OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) A popular barbecue restaurant in Oklahoma City is accused of keeping thousands of dollars from its own employees.

The United States Department of Labor found multiple violations against the owner of Edge Craft BBQ in Oklahoma City.

The owner of Edge Craft BBQ has to pay $66,000 in back wages for 13 employees after the Department of Labor said he would keep their tips.

“What was happening in this situation was the employer was keeping all of their tips for himself and was using it for operations purposes,” said Michael Speer, Director of the Wage and Hour Division.

The wage and hour division investigation revealed that employees would work beyond 40 hours in a week, but the restaurant did not properly compensate workers for overtime.

“One was the Pitmaster, and he spent all of his time making the food, getting there early in the morning, stayed until late and he was a salary employee, but because of the nature of his work, was manual and not a supervisory type role, he was eligible for over time,” said Speer.

Investigators found that some workers were paid a flat day rate regardless of the hours worked and that the owner would keep all of his tips for himself.

“Managers and owners cannot be involved in a tip pool arrangement. They cannot be receiving any tips from customers unless it’s specific to someone that they’re serving themselves,” said Speer.

affiliate KFOR went to ask the owner for his side. He said everything has been settled, and he has agreed to pay those 13 employees the money they are owed.

“I think the whole situation is is a bunch of B.S. honestly, there was no mal-intent on our side. We just misinterpreted a rule and they tried to throw the hammer at us, we just settled the best way we could,” said Zach Edge, Owner of Edge Craft BBQ.

The Department of Labor says the owner of Edge Craft BBQ is making payments every month to their wage and labor division.

Once they receive all the money owed, the department will then issue checks on the owners behalf to all 13 employees.