Maine sports bars ordered to pay back wages, penalties after labor violations

Three Maine sports bars were ordered to pay $51,775 in back wages to 47 employees and $31,436 in civil money penalties after federal investigators found Fair Labor Standards Act minimum wage, overtime and child labor violations at locations in Biddeford, Scarborough and Westbrook.

The consent judgment and order were entered June 4, 2026, in U.S. District Court for the District of Maine, resolving a case against Cowbell Rock Row LLC, Cowbell Hospitality LLC and Cowbell Hospitality 2 LLC, which operated as Cowbell Rock Row, Cowbell Biddeford and Cowbell Scarborough. The Labor Department said the businesses failed to pay some workers for all hours worked, did not provide proper overtime compensation, altered timecards to hide hours, did not combine hours worked across locations and misclassified some employees as exempt. At one location, the company also violated hours rules for two minor employees.

Wage and Hour Division District Director Steven McKinney said non-exempt employees must be paid for all hours worked, including time-and-a-half after 40 hours in a workweek. In restaurant operations, that kind of mistake often starts with messy scheduling, split shifts and crews moving between units, then ends with a paper trail that can support back pay claims, penalties and a federal judgment. For managers, the immediate check is payroll records: verify every hour is captured, overtime is triggered correctly and anyone working across locations is combined into one workweek calculation.

Cowbell’s footprint in southern Maine made the case more visible. Alex Markakis and Jimmy Albert had opened seven restaurants and bars since 2016, and the Rock Row location in Westbrook opened in late April 2023 with about 25 televisions, seating for roughly 200 people and a buildout that cost a little over $2 million. With locations in Westbrook, Biddeford and Scarborough, the business relied on the kind of fast-moving labor structure that can hide wage problems until a complaint or audit forces the numbers into the open.

The Labor Department directed workers and employers with questions to its toll-free helpline, 866-4US-WAGE, and pointed them to its PAID self-audit program, industry compliance toolkits and free timesheet app. For restaurant operators, the warning is plain: review payroll, scheduling and any tip-credit setup now, before small recordkeeping errors turn into back wages, penalties and a public enforcement action.