The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $353,945 in back wages and liquidated damages for 79 employees of 12 New Jersey T-Mobile locations.

According to the USDOL, owners Morad Marashli and Kabaeil Barakat willfully denied the employees overtime wages.

Marashli operates Metro by T-Mobile locations in Bayonne, Colonia, Elizabeth and Somerset, while Barakat operates locations in Bayonne, Colonia and Elizabeth. An investigation found that both owners failed to pay employees overtime at time-and-one-half their required rates of pay when required by law and paid them in cash, off the books at a straight time rate.

These actions are in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The FLSA requires that most U.S. employees be paid at least the federal minimum wage for all hours worked and for overtime pay, at no less than time-and-one-half the rate of pay for hours worked over 40.

The USDOL assessed a civil money penalty of $38,670 “due to the employers’ willful violation of the law.”

“Morad Marashli and Kabaeil Barakat denied their sales associates the full extent of their hard-earned wages, making it harder for them to make ends meet,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Paula Ruffin in Mountainside. “Wage theft harms workers and their families and hurts responsible employers who abide by the law.”

In fiscal year 2021, the USDOL recovered more than $13 million in back wages for more than 14,000 retail workers following 2,705 retail industry investigations.

T-Mobile did not return a request for comment by press time.