On March 24, 2015, Fitapelli & Schaffer, LLP filed a class action lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York against Landry\u2019s, Inc. and its subsidiaries McCormick & Schmick Restaurant Corp. and Landry\u2019s Seafood House-Arlington, Inc., on behalf of all servers, bussers, and other tipped workers who have worked at the \u201cMcCormick & Schmick\u2019s Seafood & Steaks\u201d that operated in New York City between March 24, 2009 and June 13, 2014.<\/p>\n
Landry\u2019s Inc. (\u201cLandry\u2019s\u201d) is a globally recognized restaurant and entertainment company which owns and operates a vast collection of highly rated restaurants, hotels, and other entertainment destinations such as casinos.\u00a0 Landry\u2019s philosophical keys to success, as provided by their corporate website, include an alleged focus on \u201cMotivated Employees\u201d, by which they \u201ccreate a work environment of pride, honesty, integrity and loyalty\u201d.\u00a0 Regardless of the veracity of their policy, it is clear that Landry\u2019s has experienced tremendous financial success.\u00a0 The Landry\u2019s brand has expanded from a single seafood house in Katy, Texas to include restaurants in cities as far reaching as New York, Chicago, Tokyo, London, and Mexico City.\u00a0 Now, Landry\u2019s owns and operates over 450 properties, including more than 80 McCormick & Schmick restaurants.\u00a0 A few of the restaurant chains they own include Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., Claim Jumper, Landry\u2019s Seafood, Mastro\u2019s Restaurants, Morton\u2019s The Steakhouse, Rainforest Caf\u00e9, Chart House, Saltgrass Steak House, The Oceanaire, and Vic & Anthony\u2019s Steakhouse.<\/p>\n
The Plaintiff, on behalf of himself and all similarly situated class members, submits that he was subjected to widespread policies which violated his rights as provided under the New York Labor Law (\u201cNYLL\u201d).\u00a0 He specifically alleges that Defendants failed to compensate its employees at a time-and-a-half rate for all hours worked in excess of 40 per workweek, as required under the NYLL.\u00a0 The named Plaintiff, for instance, often worked up to 55 hours per week without receiving any overtime premium.\u00a0 Further, the lawsuit argues that Defendants failed to pay Plaintiff and class members the minimum hourly wages to which they were entitled to under the NYLL.\u00a0 Specifically, that Defendants failed to properly utilize a tip credit provision because they failed to properly identify the tip allowance and notify its employees, in writing, of their regular and overtime hourly pay rates, the amount of the tip credit Defendants were taking from their wages, their regular pay day, or that extra pay would be required if tips were insufficient to bring them up to the basic minimum hourly rate, as required under the NYLL.\u00a0 Therefore, Plaintiff alleges that class members were entitled to the full minimum wage rate for all hours worked, which they did not receive.\u00a0 Additionally, Plaintiff alleges that Defendants misappropriated class members\u2019 tips by automatically deducting and redistributing a portion of servers\u2019 tips to hosts who were not on duty, and by not permitting employees to handle these transactions themselves.<\/p>\n
The lawsuit alleges that Defendants failed to provide spread-of-hours pay to their employees. Employees who work over 10 hours in a single day, including working time plus time off for meals plus intervals off duty, are required by law to receive an additional hours pay from their employer.\u00a0 The lawsuit also alleges that the owners of these establishments further violated the NYLL through its failure to provide its employees with proper wage notices and statements.<\/p>\n