On January 20, 2015, in the case of Flood v. Carlson Restaurants Inc., Judge Analisa Torres of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York granted Plaintiffs’ motion for a nationwide conditional collective action certification, court-authorized notice, and expedited discovery. Plaintiffs originally commenced this action on April 17, 2014, on behalf of themselves and all similarly situated current and former tipped workers – including servers, bussers, runners, bartenders, barbacks, and hosts – employed at T.G.I. Friday’s restaurants nationwide. The complaint alleged that Defendants failed to pay their employees at an overtime rate of time and one half for all over worked over 40 per workweek and also unlawfully paid employees less than the full statutory minimum wage while failing to properly avail themselves of the federal “tip credit.” and also shaved hours and required employees to work off the clock.
Plaintiffs’ recent motion however revolved not around the specific claims, but around the appropriateness of a collective action to settle those claims. In that regard, the court applies a two-step method to assess whether or not they will certify a collective action. The Plaintiffs must initially make a modest factual showing that they and potential opt-in plaintiffs were similarly the victims of a common policy or plan that violated the law. Later on, after plaintiffs have opted-in and there has been sufficient discovery, the district court will conduct a more stringent analysis upon a full record to decide whether the additional plaintiffs are similarly situated to the original plaintiffs. In addressing the first step, the court looked at declarations from Plaintiffs and other tipped workers, which all contained very similar allegations of Defendants’ unlawful policies. Plaintiffs also offered evidence that Defendants expressed centralized control over individual T.G.I. Friday’s locations, which endorses the idea that their policies are widespread and substantially similar among the different restaurant locations. For example, Plaintiffs introduced handbooks given to the employees at different T.G.I. Friday’s restaurants which all provide the same compensation, time-keeping, and career development information.
The NYC employment lawyers at Fitapelli & Schaffer are looking to represent all servers, bussers, runners, bartenders, barbacks, hosts, and other current and former tipped workers who are or have been employed by T.G.I. Friday’s restaurants nationwide. Please contact us at (212) 300-0375 to schedule a free consultation to further discuss if you are qualified to opt-in. For more information, please visit our website at www.fslawfirm.com.