Restaurants have tried for many years to make it “right” and take from the waiters tips and give it to other employees. It was a wide spread practice until like 5-10 years ago when some Law Firms caught a wind of it a made a fortune in the lawsuits. Many top restaurants in the city were sued and had to pay big settlements.
So I guess it makes a sense that restaurants would wanna avoid this problems by eliminating the tips and making everyone salaried.
Restaurant owners in Manhattan have long had plenty to worry about, like soaring rents and exacting customers, but now they face a new and costly problem: a record number of lawsuits accusing them of stealing tips and cheating on wages.
Though battles between managers and workers have been a staple at many restaurants, these lawsuits involve some of the most popular restaurants in New York, including the Old Homestead, the Brooklyn Diner, Smith & Wollensky, Sparks Steak House, Heartland Brewery and Mr. Chow.
Waiters, bartenders and busboys say the number of suits has exploded because they have grown tired of what they describe as being shortchanged on wages and tips. But many restaurants say a different force is behind the lawsuits: greedy lawyers.
The legal showdown has rocked Manhattan’s restaurant establishment over the last year, as workers have picketed outside restaurants, armed with megaphones and even drums, angering owners and unnerving diners. Some restaurateurs have become so angry that they have sued their detractors for slander.
New York State’s labor commissioner, M. Patricia Smith, called the violations widespread and serious. “It’s clearly a big problem,” she said. “It’s reached a tipping point in the industry. When it becomes the standard practice to cut corners, then everybody starts doing it.”
Brandon Salus, a waiter, sued B. B. King Blues Club and Grill, on West 42nd Street, saying it had misappropriated his wages by docking his pay $240 after four of his customers sneaked out without paying their check.
Mark Fisher, a waiter and Off Broadway actor, joined a lawsuit against Fiorello’s, across from Lincoln Center, that claims that he and other workers were not paid overtime and were forced to share tips with managers, even though state law bars managers from taking any portion of workers’ tips.
Peter Fasanelli, a bartender at Heartland Brewery on West 43rd Street, has sued the chain, asserting that its managers cheated workers of wages by illegally erasing hours from their time records. The lawsuit also accuses Heartland of not paying employees for their first week of work and of ordering workers not to clock in during banquets.
“We would look at our paychecks at the end of the week, and we’d see that our hours are missing more and more,” said Mr. Fasanelli, 40, a self-described struggling actor. “We’d bring it to their attention, and their attitude was, ‘Just forget the whole thing and keep your mouth shut.’ ”
More than two dozen Manhattan restaurants have been sued in the past year, including several Chinese restaurants sued by their deliverymen. Restaurant owners have denied doing anything illegal, suggesting that some plaintiffs’ lawyers see their establishments as targets with deep pockets.