An Oregon Thai food chain with a restaurant in Bend was formally charged Tuesday with civil rights violations by state regulators.

The Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries accuses the Typhoon restaurant chain of imposing low pay, long hours and strict contracts on cooks recruited from Thailand while not doing the same to non-Thai workers.

“Equal pay for equal work is a fundamental right in our workplaces,” Brad Avakian, state labor commissioner, said in a written statement. “The evidence shows that Typhoon paid one class of workers less than another because of their national origin.”

The case is set to go before an administrative law judge May 15. The Bureau of Labor and Industries is seeking at least $250,000 in damages for each employee it says was discriminated against.

The number of employees involved was not immediately available.

The owners of Typhoon have said the Bureau of Labor and Industries’ accusations are politically motivated, with Avakian trying to garner publicity.

Avakian ran unsuccessfully this year to be the Democratic nominee to replace David Wu, who represented counties near Portland and resigned last August. A special election to replace him with either Democratic state Sen. Suzanne Bonamici or Republican business consultant Rob Cornilles is set for next month.

Steve Kline, who owned Typhoon with his wife, Bo Kline, died this year, said Bob Estabrook, spokesman for the Bureau of Labor and Industries. He said Bo Kline is still running the company.

According to the Typhoon website, the chain has restaurants in Portland, Beaverton, Gresham, Bend and Redmond, Wash.

In July, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals awarded a former Typhoon worker $270,000 for mistreatment by management at the chain’s downtown Portland restaurant. The worker came to the U.S. from Thailand on an E-2 visa to work as a cook.

The Bureau of Labor and Industries’ charges also focus on cooks with E-2 visas, Estabrook said. The visas, he said, are for workers with unique skills that aren’t commonly available where the job is offered.

He said Typhoon would recruit top cooks in Thailand and then have them “come over here to be taught the company recipe and be paid minimum wage.”