Austin, MN - Pantaleon Mata, owner of El Mariachi restaurants in Fairmont and Austin, Minn., has agreed not to violate provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) that require payment of minimum wage and overtime, following his entry of a guilty plea to a criminal charge of making false statements to investigators from the Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor.

Mata agreed to the issuance of a federal district court judgment prohibiting him and his corporations from violating the FLSA. Twenty-one workers will receive a total of $39,931 in unpaid overtime compensation, minimum wages and liquidated damages as part of the court actions.

The legal action followed an investigation by the Wage and Hour Division that found violations of the overtime pay and minimum wage provisions of the FLSA during a two-year period beginning in April 2002. After being notified that he was responsible for back wages owed to employees, Mata submitted back wage receipts to the Labor Department as proof of payment, when in fact he required employees to sign the receipts without receiving the back wages owed them. Link

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