The "tip credit", payment of minimum wage, working off the clock and overtime are all at issue in a class action lawsuit by restaurant workers against Darden Restaurants. Nearly 20,000 present and/or former employees of Darden Restaurants have joined in a suit claiming that the company failed to pay minimum wages, required waiters and waitresses to work off the clock, and failed to pay overtime wages. Darden Restaurants is one of the country's largest restaurant companies operating over 2000 restaurants including Olive Garden, Red Lobster, Longhorn Steakhouse, Capital Grille, Bahamas Breeze and Seasons 52 restaurants.
Source: Orlando Sentinel
The suit was reported in an earlier post: Wages Suit Against Darden Restaurants Grows.
One of the issues in this case is the application of the tip credit. Both federal and Kentucky state law apply a "tip credit" to employees such as waitresses and bartenders that customarily receive and rely upon receiving tips from customers to get most of their pay. But the "tip credit" is not properly applied where the waitress or bartender spends a disproportionate amount of time performing job duties and working for which they will not receive any tips. For this type of work, the "tip credit" does not apply but the regular minimum wage does.
Lexington wages and overtime lawyer Robert Abell represents individuals and employees seeking to recover the wages and/or overtime they've earned but not been paid.
