OREM, Utah, April 21, 2023 (Gephardt Daily) — Jurassic Tacos was ordered to pay more than $167,000 in back wages and damages following a federal investigation into the Utah restaurant’s overtime and record-keeping practices.
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division announced its findings this week from an investigation into how overtime was paid to 56 employees at three Jurassic Tacos locations in Utah County.
The street tacos restaurant and food trucks operator violated the Fair Labor Standards Act for failing to pay overtime wages when more than 40 hours were worked in a week, the division reported.
The company also did not maintain accurate time records at its Orem (242 E. University Parkway), Provo (275 N. 500 West) and Eagle Mountain (3604 Pony Express Parkway) locations, according to the Labor Department.
“Jurassic Street Tacos denied its workers their rightful wages by not paying them the overtime premium as required by federal law,” said Kevin Hunt, the Wage and Hour Division’s district director in Salt Lake City.
“Unfortunately, this type of violation is common in the food service industry and deprives too many hard working people of their full pay. We encourage employers to contact us to make sure they understand the laws governing pay practices so they can avoid the costly consequences of not complying with the law,” Hunt said.
The company, which started in 2016 in an Orem garage and driveway as Jurassic Street Tacos, now has two brick-and-mortar restaurants and several food trucks throughout Utah County, according to its website.
The Wage and Hour Division recovered $83,539 in back wages and $83,539 in liquidated damages from Jurassic Tacos, division officials said.
Now that I know they treated their employees like this I’ll never go there again.