Updated: Sep 11, 2020
Earlier this month, bartenders and servers filed suit against several Columbus-area Local Cantina restaurants for overtime and tipping violations.
Click here to see our clients doing a great job with their TV interview! We are proud of them for standing up for their fellow workers.
The workers’ allegations stem from a new policy put into place when the restaurant re-opened for business after the COVID-19 shutdown. The new policy is set to apply only to the months of May and June 2020. The servers allege the policy has two components:
– First, Local Cantina keeps all of the tips received by servers and bartenders.
– Second, Local Cantina pays servers and bartenders a set weekly rate, and do not pay overtime when the employees work it.
The workers allege that the restaurant’s new policy violates state and federal minimum wage and overtime laws. Employers are never permitted to keep tips left by customers for their employees. Also, employees who do not qualify for any “exemption” from the federal wage law must receive overtime wages when they work over 40 hours. The servers and bartenders allege that they are not subject to any exemption.
Check out Biller & Kimble’s “Wage and Hour” page to learn more about these legal claims.
The workers allege that Defendants’ new arrangement is actually a way for the company to pocket more money by taking advantage of the federal government’s Paycheck Protection Program. Under the federal relief program, businesses are eligible for 100% loan forgiveness on loan money that is spent on payroll. The workers allege that the company’s plan is to pay out more to workers as payroll—which will be completely forgiven by the federal government—and to simultaneously keep the employees’ tips. The result, the workers allege, is that the company effectively gets free labor and gets to keep the tips paid to workers by customers.
The servers and bartenders also allege that their wage and hour violations predate the COVID-19 crisis: since the advent of online ordering, whenever a customer left a tip on an online to-go order, that tip was not given to the servers or bartenders.
Do you work in a restaurant that recently changed your compensation in the months of May and June 2020? Is your employer keeping your tips?
If so, you might have a claim for unpaid wages and stolen tips. Contact our firm at 513-901-8130 for a free consultation, or complete the form below and we will contact you.
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Past results obtained by Biller & Kimble, LLC are no guarantee of future results. Each case or matter is different and must be judged on its own merits.