The U.S. Department of Labor has reached a settlement to recover $660,000 in back wages for 70 employees of Malay Satay Hut restaurants in the Eastside’s Overlake area and in Seattle, for alleged violations of the overtime, minimum wage and recordkeeping requirements under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

In addition to the recovery of back wages, the Labor Department assessed the employer a civil money penalty of $20,000. The settlement resolves a departmental lawsuit.

The suit was filed July 2, 2007, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington against Pou Sang Yoo, Ah Yeok Soong, Malay Satay Hut Inc. and Malay Satay Hut Redmond Inc. following an investigation by the Wage and Hour Division.

The investigation, which covered the period from June 2, 2003, to May 28, 2006, determined that wait staff and kitchen workers were not paid the required time and one-half their regular rates of pay for overtime beyond 40 hours worked in a week, and some workers were paid less than the required federal minimum wage. Time and pay records did not reflect the true hours worked or the actual wages paid.