Ex-Employee Sues Yamato Japanese Steakhouse & Sushi Bar Over Alleged Wage Violations

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Taiyo International Inc. and the company’s president are facing a former employee’s lawsuit over claims that the defendants failed to pay the plaintiff proper wages and submitted fraudulent payroll information to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

The defendants operate multiple Yamato Japanese Steakhouse & Sushi Bar restaurants in Florida, according to the case. The plaintiff claims that during his tenure, he regularly worked in excess of 40 hours each week at the defendants’ Pasco County restaurant location without receiving the federally mandated minimum wage rate for each hour worked, nor time-and-a-half pay for overtime work.  

Moreover, the case charges the defendants maintained a practice of underreporting employees’ earnings to the IRS. From the complaint:

“The W-2 forms filed by Defendants during the statutory period did not list the worker's actual earnings, and excluded that portion of the workers' earnings that were paid ‘off the books’. By filing the fraudulent W-2 forms, Defendants substantially reduced its obligation for payment of taxes pursuant to the Federal Insurance Contributions Act and the Federal Unemployment Tax Act.”

When the plaintiff confronted the defendants about these supposedly unlawful practices, he was reportedly told, “[W]hen we pay you via payroll, you have to pay more taxes so it's better if we pay you cash.” These alleged payroll practices were “part of a scheme” to lessen the defendants’ tax obligations, the suit says, and left employees subject to “substantial income tax liability” and reduced Social Security earnings.