US Department of Labor finds child labor and wage violations at 3 San Antonio bakery and café locations
SAN ANTONIO – The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered thousands in back wages and assessed penalties after a federal investigation revealed child labor, minimum wage, and overtime violations by the operators of three La Panaderia Bakery & Café locations in San Antonio.The department’s Wage and Hour Division investigated the pay practices of Tequila Almond Croissant LLC, Pan Dulce LLC, and SA Bakery Co. LLC.
The U.S. Department of Labor has concluded its investigation into three San Antonio bakery locations operating under the La Panaderia name, and the findings are a textbook case of how small operational shortcuts compound into federal violations.
The department's Wage and Hour Division recovered back wages and assessed penalties against Tequila Almond Croissant LLC, Pan Dulce LLC, and SA Bakery Co. LLC. The violations span the full spectrum of the Fair Labor Standards Act: child labor, minimum wage, and overtime. A 13-year-old was employed below the legal age, a 15-year-old was permitted to work overnight, and one worker was never paid for two overnight shifts. The child labor violations alone drew a $25,706 civil money penalty.
The overtime issue is the most instructive detail. The employers failed to combine hours for employees who worked at multiple café locations, paying straight-time rates instead of the required time-and-one-half. This is a common error in multi-site operations, where payroll systems treat each location as a separate silo. The law, however, looks at the employer as a whole. When an employee's total hours across all locations exceed the threshold, overtime is due.
For any business running multiple locations, the lesson is straightforward: payroll compliance is not optional, and it is not a matter of administrative convenience. The Department of Labor offers compliance assistance toolkits and a self-reporting program for employers who want to correct potential violations before an investigation finds them. The agency also provides a free timesheet app for workers to track their own hours.
The penalties here are modest in absolute terms, but they carry a signal. Federal labor enforcement is active, and it is looking at the details that operators often overlook. The cost of ignoring those details is not just the back wages and penalties; it is the reputational weight of a public enforcement action. For employers in labor-intensive industries, the prudent move is to audit their own practices before the government does it for them.