Governor Andrew Cuomo’s administration has announced today that the New York State sub-minimum wage rate for all tipped workers will be raised to $7.50 an hour at the end of 2015. This is a substantial and well warranted increase from the current tipped wage rate of $5.00, and will bring the tipped wage rate much closer to the regular minimum wage rate, which will itself increase from $8.75 to $9.00 at the end of 2015.
The unprompted raise should provide a ...
Continue Reading →On January 20, 2015, in the case of Flood v. Carlson Restaurants Inc., Judge Analisa Torres of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York granted Plaintiffs’ motion for a nationwide conditional collective action certification, court-authorized notice, and expedited discovery. Plaintiffs originally commenced this action on April 17, 2014, on behalf of themselves and all similarly situated current and former tipped workers – including servers, bussers, runners, bartenders, barbacks, and hosts – employed at T.G.I. Friday’s ...
Continue Reading →As of December 29, 2014, a new bill has been signed into law amending various aspects of the New York Labor Law (“NYLL”). This includes various changes to the Wage Theft Prevention Act (“WTPA”), and how the NYLL interacts with limited liability companies, contractors, and successor employers. One of the major components of the new bill is the repeal of the WTPA’s annual wage notice requirement. Outside of the hospitality industry, which must still issue new pay notices to their ...
Continue Reading →On December 19, 2014, Fitapelli & Schaffer, LLP filed a class action lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York against the owners and operators of “District 12”, a bar and restaurant located at 4892 Broadway, New York, New York 10034 on behalf of all cooks, line cooks, food preparers, dishwashers, and other “Non-Exempt Workers” who have worked there.
The Plaintiff class in this lawsuit submits that they were subjected to widespread policies which violated ...
Continue Reading →Fitapelli & Schaffer, LLP filed a class action lawsuit on December 19, 2014, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York against the owners of “Stars Staffing Services”, “SPS Resources, Inc.”, “Hornblower Group Inc.”, “Hornblower Yachts, Inc., and “Hornblower New York, LLC” on behalf of all servers, bussers, bartenders, barbacks, and other “Tipped Workers” who have worked for Star Staffing Services (“Star Staffing”), and all Tipped Workers who have worked for Star Hospitality Group at ...
Continue Reading →On December 18. 2014, a Magistrate Judge in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York ordered that, in the case of Scott v. Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc., certain documents alleged to be covered by the Defendant’s Attorney-Client Privilege were put in issue by the Defendants, and were therefore not protected by any privilege.
In this class action wage and hour case, Plaintiffs allege that Defendants incorrectly classified the “apprentice” position as non-exempt, resulting in the ...
On December 18, 2014, Fitapelli & Schaffer, LLP filed a class action lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York against Petco Animal Supplies Stores, Inc. (“Petco”) on behalf of all pet stylists, groomers, and bathers who have worked at any Petco location nationwide.
The lawsuit alleges that Petco has instituted widespread unlawful policies which burden the rights of their employees and are in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”), in addition ...
Fitapelli & Schaffer, LLP filed a class action lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York against the owners of “The Russian Tea Room”, located at 150 W. 57th Street, New York, New York 10019 on behalf of all servers, bussers, runners, baristas, bartenders, barbacks, and other “Tipped Workers” who have worked there.
The lawsuit alleges that the owners of this restaurant have instituted widespread policies which violate the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) ...
On November 19, 2014, Fitapelli & Schaffer, LLP filed a class action lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York against the owners of “The Palm” restaurants, including New York locations such as: “The Palm” located at 250 West 50th Street; “The Palm” located at 837 Second Avenue; “The Palm Too” located at 840 Second Avenue; “The Palm Restaurant” located at 206 West Street; “The Palm Restaurant at Huntting Inn” located at 94 Main ...
Continue Reading →On November 19, 2014, Fitapelli & Schaffer, LLP filed a class action lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York against the owners of Souen Soho, Souen Noodle, and Souen 13 (the “Souen Restaurants”) on behalf of all food preparers, salad preparers, dishwashers, pantry workers, food packagers, servers, bussers, delivery persons, and other “Non-Exempt workers” who have worked at these restaurants.
The lawsuit alleges that the owners of these restaurants have instituted widespread unlawful policies ...
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