to reach out to us for information and assistance."

According to the labor department, the three restaurants:

• Failed to combine total weekly work hours for individual employees who worked at multiple locations when determining whether overtime was due;
• Incorrectly calculated overtime pay for front of the house tipped wait staff, basing their overtime rates only on the workers' direct cash wages, instead of the employees' regular rates of pay;
• Failed to pay the required overtime premium to back of the house kitchen employees, instead paying them flat salaries without regard to the number of hours they actually worked; and
• Failed to keep complete and accurate time and payroll records that represented a true accounting of employees' work hours.

In a statement to Hearst Media, the Marchettis said that they always sought to pay employees, who they refer to as family, as fairly as possible.