Feds recover $613,000 in back wages from MN restaurants

The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered more than $613,000 in back wages after it found a Minnesota restaurant group failed to pay required wages.

Federal investigators looked into four of NY Gyro’s nine Minnesota locations in the Twin Cities and greater Minnesota. The restaurants serve fast casual Mediterranean and Middle Eastern food.

Investigators found that the operators failed to maintain records of hours employees worked, which is a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

The department said the restaurants also failed to pay some workers for overtime hours, and one employee was paid less than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour.

Nasir Khan, owner of NY Gyro, said the company doesn’t agree with the department’s findings, but agreed to settle the case because of mounting legal fees from the investigation.

The NY Gyro restaurants in Minneapolis and Willmar were unable to provide records the labor department requested, Khan said. He said the company has since resolved the issue by hiring a new accountant and providing training on record keeping to the owners of those locations.

NY Gyro’s St. Cloud-area locations were not part of the investigation, Khan said.