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🗞️ A Flat $100 a Day for 11 Hour Shifts: San Diego Deli Ordered to Pay Six Workers Half a Million Dollars

The U.S. Department of Labor recovered $500,256 in back wages for six workers at a San Diego deli who were paid a flat $100 daily rate despite averaging 55 hour weeks, well below local minimum wage and without overtime pay.

Federal investigators have closed the books on a wage case that illustrates how a seemingly simple pay arrangement can run afoul of labor law. The Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor found that Chau Deli, doing business as A Chau Sandwich in San Diego, paid its six employees a flat $100 per day regardless of hours worked. Investigators determined that staff regularly worked 11 hour shifts, averaging 55 hours a week, which pushed their effective hourly pay below the City of San Diego's minimum wage of $17.75 an hour.

Beyond the minimum wage shortfall, the division found the employer failed to pay overtime for hours worked beyond 40 in a workweek, a core requirement of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The department calculated that each of the six workers is owed roughly $83,000, for a combined recovery of just over half a million dollars.

The case fits a broader pattern regulators have flagged in the restaurant and food service industry, where flat daily or shift based pay can obscure violations that only surface once hours worked are compared against total compensation. San Diego's minimum wage has risen steadily in recent years under a local ordinance tied to cost of living adjustments, a trend playing out in cities across California, which adds complexity for employers managing multiple pay floors across state, city and industry specific rules.

The Wage and Hour Division said it remains focused on enforcement while also offering employers tools, including a self reporting compliance program, to correct wage issues before they escalate.

Key Points

Six employees at Chau Deli (A Chau Sandwich) in San Diego were paid a flat $100 per day regardless of hours worked.
Staff averaged 55 hour workweeks with shifts often lasting 11 hours.
The flat rate pushed workers' effective pay below the City of San Diego's local minimum wage.
The employer also failed to pay legally required overtime for hours worked beyond 40 per week, violating the Fair Labor Standards Act.
The Department of Labor recovered $500,256 in total back wages, about $83,000 per worker.
The agency pointed employers toward voluntary compliance resources, including its PAID self reporting program, to avoid similar violations.