Wisconsin El Azteca owners violated wage laws, feds say
Owners and operators of four Wisconsin El Azteca restaurants — a chain that had a troubled presence in Greater Des Moines — have been ordered to pay $700,000 in back wages and damages to 129 workers, according to a U.S. Department of Labor press release. Many employees at Wisconsin restaurants in Appleton, De Pere and Neenah received wages below the federal minimum wage and often were not paid overtime, federal investigators found. Under a Wisconsin federal court consent judgment, the restaurants and their owners and managers — Marco Montalvo, Fe Montalvo and Sergio Jimenez — will pay current and former employees $350,000 in back wages, $350,000 in liquidated damages, and $25,000 in penalties. The judgment resolves a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Labor in 2015. El Azteca, at one time, had restaurants in Pleasant Hill, downtown Des Moines and Ankeny. The manager of the Pleasant Hill location was charged in 2013 with distributing child pornography from the restaurant.