Summary:
On Monday, April 17, 2017 Fitapelli & Schaffer, LLP filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of two servers and their similarly situated co-workers who worked at Pubbelly Sushi located at 1424 20th Street, Miami Beach, Florida 33139. Pubbelly Sushi has received rave reviews in the Miami area, and has gone on to open an additional brick and mortar location in Brickell City Centre, a pop up shop in the American Airlines Arena’s Dewar’s VIP Lounge, and a marketplace in the Aventura Mall The lawsuit seeks to recover minimum wages, overtime wages, and other damages for servers, bussers, runners, bartenders and other “Tipped Workers” who worked at the Miami Beach location.
The lawsuit alleges several violations under the Fair Labor Standard’s Act (FLSA). The first being that Pubbelly Sushi paid its Tipped Workers at the “tipped” or reduced minimum wage rate but failed to notify them about taking a tip credit to their wages as the FLSA requires them to. The lawsuit also alleges that Pubbelly Sushi improperly required Tipped Workers to share their tips with sushi chefs and dishwashers, positions that are not eligible to receive tips. Additionally, the restaurant allegedly failed to properly calculate its Tipped Workers overtime rate of pay when taking automatic gratuities for large parties. Tipped Workers also asserted that Pubbelly would take unlawful deductions from their pay when a customer would walkout without paying. Finally, Pubbelly required that Tipped Workers pay for their uniforms which featured the company logo, a cost that plaintiffs argue should be expensed by the restaurant.
Unfortunately, the restaurant industry still continues to be plagued by these and other violations. If you or anyone you know has questions about their pay and has worked at the Pubbelly restaurants or any other restaurants, please call an employment lawyer for more information. Fitapelli & Schaffer, LLP offers a free phone consultation with one of our experienced attorneys. Our employment lawyers will help address some of your concerns and let you know if we can assist you in your situation. You can reach us at (212) 300-0375 or visit our website fslawfirm.com for more information. You can also view the complaint here.