KALISPELL, Mont. (AP) - The owners of MudMan Burgers in Montana have paid $121,690 in back payments and penalties to former employees after the restaurant chain broke federal labor laws in 2019, the state Department of Labor and Industry said.
Officials confirmed that Potter’s Field Ministries, the restaurant chain’s affiliate, has sent all the necessary payments to its former workers, the Flathead Beacon reported on Thursday.
The state Department of Labor and Industry conducted an investigation into the company after allegations emerged that the ministries’ founders Mike and Pam Rozell enforced 60-hour workweeks, low pay and verbally abused employees.
The Rozells also ran the IGNITE missionary program, whose participants they used to staff the restaurant chain.
Potter’s Field said that individuals donated their “time and energies to serve God as an act of sacrifice and worship,” the Flathead Beacon reported.
MudMan Burgers reopened restaurants in Kalispell and Columbia Falls after closing down all its locations in 2019.
The chain now operates as a for-profit entity instead of a nonprofit.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.