Bharat I Patel owns 13 hotels.
By The American Bazaar Staff
WASHINGTON, DC: The U.S. Department of Labor and the U.S. Attorney for the District of North Dakota have sued Fargo based Indian American hotelier Bharat I. Patel for his failure to pay almost 200 workers minimum wage and/or overtime rates at 13 hotels he owns in North Dakota and Montana.
Patel was found in violation of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act by the Wage and Hour Division which found that he owed approximately $100,000 in back wages to 192 workers, and an equal amount of $100,000 in liquidated damages owed to front-desk clerks, housekeeping staff and other hotel employees.
Patel’s accounting practices resulted in some employees receiving less than the federal minimum wage and no additional pay for overtime work, according to the civil complaint filed on Monday in U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota, reported Inforum.
The Department of Labor alleges that Patel was well aware of labor laws and intentionally violated them. According to the complaint, Patel has been investigated multiple times by the North Dakota Wage and Hour Division, an agency under the state’s Department of Labor and Human Rights that enforces wage and hour laws.
Charles Frasier, district director for the U.S. Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division in Denver, said in a statement about the lawsuit that “the hospitality industry is staffed by hard-working, low paid employees who deserve fair compensation for their hours” and that “the Wage and Hour Division will use every tool available to ensure workers receive the wages they earned.”
The lawsuit involves employees at five Fargo hotels owned by Patel: Econo Lodge East, Econo Lodge West, Fargo Quality Inn, Super 8 Fargo and Quality Suites. Also involved are three hotels in Dickinson, one each in Jamestown, Valley City, and Wahpeton, and two in Montana.
The Department of Labor says the employees are owed the back wages and damages of $200,000 for the time between December 17, 2011, and December 16, 2013.