The owner of an Island bakery says she intends to resolve a wage dispute with two employees that resulted in a federal lawsuit late last month.

Bakers Claire Depasquale and Christopher Mueller worked at Juli Vanderhoop’s Orange Peel Bakery in Aquinnah this past summer, and filed a suit against the bakery in U.S. District Court on Jan. 29. The pair allege they were not paid for overtime when working in excess of 40 hours, were not given their tips and when wages were paid, they were often late. 

Ms. Vanderhoop, who serves as an Aquinnah select board member, said the employees should have been back-paid prior and called the situation an “oversight” while the business was being converted to a limited liability company and its bookkeeper was sick.  

“I think it’s going to be worked out pretty easily,” Ms. Vanderhoop said in an interview Wednesday. 

Ms. Depasquale and Mr. Mueller started working at Orange Peel in May 2023 and stayed there until late September. According to the lawsuit, their first wage was not given to them until July. 

When the popular eatery held pizza nights, the bakers said they would often work about 60 hours a week but were not paid time and a half for the additional hours, the lawsuit alleges. 

The two also accepted the cash and online payment transactions for baked goods but said they never received any of the tips that were given by customers, the 10-page suit contends. 

Ms. Depasquale and Mr. Mueller are asking a judge to award them unpaid overtime wages with interest and to award damages. 

“The failure of an employer to pay employees their earned tips and overtime wages can be devastating for seasonal workers,” the bakers’ attorney Matthew Patton said in a statement. 

Ms. Vanderhoop founded Orange Peel Bakery in 2006. The small Aquinnah outpost is known for its baked goods, outdoor oven-fired pizzas and community events. 

Such an issue had never happened in the past, according to Ms. Vanderhoop, and she said she was “horrified” about the payment problems described in the lawsuit. 

“It’s a human error,” she said. “I think it’s going to be not a problem. I think everyone’s going to be satisfied... I’m not trying to do that to my people.”