A federal consent judgment requiresfour Leo’s Coney Island franchisesin metro Detroit to pay more than $500,000 to over 100 employees who weren't paid overtime wages, the U.S. Department of Labor announced on Thursday, July 30.
The order, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan in May, requires franchise operator Sterling Ponds Plaza LLC, and Kyriakos ‘Ken’ Vlahadamis, the restaurants’ co-owner and operator, to pay 143 employees $515,857 in overtime wages and damages.
The four Leo’s franchises under Sterling Ponds LLC include Leo’s Coney Island in Clarkston, Dearborn, Livonia and Sterling Heights.
The defendants also must pay $73,784 in penalties and $10,000 in attorney fees to resolve a contempt petition from 2018
that claimed they violated a settlement agreement.
Officials at the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division said the ownership group paid workers straight-time rates for all hours worked over 40 when they were legally obligated to pay them time-and-a-half their regular rate under the Wages and the Fair Labor Standards Act.
The ownership group maintained two sets of timecards for employees to separate regular hours worked up to 40 per week from overtime hours worked.
"The division’s investigators also alleged that the timecards tracking overtime hours were regularly destroyed," a news release says.
The two parties settled the matter as part of a global settlement on June 15, 2026, according to court documents.
With origins dating back to 1914, Leo’s Coney Island opened its first location in 1982 in Farmington Hills and began franchising in 2005. Founded using a limited menu offering fries, burgers and Greek salads, its current offerings include Greek specialties and breakfast. There are more than 70 Leo’s Coney Island locations in Michigan.
This case relates to the four Leo’s Coney Island franchises co-owned and operated by Vlahadamis.
Vlahadamis was accused by the U.S. Department of Labor of shortchanging employees' pay in July 2024.
Hometown Life contributed reporting.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Coney Island franchisee must pay OT wages. How they shortchanged workers
