Workers at Plaza Azteca on Fruitville Pike are part of $11.4 million settlement

• By Lisa Scheid/LNP | LancasterOnline

Seventeen back-of-the-house workers at Plaza Azteca Mexican Restaurant in Lancaster city are part of a multimillion-dollar settlement over labor violations brought by the U.S. Department of Labor against the chain.

The federal agency recovered $11.4 million in back wages and liquidated damages for more than 1,000 employees of the East Coast restaurant chain after a series of investigations and litigation by the department.

The settlement includes $239,000 for a group of 17 workers from the Plaza Azteca at 1700 Fruitville Pike.

The recovery is related to a consent judgment entered by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in Norfolk. The judgment resolves litigation by the department’s Office of the Solicitor related to pay practices at more than 40 Plaza Azteca Mexican Restaurant locations owned by Ruben Leon in seven states. After an investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division, the department filed a complaint alleging Leon and the restaurants violated overtime and minimum wage provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Leon owns a share of the Lancaster city restaurant, which is owned mostly by Juan Gonzalez, according to court records. A judge dismissed the charges against Gonzalez, the Lancaster city restaurant, and another Plaza Azteca that Gonzalez owned in Myerstown, Lebanon County.

The employers agreed to the consent judgment after months of litigation and just before a jury trial was scheduled to begin. The lawsuit included Plaza Azteca locations in Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

Other Pennsylvania Plaza Azteca locations in the settlement include restaurants in Wyomissing in Berks County, Exton and Kennett Square in Chester County, and King of Prussia in Montgomery County.

Luis Santos, an attorney who represented Plaza Azteca, declined to say whether any Plaza Azteca locations will close in the wake of the settlement.

“Plaza disputes it violated the law but reached a resolution with the DOL to bring closure to this matter and allow the business to continue to focus on being a great employer and providing an excellent customer experience,” Santos wrote in an email.

The Department of Labor investigators found the Plaza Azteca Mexican Restaurant chain knew of its legal obligations to pay workers minimum wage and overtime and keep accurate payroll records and yet willfully disregarded federal law, wrote Wage and Hour Administrator Jessica Looman in a news release.

Specifically, the department alleged that numerous Plaza Azteca Mexican restaurants paid back-of-the-house employees predetermined amounts. By doing so, the employers failed to pay some employees who worked up to 40 hours in a workweek the required minimum wage and did not pay some employees time-and-a-half for hours over 40 in a workweek. The employers also failed to maintain accurate records of employees’ work hours and wages, as required.

The alleged violations occurred between March 2016 and September 2021. The Fruitville Pike location opened in September 2017.

Due to the repeat and willful nature of the violations, the consent judgment also recovered $625,000 in civil penalties from the employers.

The back wages and liquidated damages are due to certain current and former employees of Plaza Azteca Mexican restaurants regardless of their immigration status. As some of the workers affected by this case may have relocated, the Wage and Hour Division encourages former or current affected employees to contact the division at 215-861-5180 with any questions.

Staff writer Chris Reber contributed to this story.