KFC operator pays $148,000 in back wages

The Peoria-based operator of the Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants in Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin has paid $148,000 in back wages in the wake of a probe by the U.S. Department of Labor.

Weaver Enterprises Ltd., which operates KFC restaurants at 26 locations, including 17 throughout Iowa, paid the back wages to 57 current and former workers for unpaid overtime compensation.

An investigation conducted by the Labor Department's Wage and Hour Division found that Weaver Enterprises failed to pay non-exempt managers the required weekly salary of $455. The company also should have been paying them one and one-half times their regular rate of pay for hours worked over 40 a week.

Weaver Enterprises' Iowa KFC restaurants are located in Cedar Rapids, Marion, Burlington, Cedar Falls, Dubuque, Grinnell, Keokuk, Fort Dodge, Fort Madison, Mason City, Muscatine and Waterloo.

“The Labor Department's Wage and Hour Division will continue to conduct rigorous investigations to help ensure workers receive the wages to which they're entitled,” said Enrique Rodriguez, division district director in Springfield, Ill.