BEACH HAVEN - The owner of The Chicken or the Egg, a popular Beach Haven restaurant, will pay $768,548 in back wages and penalties for violating overtime and visa rules, the U.S. Department of Labor said Thursday.

Among the violations: Cramark Inc., which owns the restaurant, failed to pay 23 workers time-and-a-half when they worked more than 40 hours in a week, the department said.

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The Chicken or the Egg, known to visitors as Chegg, has been a Long Beach Island staple since it opened in 1991, building a customer base thanks in part to its round-the-clock hours during the summer.

Watch a video from 2013 from the restaurant at the top of this story.

The restaurant, however, was stretched thin last summer. It told the Asbury Park Press that cuts to the visa program delayed the arrival of 20 long-time workers, forcing it to shorten its operating hours. It eventually expanded to 24-7 on July 12.

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The restaurant is closed during the winter, and its owners didn't immediately respond to an email requesting comment.

The Chicken or the Egg failed to record the actual number of hours that employees worked, and it paid overtime hours in cash, unrecorded, the Labor Department said.

The department also said the restaurant violated requirements of the H-2B visa program that allows employers to hire foreign workers for temporary, seasonal help.

For example, it assigned three of the employees to work as bussers, even though they were approved only to work in food preparation. And it paid those employees less than the prevailing wage that the visa program requires, the department said.

The company will pay the 23 employees $359,077 in back wages and an equal amount in damages. It will pay two H-2B visa employees a total of $7,792 in back wages. And it will pay a civil penalty of $42,602.

Michael L. Diamond; @mdiamondapp; 732-643-4038; mdiamond@gannettnj.com