Food Network Celebrity Chef Michael Psilakis Charged With Tip Skimming

Kefi, a popular Upper West Side Greek restaurant owned by Food Network celebrity Michael Psilakis, has been sued by its waitstaff for wage theft, overtime, and minimum wage violations. The complaint alleges that restaurant management regularly cut the hours of their bussers, runners, baristas, servers and bartenders, and paid them below minimum wage for all hours worked.  The case against the restaurant states that servers often worked more than forty hours a week but were not compensated for their overtime hours.  Lawyers for the workers also allege that the employees were improperly forced to share their tips with the managers of the restaurant and that restaurant management did not pay “spread of hours pay” which requires an extra hour of pay at minimum wage for every day the workday spans in excess of ten hours. The lawsuit seeks tip credit damages, disgorgement of the tips that were improperly taken from the tip pool, payment of unpaid minimum wage, overtime, attorneys’ fees, and other remedies.