P.F. Chang\u2019s, a leading domestic and international Asian-inspired casual chain restaurant, was hit with a class and collective action FLSA Lawsuit on Friday, April 1, 2016. The class includes servers, bussers, runners, bartenders and other \u201cTipped Workers\u201d who work or have worked for P.F. Chang\u2019s China Bistro, Inc. in the United States. They are being represented by Fitapelli & Schaffer, LLP along with Werman Salas P.C.<\/p>\n
The FLSA lawsuit alleges that P.F. Chang\u2019s has instituted widespread practices and policies that violate their Tipped Employees\u2019 rights under the Fair Labor Standards Act (\u201cFLSA\u201d), Illinois Minimum Wage Law (\u201cIMWL\u201d), and New York Labor Law (\u201cNYLL\u201d).\u00a0 The lawsuit alleges that P.F. Chang\u2019s failed to pay its Tipped Employees the proper minimum wage rates, overtime, off-the-clock work, and spread-of-hours, as well as misappropriating tips, making illegal deductions and failing to provide accurate wage statements and the proper annual wage notices.\u00a0 Specifically, the FLSA lawsuit alleges that Defendants required their Tipped Employees to regularly<\/em> perform non-tipped work that was unrelated to their tipped occupation.\u00a0 This unrelated work was in excess of 20% of Tipped Employees\u2019 time during individual workweeks and included but was not limited to:\u00a0 sweeping floors, cleaning stainless steel kitchen appliances, folding and restocking to-go food containers, emptying garbage bins, cleaning and refilling condiment containers, cutting fruit, and rolling silverware. \u00a0While this work should have been compensated at the full minimum wage rate, the lawsuit alleges that P.F. Chang\u2019s paid its Tipped Employees sub-minimum, tip-credit hourly wages in violation of the FLSA, IMWL, and NYLL.<\/p>\n