Summary:
On Friday, April 1, 2016, Fitapelli & Schaffer, LLP along with Werman Salas P.C. filed a class and collective action lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois against P.F. Chang’s China Bistro, Inc. (“P.F. Chang’s” or “Defendant”). The lawsuit is filed on behalf of all servers, bussers, runners, bartenders and other “Tipped Workers” who work or have worked at P.F. Chang’s China Bistro restaurants owned and/or operated by P.F. Chang’s China Bistro, Inc. in the United States.
The lawsuit alleges that P.F. Chang’s has instituted widespread practices and policies that violate their Tipped Employees’ rights under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”), Illinois Minimum Wage Law (“IMWL”), and New York Labor Law (“NYLL”). The lawsuit alleges that P.F. Chang’s failed to pay its Tipped Employees the proper minimum wage rates, overtime, off-the-clock work, and spread-of-hours, as well as misappropriating tips, making illegal deductions and failing to provide accurate wage statements and the proper annual wage notices. Specifically, the lawsuit alleges that Defendants required their Tipped Employees to regularly perform non-tipped work that was unrelated to their tipped occupation. This unrelated work was in excess of 20% of Tipped Employees’ time during individual workweeks and included but was not limited to: sweeping floors, cleaning stainless steel kitchen appliances, folding and restocking to-go food containers, emptying garbage bins, cleaning and refilling condiment containers, cutting fruit, and rolling silverware. While this work should have been compensated at the full minimum wage rate, the lawsuit alleges that P.F. Chang’s paid its Tipped Employees sub-minimum, tip-credit hourly wages in violation of the FLSA, IMWL, and NYLL.
The employment lawyers at Fitapelli & Schaffer, LLP are strongly committed to protecting the rights of hard working employees. We are seeking to represent all servers and other “Tipped Employees” who work or have worked at any of the P.F. Chang’s locations nationwide. Anyone who works or has worked at any of the P.F. Chang’s locations in the United States should contact us in order to discuss your potential rights under the FLSA. For additional information, please call the employment lawyers at Fitapelli & Schaffer, LLP at (212) 300-0375 or visit our website at www.fslawfirm.com. You can also view the complaint here.