STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich. – Four Leo’s Coney Island branches in Oakland, Macomb, and Wayne counties are owned by a man accused of shredding the time cards that included his workers’ overtime hours.
The United States Department of Labor announced the accusations against Kyriakos “Ken” Vlahadamis, the operator and co-owner of branches in Clarkston, Dearborn, Livonia, and Sterling Heights.
Vlahadamis has “a history of defying overtime regulations and shortchanging employees’ wages,” the release says.
In essence, officials said Vlahadamis kept two separate sets of timecards for his employees: one for hours worked under 40 per week and another for hours over 40 per week.
Investigators accuse Vlahadamis of shredding the timecards used to record overtime hours. He would pay workers straight-time rates for all of their hours, even though they should have received an additional 50% of their salary for overtime hours, investigators said.
The Office of the Solicitor asked for a temporary restraining order on July 8. Vlahadamis and the companies agreed to the injunction, which was approved July 15.
Under the terms of the preliminary injunction, Vlahadamis agreed to keep accurate timecards and stop denying employees their rightful pay.
He also agreed not to talk about the litigation with workers or retaliate against anyone for cooperating with the investigation.
Officials asked the court to hold Vlahadamis accountable for violating a 2018 court order forbidding him from breaking the Fair Labor Standards Act. He was told back then not to have any additional overtime or record-keeping violations.
“Our investigations have found that, despite agreeing to comply with a 2018 court order forbidding him from future federal wage violations, Ken Vlahadamis was again denying his employees their full wages by refusing to pay overtime and keep required payroll records,” Wage and Hour Division District Director Timolin Mitchell said. “His actions and refusal to follow the law are harmful to the hard-working employees who are being shortchanged by his illegal actions.”