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Wage Theft Class Action Lawsuits Overview:
- Who: Restaurant workers across the country are getting millions in settlements with their bosses for wage theft.
- Why: There were more favorable class certification rulings for plaintiffs in 2019 than in any other year in the past decade. Workers at a Chinese restaurant in San Francisco say they were inspired to sue for wage theft after learning of a similar complaint at an eatery in nearby Daly City
- Where: Recent cases took place in San Francisco and New York City.
Restaurant workers at eateries at opposite ends of the country are making headlines this week after suing their bosses for wage theft, with one group of workers reaching a $1.6 million settlement.
On Tuesday, it was reported that Z&Y Restaurant, an acclaimed Chinese restaurant in San Francisco, had settled a wage-theft case brought by immigrant employees to the tune of $1.6 million.
The lawsuit was first filed in 2018 when 22 Z&Y servers, bussers, and cooks —all Chinese or Taiwanese immigrants—claimed they were made to work 13-hour days but were only paid for the eight hours the restaurant was open.
The workers alleged that they were denied a minimum wage and never paid overtime.
Now, thanks to the class action settlement, the workers will be splitting $600,000 in back tips, while five of the employees will get $70,000 each to settle claims of retaliation, SFist reported.
The workers were reportedly inspired to file a complaint after learning of a similar complaint by 133 workers at Kome Japanese Seafood Buffet in Daly City, who won a $2.6 million wage-theft settlement last year.
Meanwhile, on the east coast, about 50 current and former employees of New York City’s Cecil Steakhouse are suing the restaurant, alleging wage theft and other illegal practices, Eater reported.
The Cecil Steakhouse class action lawsuit was filed August 11, with allegations dating back to March 2021.
Plaintiff Elijah Hardwell said he and other employees had an hour deducted from their time cards for a lunch break, regardless of whether workers took less or no time off. They also said they were paid below tipped minimum wage of $10 per hour and weren’t given proper pay documentation when they started.
Data indicates that the settlement values of wage theft class action lawsuits are on the rise.
According to a 2020 report from law firm Seyfarth, the value of the top 10 private-plaintiff wage and hour class actions in 2019 totaled $449.05 million, nearly double the 2018 total of $253.5 million.
The firm also said there were more favorable class certification rulings for plaintiffs in 2019 than in any other year in the past decade. Of the 271 wage and hour certification decisions in 2019, plaintiffs won 199 of 245 conditional certification rulings—approximately 81 percent.
More recently, the firm says certification of wage and hour class action lawsuits was granted in 84 percent of cases.
“This state of affairs is expected to explode in 2021 with a more friendly Department of Labor that makes wage theft its enforcement priority and with minimum wage increases in 25 states in 2021,” it said.
In December last year, an employee-filed class action lawsuit out of California against Walgreens reached a $4.5 million settlement over allegations of wage theft and violation of California labor laws.
Have you worked in a restaurant? Let us know your experience with wages and tips in the comments!
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6 thoughts onRestaurant Workers Are Rising Up Coast-to-Coast With Wage Theft Class Action Lawsuits
My husband works for a HUGE restaurant company in Florida. Not only are the servers only paid $5.63/hour, but they have 3% of each customer check total deducted as “tip share”….even if they get stiffed on the tip or if the customer leaves a really bad tip. There have been multiple times someone hasn’t tipped or left only a couple dollars on a big check, but the servers have to pay that tip share anyway. Worse, if the servers split a big party, the check all goes under one server’s name, and he/she is responsible for the entire tip share and taxes for the tip. The other server gets 1/2 of the tip off the top and rest comes out of the server on the check’s share. Generally, the senior server is the one on the check and it’s usually my husband. He’s had to pay tip share and taxes on money he didn’t even get.
I worked at Monterey bay canners in Sacramento calif. for 11 years and never got one break and worked 8 hrs straight and more if need but only paid for 8 hrs. Plus they work you more then 7 days straight I. A row with no day off, it’s hard thankless job!!
Add me
My daughter was working at yard house restaurant in rancho Cucamonga California. They promised her $14.50 an hour and we’re only paying her $14.00 all along. When she tried to go into their Kronos employee site to get her stubs, the portal locked her out. She has been given the run around how to reach the corporate office. Her last check was also purposely held by a disgruntled supervisor who was named as the reason my daughter felt pressured to quit.
I worked for a Laotion/Thai restaurant for 3 years. I was paid cash for my hours daily. $20 for a half day(6 1/2 hours) and $40 for a whole day(12 1/2 hours) Then as far as tips they all went to the owner and were distributed at the end of the shift to each employee. Supposedly we shared evenly. This was of course after they paid the busser and food runner out of our tips first. ( and minus anything you ate during the 12 1/2 hours you were there.
It’s about time workers unite against these crooks. I worked in a Florida restaurant as KM for 5 years all the while being ripped off in my paycheck, along with all of my other coworker cooks/preps/servers, by the “manager” and the boss himself. Sad. This is hard ass-bustin’ work…