TGI Friday’s Settles Waiter Lawsuit for $2.8 Million Dollars

A $2.856 million dollar settlement between ten TGI Friday’s restaurants in New York owned by the Riese Organization, and its waitstaff, has been approved by a New York federal court judge. The class action lawsuit, which was filed by the workers in 2012, alleged that TGI Friday’s failed to properly pay its tipped workers, including its servers, bussers, runners, bartenders, and barbacks.  In particular, the restaurant workers alleged that the restaurants did not pay their employees minimum wage or proper overtime compensation, failed to pay spread-of-hours pay or call-in pay, made unlawful deductions, encouraged workers to work “off the clock” when performing side-work, and engaged in other violations of the restaurant workers’ rights under the Fair Labor Standards Act and the New York Labor Law. This settlement, which was approved by Judge Richard Sullivan on March 7, 2014, will provide back pay and damages for waiters, waitresses, and other waitstaff who worked between November 20, 2006 through June 30, 2013 at the TGI Friday’s restaurants in Manhattan.  Approximately 2,600 employees are covered by the settlement.