Calling itself the “oldest BBQ joint in Texas,” Black’s Barbeque was ordered by the U.S. Department of Labor to return $230,353 to hundreds of employees after the agency completed a wage and our investigation into the Lockhart-based restaurant chain. According to the DOL, Black’s illegally gave employee tips to restaurant managers.

“Food service industry employers must know that tips are the property of tipped employees who earn them, plain and simple,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Nicole Sellers in Austin, Texas. “Workers and their families depend on their rightfully earned wages and benefits. If you take from them, you take from their families.”

The Fair Labor Standards Act prohibits employers, managers and supervisors from keeping tips the business’ employees receive for any purposes, whether or not the employer takes a tip credit.

Read the DOL’s statement here.