The U.S. Department of Labor has renewed a multiyear, nationwide initiative to increase federal compliance by employers in the food service industry — an industry which it says is rife with wage and hour violations.

According to the DOL, in the 2021 fiscal year, the department’s Wage and Hour Division found violations in nearly 85 percent of its restaurant investigations. Those investigations led the division to recover more than $34.7 million in back wages for more than 29,000 workers and to assess employers with $3.2 million in penalties.

The department said its food service initiative will combine enforcement with outreach and education to raise awareness of the types of pay practices and other actions by employers that most commonly violate the Fair Labor Standards Act and other federal labor laws. Such violations include those related to the federal minimum wage, overtime pay, tips, employing child labor and making illegal wage deductions.

The department recently published new resources addressing retaliation against employees who assert their workplace rights or cooperate with investigations by the Wage and Hour Division. Retaliation by employers often prevents the workers from exercising their workplace rights under the FLSA, which ensures they are paid the wages they are owed.

Workers and employers can call the division confidentially with questions at 866-487-9243.

— JEFF FEINGOLD