LITCHFIELD — Passaconaway Country Club LLC of Litchfield was ordered to pay $4,253.17 in back wages to 41 employees after a state Department of Labor hearing.

Hearing officer Melissa J. Delorey upheld the findings of a Labor Department investigator that Passaconaway underpaid the workers at Passaconaway Country Club and Hidden Creek Country Club in amounts ranging from as little as $1.56 to as much as $1,219.56.

Passaconaway managing member Joy Charbonneau referred a reporter to attorney Morgan Hollis, who represented the club. Hollis did not immediately return a phone call.

“Passaconaway cooperated, they participated and when they were found to be liable, they stepped up and made the payment,” Martin Jenkins, legal counsel at N.H. Department of Labor, said Tuesday.

Delorey, in a July 10 order, said Passaconaway paid banquet employees $2.50 to $2.75 per hour when they were entitled under state law to the minimum wage of $7.25 because they did not receive tips directly from customers, a labor department investigator found.

Passaconaway asked the hearing officer to credit it for tips it collected and distributed to the employees, which it said netted the employees upwards of $10 per hour.

Delorey wrote that there was no basis in state law to credit Passaconaway to credit the tip income toward meeting the minimum-wage requirement.

Passaconaway also failed to pay the minimum two hours of pay for employees who reported to work, the Labor Department found.

The inspection covered the period from April 1, 2009, to April 1, 2012.

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