WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — A popular Triad pizza chain is accused of underpaying its workers.
The U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division said Cugino Forno denied full wages to 63 workers at its Clemmons, Greensboro, and Winston-Salem restaurants.
The investigation began at the Winston-Salem location back in July 2019. A few months later, the DOL began investigating the Greensboro restaurant in December 2019, and then the Clemmons restaurant in October 2020.
The department said the pizza place paid workers as little as $1.19 an hour, forcing them to rely almost entirely on tips.
Investigators also found that Cugino Forno failed to pay the required overtime rate.
The Labor Department recovered $276,000 in back wages for the affected workers.
The Labor Department said Cugino Forno agreed to comply with the law moving forward and all back wages have been paid to impacted workers.
- 26 Winston-Salem employees
- 16 Greensboro employees
- 21 Clemmons employees
WFMY News 2's Jenna Kurzyna spoke with one of the owners of Cugino Forno, Joseph Ozbey, on Friday. He said this situation was a big misunderstanding.
"The only change that happened that we had to explain to people is OK before we used to promise them that amount of money, and then this is what we were paying them. Now, we have to say OK, this is how we're paying from now on, that by the law that we're gonna be paying you "X" amount of money, and then the tips, and then if the tips don't cover it, which it doesn't, then we come up again," Ozbey said. "That was the only difference because even the person who was in charge of the investigation said you did nothing wrong, it was the way you worded it, the way you explained it to them."
Ozbey said the investigation has since been completed and the back wages have been paid. He said they are moving forward and focused on opening another location along the coast of North Carolina in Wilmington.
"Honestly because we knew it was going to our employees, we had no problem. Yes, it put us in a difficult situation, all of a sudden you have this expense of such an amount of money, we literally had to go take a second mortgage out on our loan and pay it off, but we knew it was going to our employees, and we knew it was going to the right place," Ozbey said. "So, we said it's OK because at the end of the day we made that money with them."
The DOL didn't say what led investigators to start looking into the pizza place, citing that the department doesn't typically disclose the reasoning for an investigation. Sometimes, it's because of complaints. Sometimes, it's to check up on low-wage industries.
"In addition to complaints, the Wages and Hour Division selects certain types of businesses or industries for investigation. The WHD targets low-wage industries, for example, because of high rates of violations or egregious violations, the employment of vulnerable workers, or rapid changes in an industry such as growth or decline," a representative for the DOL, Eric Lucero, said in an email to WFMY News 2.
The Department of Labor said in the fiscal year of 2021, it recovered more than $34 million for more than 29,000 workers in the food service industry. In 2022, the Bureau of Labor Statistics is reporting near-record numbers of job openings and workers in the accommodations and food services industry quitting their jobs.
The DOL said workers who feel they've been mistreated in any industry can click here to learn how to file a complaint and be guided to the nearest WHD office for assistance.