The owner of five Subway franchises in Trumbull County was ordered to pay more than $9,000 in restitution to workers who investigators for the U.S. Labor Department determined were unfairly treated and compensated.
U.S. Northern District Judge Benita Y. Pearson in Youngstown issued an order this week stating that Joseph Hray, the owner of Hray enterprises, must pay back $9,902 to 68 current and former workers he failed to pay for working overtime or paid less than the minimum wage.
Court records show Hray's attorneys and the Labor Department reached an agreement in early July during mediation.
The lawsuit claimed Hray failed to pay 68 workers the $7.25 hourly minimum wage between July 21, 2009, and July 12, 2011.
One worker will receive $984 she was never paid, and two others will receive more than $400, according to records.
Pearson also ruled Hray-owned stores will be prohibited from using workers 16 and 17 years old in hazardous environments.
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The stores
Subway stores named in the lawsuit, all owned by Joseph Hray:
3001 Elm Road, Warren
4602 Mahoning Ave., Warren
231 Main Ave., Warren
2016 Millennium Blvd., Cortland
7192 Warren Sharron Road, Brookfield
The money will be paid directly to the employees, according to the Labor Department.
Hray Enterprises violated similar laws in 2005, according to the Labor Department.
The lawsuit states that the company grosses more than $500,000 annually and that they violated several provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act several times during the investigation.
The lawsuit states that Hray failed to pay the workers minimum wage and failed to give 28 of those workers the required time-and-a-half for working more than 40 hours per week.
Five Subway workers younger than 18 also regularly loaded and operated two paper balers and one trash compactor, creating hazardous work conditions for minors, also a violation, the suit states.
The Labor Department's investigation revealed Hray failed to pay employees for the hours worked after the restaurants closed but while employees finished nightly closing procedures.
Some employees were docked money for having their cash register fall short of the sales money, causing their pay to dip below the mark for minimum wage.
''Such employment constitutes oppressive child labor,'' the lawsuit says.
Hray Enterprises was fined $4,620 for child labor violations and ordered to pay $1,463 in back wages to 10 employees in 2005, after the Labor Department found it violated minimum wage and overtime wage laws, record keeping and child labor provision laws.