Jul. 17, 2003 - PROVINCETOWN, Mass.--The U.S. Department of Labor has ordered the owners of the Crown & Anchor and Crowne Pointe Historic Inn to pay more than $65,000 in back wages to employees, for violating the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. 

The two Provincetown businesses, jointly owned at the time of a Labor Department investigation, have until the end of November to pay 69 employees. 

The owners also must pay $17,000 in civil penalties, department officials said. 

The federal investigation, which covered April 1, 2001, to Aug. 31, 2002, found that employees who had worked more than 40 hours a week received straight pay rather than overtime, said Corey Surett, district director for the Labor Department's Wage and Hour Division in Boston. 

The Fair Labor Standards Act requires employers to pay workers at least the federal minimum wage, currently $5.15, and time-and-a-half for hours worked in excess of a 40-hour week, Surett said. 

The state's prevailing minimum wage is $6.75. 

"Most of the 69 employees covered by our investigation were non-U.S. citizens brought into this country by these employers for seasonal work under the H-2B visa program," Surett said in a statement. "And it should be noted that both of these establishments had interlocking ownership and management." 

The employees worked at both locations as needed, according to Surett. 

The Crown & Anchor, 247 Commercial St., is a restaurant, hotel and nightclub, and the Crowne Pointe Historic Inn, 82 Bradford St., is a hotel. The establishments are now owned separately, said John Chavez, regional public affairs director for the Labor Department's Boston bureau. 

In a brief statement to the Cape Cod Times, Rick Murray, general manager of the Crown & Anchor and one of its principals, said the establishment has been under new management since last fall, "and is presently in compliance with all applicable employment laws." 

"At the time that ownership was transferred, a review of company records determined that some overtime wages had not previously been paid. The Crown & Anchor has rectified that situation, and is fully committed to fair and equitable treatment of all its employees in accordance with the law," Murray said. 

The Crown & Anchor must pay $37,310 in back wages to 52 employees, or roughly $717 per employee. Crowne Pointe must pay $28,000 to 17 employees, or around $1,647 per employee. 

"Each of them is not going to get the average," Chavez said, noting that employees will be compensated according to the hours they worked. 

Initially, the businesses had racked up combined penalties of more than $25,000. But since the owners agreed to settle the matter out of court the penalties were reduced, Chavez said. 

"They certainly agreed to come into compliance," he said. 

The owners have more than four months to track down and reimburse the employees, some of whom may be out of the country. After that, the names of workers who could not be reached will be given to the Labor Department's Wage and Hour Division, which will take over that responsibility, Chavez said. 

As a matter of policy, the Labor Department does not divulge specific reasons for any inquiry. However, routine compliance checks or complaints by employees typically trigger an investigation, Chavez said. 

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(c) 2003, Cape Cod Times. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.