OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - A restaurant chain that features Greek food, mammoth burgers and a name straight out of Hollywood is being accused in a lawsuit of failing to pay overtime wages for years.
U.S. Labor Secretary Elaine Chao's office filed the lawsuit this week in U.S. District Court in Omaha. It accuses King Kong restaurants in Omaha and Lincoln of failing to pay scores of current and former employees overtime for working more than 40 hours a week. The lawsuit says the violations occurred dating back to July 2006.
The Fair Labor Standards Act requires that workers be paid 1.5 times their regular hourly wage for every hour beyond 40 hours in a work week.
The lawsuit also accuses the chain's owner, Nick Triantafillou, and the corporations that run the restaurants of failing to make and keep adequate and accurate records of employees' wages, hours, and other working conditions.
The suit lists 133 workers the Labor Department believes were underpaid a total of $119,000. It seeks to have the chain pay back wages and another $119,000 in so-called liquidated damages, bringing the total damages to $238,000. If the court deems liquidated damages to be inappropriate, it asks that the interest be paid on the back wages.
The lawsuit also asks the court to order King Kong restaurants to stop its practice of not paying overtime.
The chain got its start in 1992, when Triantafillou opened the first King Kong restaurant. The menu included traditional Greek fare, such as gyros, but pinned its name on the gigantic burgers it serves -- some offering up to a pound and a half of meat and measuring more than six inches across.
In 2000, Triantafillou gained the exclusive trademark to use the 'King Kong' name in restaurant and food service businesses.
The restaurants are best known for the enormous ape statues that adorn the property and the King Kong television ads featuring Triantafillou in his thick Greek accent correcting customers who mispronounce 'gyro' (YEAR-roe).
A worker reached by phone at the original King Kong restaurant in Omaha said Triantafillou was at another location on Wednesday. Calls by The Associated Press to the number the worker gave for that location went unanswered.
Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
© 2008 AFX News
