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A kind of proletariat fever appears to be sweeping through some of New York's finest restaurants. Forget picket lines, though. These workers are dragging their celebrity-chef bosses to court.
As the Wall Street Journal reports, famed Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto is the latest in a string of prominent restaurateurs to face lawsuits alleging violations of state and federal labor laws. A former employee of his New York City restaurant, Morimoto, is filing suit for depriving him of tip money. A similar suit was also filed this week against chef Chris Cannon and his business partner, Michael White, purveyors of such choice cuisine as salt-cod rigatoni and swordfish-belly confit at their three-star eateries Alto, Convivio and Marea.
This comes a month after the city's seemingly most indefatigable gastronome, Mario Batali, was slapped with a federal suit by two employees who claim they were cheated out of their tips while working at Batali's flagship restaurant, Babbo. That suit has morphed into a class-action affair, with nearly 20 more angry ex-employees piling on.
Although the allegations vary, the suits generally seek unpaid wages and tips, often claiming that workers did not receive sufficient overtime pay and that their tips were improperly distributed.
"Small-, medium-, and large-sized operators have the best of intentions to comply with all the labor laws, but they are fearful that a small mistake related to a complex labor law could potentially result in a suit," one industry insider told the Wall Street Journal.
But others aren't so charitable.
As Cynthia Estlund, a professor at the New York University School of Law, put it: "I think there are a lot of practices in the restaurant industry that were going on for a long time that were ripe for litigation."
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11-12-2010 @11:13PM katie said... I agree with the NYC Prof. I fail to understand why it's legal for restaurants to disobey the minimum wage laws, paying servers and others a couple of dollars an hr. The idiotic reasoning that the workers receive tips is insane; Wall Streeters receive huge bonuses (sometimes 50 - 75 percent of their already large salary) and somehow the same reasoning doesn't apply. This needs to be examined.
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9-08-2010 @4:19PM Teri said... Can we trust the servers? They may be making fair money, but they see the owner living large and they might want a bigger piece than what is fair . Not everybody would take advantage, but I'm sure there are plenty of people who would.
9-08-2010 @6:48AM Lori said... I'd rather the servers get paid a living wage than have to tip.
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9-08-2010 @7:16AM jdl said... Sure, then they'll just add 20% to the prices on the menu. I like the "tip system". If the service stinks, I don't tip!
9-08-2010 @7:26AM april said... I always hated working someplace where you had to pool your tips. You know some people weren't honest. Also, sometimes I would have to tip out the hostess, the busboys and the bartender each a percentage and on a bad night I would go from like $30 to $10 real fast. But I would still have to pay the full taxes based on the amount of food sold, not what I took home in tips.
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9-08-2010 @5:34PM Jim said... I'm with you, April. I used to have to tip everyone else from my tips, like the damned bartender, even if I never had a customer order a drink from the bartender that night! And you're right, we still had to pay the full tax amount for the total, even though we walked out with 1/3 of what we had actually made. We have Ronald Mc Reagan (and the rest of the rotten Republican party) to thank for this, since it was his original idea to tax all tips. It's no wonder why most smart servers under-report their tips--we ALL did that in order to put gas in the tank and food on our tables. People need to revolt against being forced to pay a restaurant employee's wages via a tip while the restaurant owners grossly under-pay and over-work their employees while they themselves drive big luxury cars, live in huge houses, and collect all of the cash. And far too many restaurant owners get away with paying certain employees cash each day to avoid paying taxes on them. This definitely needs to be investigated, and has for many, many years.
9-08-2010 @7:40PM Mia said... Not to mention the illegal employees that come even cheaper than someone just trying to dodge the Taxman...
9-08-2010 @9:56AM crksr said... Just ad 15%-20% service charge to the tab. Come up with a formula as to how to distribute the proceeds among the employees. The amount of the distribution should be paid to the employee through payroll.
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9-08-2010 @10:02AM Sylvie said... I completely agree with Katie, it is insane to ignore the minimum wage law, for any job. Servers are working during their time on the clock and they should be paid at least minimum wage for that. What tips they get should be kept by the individual servers, no pooling! Pooling just allows servers who do the bare minimum to get the extra benefits earned by others. Let the servers take the rap for undeclared tips and management should stay out of it.
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9-08-2010 @5:54PM undrgrndgirl said... actually federal law ALLOWS(even encourages) restaurants to pay workers far less than "minimum wage" - they are NOT ignoring minimum wage laws...
9-08-2010 @10:27AM lynn said... It's time something was done about this abuse of employees. These guys are getting rich while the workers act as slaves. This is one industry i would never ever work in.
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9-08-2010 @8:56PM ED said... TIPPING IS A WAY TO SAY THANK YOU FOR GOOD SERVICE,I DONT EAT AT PLACES WHERE THE TIP IS ADDED TO THE BILL, I ONCE LEFT 2 CENTS ON THE TABLE THE WAITER SAID SIR! YOU ONLY LEFT 2 CENTS, I SAID THATS RIGHT ,THATS THE SERVICE WE GOT .
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9-08-2010 @11:20AM John said... I manage restaurants. My servers make over $100 in tips for a 4 hour shift. The system is what it is. How much more do you think a server is worth?
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9-08-2010 @11:40AM Fran said... It is just that kind of thinking and attitude that makes this work thankless you should be ashamed to say what is the worth of a server are you kidding they can be everything in how your product is received. Sounds like you need a lesson and quite possibly a new position along with an attitude adjustment!...Fran
9-08-2010 @12:09PM mannamedjoe said... John, What a heartless and demeaning thing to say,"how much is a server worth'! Just "how much is a manager worth'? I can tell you in one word, NOTHING! You are one manager I would walk on if I worked for you, which, I wouldn't do if I never had a job. You make all managers of restaurants look bad, come to think of it, they are!
9-08-2010 @12:58PM Mr B said... I agree with the restaurant owner. Most servers and busboys make decent money for what they do. If they don't like it they can get another job. And I think we should make sure there are no illegals in the restaurants. They should all be deported and whoever hires them should face stiff fines and jail time.
9-08-2010 @1:14PM Rob said... AND COULD YOU LIVE ON WHAT A BUSBOY TAKES HOME????? H DOES MORE WORK THAN A FRICKEN SERVER< THE COOKS DESERVE TIPS AS WELL< BUT THEY ARE PAID WELL ENOUGH NOT TO GET ANY OF THAT!
9-08-2010 @3:09PM Shirely said... They're worth at least minimum wage PLUS tips. Babysitters make more than servers.
9-08-2010 @3:18PM DMG said... PEOPLE-$100 over 4 hours is $25 per hour! That is more than I make as a CPA! This man wasn't being derogatory by questioning how much a server is worth. He is saying they make a lot of money in tips under the current system, so why does he need to pay them more? I loved being a waitress, especially on Thursday-Saturday, because I made a lot of money in tips. Also, the government actually sets a seperate minimum wage for servers and other tipped positions...
9-08-2010 @4:24PM mike said... im with you john, some people sadly a large % of them feel entitled to lots of money for just being a warm body in the system, they want more money ,simple work more, work harder ,but then thats probably not the right thing to do lol