WASHINGTON _ Some food workers claim they are not getting the money they're due after a Labor Department investigation found the company that operates cafeterias for the Senate owed more than $1 million in back pay.
The Labor Department announced in July that for the past six years, Restaurant Associates had failed to pay proper wages. Nearly 700 workers were affected.
Officials with the labor group Good Jobs Nation, which has been organizing the food workers, said that several workers have reported that they've received little or no back pay compared to some of their colleagues.
In a letter, the group has asked the Labor Department to interview all of Restaurant Associates' current workers in Senate cafeterias. It said the Labor Department findings may not be completely accurate, as department investigators did not speak with every worker.
The department found Restaurant Associates violated the Service Contract Act by misclassifying employees so they would be paid lower wages. It also found that the company failed to pay proper health and welfare benefits, and violated the Fair Labor Standards Act by failing to pay workers overtime. Findings of the investigation are not publicly available because the inquiry is still not officially closed.
Labor Department spokeswoman Lenore Uddyback-Fortson said violations occurred between February 2010 and February 2016. She said the department received the Good Jobs Nation letter and would formally respond to the group's concerns.
Sam Souccar, a spokesman for Restaurant Associates, said the Labor Department determined the back pay amounts. Souccar said the payments were based on factors including "current and historical job duties, current and historical wage compensation, length of service on the contract, and current and historical (Service Contract Act) job classifications and benefits."
Good Jobs Nation's policy and legal director George Faraday wrote in the Sept. 14 letter to the Labor Department that the group knows of at least 19 workers who were not interviewed by investigators _ and workers have reported a wide range of payments.
