A restaurant worker is suing his former employer alleging violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) for failing to pay him overtime rates in 2012-15.
Samuel Gallardo filed a complaint against Heights Asian Café Inc. of Houston in the Houston Division of the Southern District of Texas July 17, claiming employment law violation during a three-year period from 2012 to 2015 when the firm purportedly did not pay Gallardo one and one-half times his regular hourly rate for hours worked in excess of forty hours each workweek.
According to the suit, Gallardo worked for the defendant for a period of three years prior to the filing. The Chinese-Vietnamese restaurant employed the plaintiff as a cook six days each week. The filing states that Gallardo was initially paid a weekly rate but the company elected to increase his weekly pay in lieu of providing overtime pay.
The complaint states that the plaintiff was a non-exempt employee and that the restaurant was clearly in violation of the FLSA; that it knowingly practiced a pattern of eluding the regulation with respect to the plaintiff.
The plaintiff seeks compensation for unpaid overtime wages, liquidated damages, attorney’s fees, pre- and post-judgment interest expenses, and costs. He is represented by Mark Siurek and Patricia Haylon of Warren & Siurek in Houston.
Houston Division of the Southern District of Texas case number 4:15-cv-02077