Summary:
On Wednesday, December 1, 2021, Fitapelli & Schaffer filed a class and collective action lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York against The Boatyard Grill, LLC (“The Boatyard Grill” or “Defendant”). The lawsuit is filed on behalf of all servers, bussers, runners, bartenders, and other “Tipped Workers” who work or worked at The Boatyard Grill restaurant owned and/or operated by The Boatyard Grill, LLC and Mark Campagnolo.
The lawsuit alleges that The Boatyard Grill instituted widespread practices and policies that violate their Tipped Workers’ rights under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”), and New York Labor Law (“NYLL”). Specifically, the lawsuit alleges that The Boatyard Grill failed to pay its Tipped Workers the proper minimum wage rates, overtime compensation, made unlawful automatic meal credit deductions, failed to reimburse for uniform purchases, spread of hours pay, as well as failing to provide accurate wage statements and the proper annual wage notices. Specifically, the lawsuit alleges that Defendants required their Tipped Workers to regularly perform non-tipped work, known as side work, that was unrelated to their tipped occupation. This side work was in excess of 20% of Tipped Employees’ time during individual workweeks and included but was not limited to: 1) cleaning the training room, 2) preparing butter sheet trays, 3) emptying garbage cans throughout the restaurant, 4) filling salad toppings into bus tubs and refilling salt, pepper, and salad dressing containers, 5) rolling silverware, 6) prepping the restaurant’s five posi- stations, which involves cleaning, restocking it with silverware, napkins, candles, to-go containers, and condiments; 9) preparing the fry station, which involves placing ice in the cooling bin and making sure that utensils are clean and available; 10) and filling water pitchers, among other tasks. While this work should have been compensated at the full minimum wage rate, the lawsuit alleges that The Boatyard Grill paid its Tipped Workers sub-minimum, tip-credit hourly wages in violation of the FLSA, and NYLL.
The employment lawyers at Fitapelli & Schaffer, LLP are strongly committed to protecting the rights of hard working employees. We are seeking to represent all servers and other “Tipped Workers” who work or have worked at The Boatyard Grill. Anyone who works or has at The Boatyard Grill should contact us in order to discuss your potential rights under the FLSA. For additional information, please call the employment lawyers at Fitapelli & Schaffer, LLP at (212) 300-0375 or visit our website here.
You can also view the complaint here.