The Beatrice Inn , a critically acclaimed high end “chop house” restaurant located in New York City, has just been hit with a class action lawsuit in order to help recover owed wages. The lawsuit alleges that the Beatrice Inn owes its employees minimum wages, overtime compensation, misappropriated tips, and other damages. Affected workers include captains, bartenders, barbacks, and other similarly situated non-managerial employees, commonly referred to as “tipped workers”. Fitapelli & Schaffer, LLP, the employment law firm handling the case, understands that the restaurant industry has an unfortunate history of short changing its tipped workers and has had many successes recovering money for its clients.
According to the lawsuit, the Beatrice Inn violated the New York Labor Law (“NYLL”) by:
- Requiring tipped workers to share tips with employees who were not entitled to receive them under the NYLL including, but not limited to, Bar Managers and Silverware Polishers;
- Requiring tipped workers to spend more than 2 hours and/or 20% of their shift performing non-tip producing side work such as general cleaning of the restaurant and stocking and cleaning service areas; and
- Failing to provide written notice of the tip credit minimum wage rate to tipped workers.
These potential violations kept tipped workers from keeping all of the tips that they earned and earning hourly wages at the proper minimum wage rate.
This lawsuit hopes to be brought as a class to ensure all those who were affected by these potential violations recover their hard earned wages. If you or a loved one worked for the Beatrice Inn as a captain, bartender, barback, or other non-managerial employee, you may have a claim. Call (212) 300-0375 for a free phone consultation or visit our website for more information. You may also read the filed complaint here.