The former owners of a Kennewick restaurant are being told to pay $531,000 in back wages and damages to underpaid employees, the U.S. Labor Department said Wednesday.

Guang Ri Weng and Zhen Fang Weng and their company Wok King International Buffet Inc. were sued by the department after an investigation showed they had violated minimum wage, overtime and record-keeping portions of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

"Wage and Hour Division investigators found that some Wok King International Buffet employees worked an average of 63 hours a week without proper overtime compensation, and some earned wages as low as $1.93 per hour," said Donna Hart, director of the division's Seattle office.

"Unfortunately, this case is just one example of violations often found in the restaurant industry, which employs many vulnerable workers -- nonnative English speakers and others who are not aware of their rights under federal law," Hart said.

The Herald was unable to locate Guang Ri Weng or Zhen Fang Weng for comment Wednesday.

The judgment was the culmination of a lawsuit filed by the Labor Department in 2009 alleging Wok King had violated federal wage and hour laws for 41 employees between March 17, 2007, just before the restaurant opened, and Aug. 23. 2008, court documents said.

The restaurant was sold in late December 2008.

Individual payments owed to employees range from $309 to more than $71,000.

Weng and Weng have three years to locate and pay the employees, court documents said. Money owed to employees they are unable to locate is to be paid into the U.S. Treasury.

-- Michelle Dupler: 582-1543; mdupler@tricityherald.com