WHD - Wage and Hour Division
10/22/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 10/22/2024 09:40
Department of Labor obtains judgment to recover $120K in wages, damages from Huddle House franchisee who withheld wages, made illegal deductions
OKLAHOMA CITY - The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a consent judgment and injunction to recover $120,000 in back wages and liquidated damages for 177 Oklahoma restaurant workers whose employer deducted time for lunch breaks not taken and failed to pay employees for all hours worked.
The Sept. 18, 2024, judgment in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma against Gregg Hansen -operator of Huddle House franchise locations in Ardmore, Edmond and Oklahoma City -follows an investigation by the department's Wage and Hour Division that found the employer's pay practices from October 2019 to February 2023 violated federal minimum wage and overtime provisions.
"Gregg Hansen has deprived hundreds of low-wage workers at his Huddle House franchise locations of their full, hard-earned wages," explained Wage and Hour Division District Director Michael Speer in Oklahoma City. "The Wage and Hour Division is determined to stop employers who repeatedly and willfully disregard federal labor regulations and hold them accountable for such blatant violations."
The division previously cited the Chattanooga, Tennessee-based employer for similar violations at the same Oklahoma locations from 2016 to 2021, and at its locations in Missouri, Tennessee, and Texas. The willful and repeated nature of Hansen's Fair Labor Standards Act violations prompted the department to pursue legal remedies.
At one point owning nearly 20 locations in nine states, Gregg Hansen has been known as one of the largest Huddle House franchise operators in the nation. The Huddle House brand is owned by Ascent Hospitality Management in Sandy Springs, Georgia, a multi-brand restaurant company with nearly 600 Huddle House and Perkins Restaurant & Bakery locations in the U.S. and Canada.
Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, including a search tool to use if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the division. Workers and employers can call the division's toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243), regardless of where they are from. Calls are confidential and the division can speak with callers in more than 200 languages.
Download the agency's new Timesheet App for iOS and Android devices, now available in English and Spanish, to ensure hours and pay are accurate.