Former servers at Jongro BBQ and Jongro Gopchang, Korean Barbecue style restaurants located in Manhattan’s Koreatown, have sued in federal court claiming that the restaurants failed to provide them and other servers with proper notice of a tip credit and unlawfully included managers in the tip pool. The former servers also claim that the Restaurants failed to pay them, and other servers, legally required minimum and overtime wages by incorrectly paying them the tipped minimum wage and by shaving their overtime hours to keep their weekly totals below forty.
Both federal and state labor laws require all workers, even those receiving tips, to receive minimum wage and overtime wages. In New York City, the minimum wage is now $16 per hour, however, a server may be paid a “tipped minimum wage” of $10.65 an hour so long as their employer informs them of the tip credit in writing and accurately tracks their tips to ensure the server earns at least the regular minimum wage rate of $15 an hour when his or her tips and hourly pay are added together. Additionally, customer gratuities can only be pooled and shared between employees who actively interact with customers like waiters, bussers, food runners, and bartenders. Manager, restaurant owners, and cooks are now allowed to receive gratuities.
As a result of these practices, Jongro BBQ and Jongro Gopchang could be required to pay the former servers owed minimum wages, owed overtime wages, and misappropriated gratuities among other damages under the law.
If you have been the victim of wage theft or have questions about your rights as a restaurant worker, contact the attorneys of Pechman Law Group at 212-583-9500.
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