Owner of Several Leo’s Coney Islands Accused of Fraudulent Wage Practices
The franchise owner who operates several Leo's Coney Island locations in Michigan is being accused of fraudulent wage activity, essentially cheating employees out of money they've earned.
Kyriakos 'Ken' Vlahadamis is being investigated by the United States Department of Labor for defying overtime regulations and shortchanging employees for wages they've earned.
Vlahadamis is the franchise operator and co-owner of four Leo's Coney Island locations in the Metro Detroit area, doing business as Sterling Ponds Plaza LLC. The LLC operates restaurants in Clarkston, Dearborn, Livonia, and Sterling Heights. No other Leo's restaurants are affected by the investigation; Leo's has 72 locations throughout Michigan according to its website.
At the Heart of the Wage Dispute
It's alleged that as the operator of the four restaurants, Vlahadamis had been keeping two sets of records. One reflected hours for employees who worked under 40 hours per week, the other for employees working more than 40 hours.
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Vlahadamis is accused of shredding timecards used to track workers who worked overtime, only paying their regular hourly wages for all hours worked, rather than the required 1.5 times hourly rate for any overtime hours that were clocked.
The US Department of Labor issued a preliminary injunction on July 15, ordering Vlahadamis to maintain accurate employee timecards and cease denying overtime pay to employees. According to WDIV, he is also forbidden from discussing the ongoing litigation with employees and has been warned against retaliation against employees for cooperating with investigators.
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