Nicole Sellers, the district director of the Austin District for the Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division, and David Weil, the Wage and Hour Division administrator, discuss the Austin restaurant wage violations Wednesday at a news conference.

Austin restaurants with violations between Oct. 1, 2015 and June 30, 2016*



Austin’s Pizza, 11 violations, 1817 S. Lamar Blvd., Austin



Austin’s Pizza, 3 violations, 3537 Far West Blvd., Ste. A, Austin



Austin’s Pizza, 11 violations, 3601 William Cannon Drive, Austin



Austin’s Pizza, 10 violations, 9900 S. IH-35, Austin



Austin Pizza, 22 violations, 10900 Research Blvd., Austin



Austin’s Pizza, 2 violations, 1600 W. 35 th St., Austin

St., Austin

Austin’s Pizza, 9 violations, 1705 N. Cuernavaca Drive, Ste. 100, Austin



Austin’s Pizza, 16 violations, 3638 Bee Cave Rd., Ste. 104, Austin



Austin’s Pizza, 32 violations, 2324 Guadalupe St., Ste. 26, Austin



Austin’s Pizza, 20 violations, 7301 N. RR 620, Ste. 140, Austin



Austin’s Pizza, 6 violations, 2800 E. Whitestone Blvd., Ste. 130, Cedar Park



Brooklyn Pie Company, 6 violations, 9500 S. IH-35, Austin



Brooklyn Pie Company, 2 violations, 12601 Tech Ridge Blvd., Ste. 300



Brooklyn Pie Company, 2 violations, 5425 Burnet Road, Ste. 110, Austin



China Hill, 1 violation, 2800 W. William Cannon Drive, Austin



Hai Ky, 1 violation, 3808 Spicewood Springs Road, Austin



La Catedral Del Marisco, 16 violations, 1605 E. Oltorf St., Austin



South Congress Café, 6 violations, 1600 S. Congress Ave., Austin



The Park at South Lamar, 277 violations, 4024 South Lamar Blvd., Austin



to clarify only closed restaurant violation cases are publicly available.The US Department of Labor's Wage and Labor Division has been collecting back wages and issuing civil monetary penalties to more than 60 Austin restaurants that have not paid workers proper wages during the last fiscal year.The list of restaurants who received violations from the DOL include 11 Austin's Pizza locations, three Brooklyn Pie Company locations, South Congress Cafe and The Park at South Lamar, according to public records in the DOL database In most of the Austin cases, employers were either unknowingly or knowingly violating the Fair Standards Labor Law, DOL Wage and Labor Division Administrator David Weil said in a news conference today. Workers were unknowingly being paid unfairly; or workers were aware of the violations but had a fear of retaliation from the business owners, he said.The Austin restaurant cases considered closed means business owners have signed agreements with the DOL and repaid workers the wages that were previously unpaid.Weil called this "troubling" in a city where the restaurant scene is "very active.""One would hope that a reputation for great restaurants should be a reputation for great labor standards, and we don't see that right now," he said.He said many restaurants were in violation of only paying workers tips instead of the federally-mandated $7.25 an hour minimum wage. More than $300,000 in back wages—the amount recovered for more than 500 Austin restaurant workers—is about two to two-and-a-half weeks of pay for a low-wage worker, according to Weil.He said the restaurant industry makes up 12 percent of employers in Texas, compared to around 10 percent nationally.Yesterday, the DOL announced 95 percent of Austin restaurants investigated between Oct. 1, 2015, and June 30, 2016, were in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act, compared to 80-85 percent nationally, Weil said."This is not a big game of 'gotcha' we're engaged in," Weil said, explaining the DOL Wage and Hour Division has been engaging in outreach efforts to educate restaurant owners and workers about their wage rights.The DOL did a similar investigation in Austin last fiscal year and found 98 percent of restaurants were in violation of the law.Lucy Garcia, the department's community outreach and resource planning specialist, said the DOL sometimes does followup investigations to verify restaurants are meeting the wage requirements.The Greater Austin Restaurant Association and the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce have not responded to requests for comment.

*This is a partial list. According to the DOL, many cases remain open and may not be in the department database, which is public record.