Blockhead’s Burritos Hit with Tip Credit Lawsuit

A delivery worker at Blockhead’s Burritos in Manhattan has filed a class action lawsuit claiming that the chain of Mexican Restaurants failed to pay its workers full minimum wage and improperly took a tip credit. The lawsuit, filed in New York federal court, claims that the delivery persons at the restaurant did not receive proper notice that a tip credit was being claimed. In addition, the workers did not receive notice informing them that the tips they received must be retained by them except for a valid tip pooling arrangement, or that the tip credit taken by the restaurants may not exceed the value of tips that they actually received. The lawsuit alleges that during their employment at Blockhead’s, delivery workers were required to engage in various nontipped activities, such a delivering ingredients and supplies to and from several Blockheads Restaurants, unloading cases of ingredients and supplies from trucks, organizing merchandise in the basement, stocking the refrigerator with drinks, taking out the garbage, packing chips and sauce, and stocking the kitchen with plates, cups and flatware, for 20 percent of more of their work day. The Complaint alleges that waiters, busboy and runners similarly spent at least 20 percent of their workday performing non tipped activities.