Delivery Worker Sues Dirty Bird Restaurants for Wage Theft

Dirty Bird to Go, a popular fried chicken restaurant with two locations in Manhattan, has been hit with a wage theft class action lawsuit for violations of both minimum wage and overtime wage laws under the Fair Labor Standards Act and the New York Labor Law. The lawsuit also seeks to recover unreimbursed expenses from purchasing and maintaining the bicycles used on deliveries. According to attorneys for Johan Gomez, a delivery worker at Dirty Bird, he worked as much as 56 hours a week, with some shifts extending as long as 12 hours per day.   The lawsuit claims that Gomez was required to spend more than 50% of each shift performing non-tip producing duties such as, bringing inventory to the kitchen, cleaning and mopping the floors, washing dishes, and packing food for deliveries.   Because he performed non-tipped work for over 20% of his shift, Gomez alleges that the restaurant was not entitled to take a tip credit. Additionally, Gomez alleges he is also entitled to spread-of-hours pay of an additional hour of pay when he worked over ten hours per shift.