Former Employee Files Unpaid Overtime Lawsuit Against Carrabba’s Restaurant

A former employee of Carrabba’s Italian Grill filed an unpaid overtime lawsuit against the restaurant chain, claiming that it failed to properly compensate for overtime.

The plaintiff, Kyley R., was formerly a restaurant manager for Carrabba’s. Kyley alleged in her unpaid overtime lawsuit that even though she consistently worked more than 60 hours a week (putting her at least 20 hours into overtime), she was not actually paid overtime for these hours, violating the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

Kyley worked as a Carrabba’s kitchen manager in an Amherst, New York restaurant from January 2013 to May 2015. While she was essentially an hourly employee during her employ with Carrabba’s, she was not paid hourly overtime when she worked more than 40 hours per week, which she did quite frequently in her duties as a manager.

While Carrabba’s has classified its restaurant managers as exempt from overtime pay, hence why they did not pay Kyley overtime, these employees should actually be considered non-exempt, according to the unpaid overtime lawsuit.

Indeed, the unpaid overtime lawsuit argues that managers at Carrabba’s perform essentially the same functions as hourly employees, with duties like greeting and waiting on customers, preparing and serving food, and clearing and setting tables, as well as cleaning the restaurant.

Because of the similarities between the functions of managers and hourly employees, managers at Carrabba’s should instead be considered non-exempt from the overtime payment requirements of FLSA, the claim states.

The unpaid overtime lawsuit was filed as a collective action, claiming that each of the 242 restaurants in the Carrabba chain follow these overtime wage practices—that is, not paying overtime and violating the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Employees and former employees of Carrabba’s who are eligible to be included in the unpaid overtime lawsuit include “salaried restaurant managers, however variously titled, including front-of-house managers, back-of-house managers, culinary/kitchen managers, service and bar managers,” the complaint states.

Wage and Hour Regulations

There are a series of both federal and state wage and hour laws put in place to protect workers and ensure they are treated fairly. However, many workers across the country do not know the protections that the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) offers, which can lead to employers taking advantage of them, in some cases requiring unpaid overtime work despite the illegality of doing so.

Some workers may find themselves unable to file wage and hour complaints like this unpaid overtime lawsuit because they are not aware of FLSA rules. Other workers may be afraid that their employers will retaliate or even fire them if they speak up about these kinds of FLSA violations.

However, to protect workers who help to enforce FLSA rules, laws also exist to protect workers from discrimination based on wage and hour complaints.

Filing an Unpaid Overtime Lawsuit

If you have worked for an employer like Carrabba’s that may have failed to follow the Fair Labor Standards Act or state labor laws, such as unpaid overtime requirements, you may be able to either join a wage and hour class action lawsuit or file a suit of your own.

Join a Free Wage & Hour Class Action Lawsuit Investigation

If you were forced to work off the clock or without overtime pay within the past 3 years, you have rights – and you don’t have to take on the company alone.

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