Horsham restaurant must pay meat servers back overtime

Are the "gauchos" who cut and serve meat in the Brazilian style at the NaBrasa Brazilian Steakhouse in Horsham professionals who, therefore, don't qualify for overtime?

The restaurant said sim - Portuguese for yes - but the U.S. Department of Labor said nao, so the restaurant has agreed to pay $110,000 in back wages to 42 employees.

Professionals generally don't qualify for overtime pay, according to the U.S. Fair Labor Standards Act.

NaBrasa owner Celso Leite describes the gauchos as professionals.

Gauchos, he said, have to learn to butcher beef, lamb, pork, and chicken to produce the tenderest, tastiest of cuts and serve them tableside.

"It takes years to develop this," said Leite, one of the owners of 681 Complex Inc., which operates two restaurants - NaBrasa and Iron Abbey Gastro Pub - from the same kitchen and building.

"The employer incorrectly concluded that gauchos, because they train for six months to a year in the art of preparing and serving meats in the Brazilian tradition, qualified as professional employees . . . exempt from overtime," said Stewart Bostic, who heads the local office of the Labor Department's Wage and Hour Division.

"Our investigators found that the duties of the gauchos are more dependent on skill and precision, rather than originality and talent," Bostic said in a statement.

Investigators also found that some kitchen staff were paid a flat salary that did not include overtime and sometimes fell short of the minimum wage of $7.25 an hour for a 60-hour workweek.

Leite said that it was a bookkeeping issue, and that "it's all been corrected."