Mystic Pizza to pay employees $105K in back pay

MYSTIC, Conn., Sept. 26 (UPI) -- The owner of Mystic Pizza will have to fork over more than $105,000 in back pay to employees after an investigation revealed they were often underpaid.

The Department of Labor launched an investigation into the famed Connecticut restaurant, featured in a 1988 movie starring Julia Roberts, after three individuals filed complaints.

John Zelepos paid 110 employees less than minimum wage and did not properly compensate them for overtime between May 2012 and June 2014, the Wage and Workplace Standards Division of the DOL found.

Investigators learned Zelepos paid cooks, dishwashers and hosts as little as $5.69 an hour, and others $7.40 an hour, well below the state's then-minimum wage of $8.70. Employees also sometimes worked as much as 93 hours a week, and paid in cash, so Zelepos could fudge documents keeping track of overtime.

In addition to the $105,165.94 in back pay, Zelepos must also dish out $23,400 in civil penalties for 155 minimum wage violations, the DOL said.