Mystic — The famed Mystic Pizza restaurant has been ordered by the state to pay 110 workers a total of $105,000 for failing to pay minimum wage or overtime. The payment doesn’t include more than $23,000 in civil penalties for violating wage laws.

At least one worker was expected to get more than $15,000 in back pay, while the smallest amount was $30. The Mystic Pizza brand was featured in a Julia Roberts movie of the same name, and the restaurant continues to be a large draw among tourists passing by the eatery at 56 W. Main St.

The state Department of Labor said Thursday that it received three complaints alleging restaurant owner John Zelepos paid cooks and dishwashers as little as $5.69 an hour, or about $3 less than minimum wage. Others were getting $7.40 an hour, compared with the state minimum of $8.70, according to the state.

“Unfortunately, we find situations similar to this far too often,” said Gary K. Pechie, director of the department’s Wage and Workplace Standards division, in a statement.

Zelepos did not return a call seeking comment.

A former employee who made a complaint against the restaurant emailed The Day to alert a reporter about the Mystic Pizza wage issue.

“I came to find out at the beginning of this past summer that Mystic Pizza had been underpaying ... the whole time I worked there (everybody who worked there, excluding waitresses),” said the worker, who asked not to be identified.

The discovery came when he was applying for a job at another pizza restaurant, he said.

A subsequent investigation determined that between May 2012 and June 2014 employees who worked up to 93 hours a week did not get any overtime pay, the state said. Zelepos was found to have paid these workers under the table for the extra hours, which were never officially recorded, according to the labor department.

The department added that it is currently investigating a complaint that one Mystic Pizza employee was fired in retaliation for disclosing wage violations. The labor department is required to hold a hearing if the two sides cannot agree to a resolution of the issue in mediation and arbitration, said labor department spokeswoman Nancy Steffens.

Two years ago, the owners of Mystic Pizza, including Zelepos, had more than $60,000 seized from a Chelsea Groton Bank account in their names after a criminal investigation by the Internal Revenue Service. The IRS at the time would release no information on why the money had been seized, though statutes cited in a notice were related to money laundering.

Mystic Pizza is not associated with Mystic Pizza II, a North Stonington restaurant.

Complaints about wage issues can be made by downloading a form at www.ct.gov/dol or calling (860) 263-6790.

l.howard@theday.com

Twitter: @KingstonLeeHow