New York Healthfood Restaurant Chain Sued For Overtime Violations

A former cook and delivery worker at Energy Kitchen in New York, a restaurant chain touting a health conscious menu of items that are all under 500 calories, sued the restaurants for failing to pay minimum wage and overtime pay, tip theft and other Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and New York Labor Law wage violations. The Complaint, filed by Camerino Hernandez, alleges that six Energy Kitchen restaurants unlawfully took a tip credit and failed to pay their workers the proper minimum wage, overtime for hours worked over forty in a workweek, and spread-of-hours pay when the servers worked more than ten hours in a day. Attorneys for the employees also claimed that the restaurants deducted money from their workers’ pay for breakage, customer walkouts, mistakes, and uniform related expenses. The class action lawsuit seeks unpaid wages, recovery of the unlawful pay deductions, liquidated damages and attorneys’ fees for violations of the FLSA, the New York Labor Law, and New York State Department of Labor Regulations.