Business Briefs: Oct. 26, 2011

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Huddle House cited over labor

Nearly 30 Huddle House restaurants in Georgia, Missouri and West Virginia must pay fines and back pay for workers after federal authorities found franchises had "significant" violations of labor laws, including breaking child labor laws.

The U.S. Department of labor ordered that 128 employees of the Atlanta-based restaurant chain will get $60,594 in owed wages after investigators said some workers were not paid minimum wage or did not receive correct overtime pay. The investigation covered Huddle House restaurants in Calhoun, Cedartown, Rome and Summerville, among other locations.

TVA signs pact for DC line

The Tennessee Valley Authority has signed a memorandum of understanding with a Houston company that wants to build a direct current transmission line to connect windmills in Oklahoma and Texas to power users in the Tennessee Valley.

Plains and Eastern Clean LLC announced Tuesday it will explore "the full range of benefits" that a high-voltage, direct-current transmission project might provide to TVA. The proposed $3.5 billion project would use direct current rather than the alternating current of most electric lines and could carry 7,000 megawatts of new, clean energy over 800 miles of transmission lines to TVA connection points in Memphis.