Boulud Restaurants Sued for Wage Pay Violations

Tipped employees working in the Boulud Restaurants owned by renowned chef, Daniel Boulud, have filed a class action lawsuit claiming minimum wage, overtime compensation, and spread-of-house violations under the New York Labor Law (NYLL).  The Complaint, which was filed in the Supreme Court of the State of New York in New York County, alleges that the restaurants unlawfully took a tip credit while requiring tipped employees to share a portion of their tips with non-tipped employees.  Additionally, the restaurants retained service charge and administrative fee payments made by customers who hosted private events at Boulud Restaurants, even though the customers reasonably believed that money would be distributed as gratuities for the workers.  The employees also allege that they spent more than twenty percent of their time at work performing non-tip producing “side-work” such as cleaning bathrooms, polishing silverware, filling to-go bags and cutting and preparing food. Lawyers for the restaurant workers are seeking to recover their unpaid wages, liquidated damages and attorneys’ fees.