FORT SMITH -- The U.S. Department of Labor recently found Mi Casita Mexican Restaurant Inc., operating as El Lorito at 3105 S. 70th St., Fort Smith, illegally fired a worker and owes $11,706 in back wages.
A department news release says Mi Casita operates nine restaurants in Arkansas. The business failed to reinstate an employee to the same or an equivalent position after they returned from family and medical leave, then fired the worker after the worker refused to report to another restaurant location in another town miles away, according to the release.
The department determined the employer owes the former employee lost hourly wages and wages from tips for the more than five months this person spent obtaining another job, as well as $204 to the state for the violations.
"An employer's compliance with the Family and Medical Leave Act is never optional. An employee eligible for this protected leave must be allowed to exercise their right to use it without fear of losing their job," said Hanz Grunauer, wage and hour district director in Little Rock.