Popular Chef in Brooklyn Sued for Stealing Wages and Firing Employee Who Complained About Discrimination

Chef’s Table at Brooklyn Fare, known for sitting 18 customers around a kitchen counter while providing them with 15 plate prix-fixe meals, has been sued for failing to pay minimum wages, overtime and spread-of-hours pay, for stealing employees’ tips, and for firing employees who complained about the main chef calling Asian customers “shit people.” The prix-fixe price at Chef’s Table is $225 per person plus tax and a 20% service charge, but attorneys for the workers claim that the service charge was not distributed to any of its service employees. The lawsuit against Chef’s Table also claims that the restaurant failed to pay workers time and a half for their hours worked over 40 in a week. The Complaint also states that the restaurant did not pay employees New York’s “spread of hours” premium for each day they worked over 10 hours, misappropriated significant portions of employees’ tips, and failed to pay minimum wages. One of the plaintiffs, who is Asian American, complained that the main Chef, Cesar Ramirez, referred to Asian customers as “shit people,” and instructed her to give the worst cuts of meat to the “shit people” and to “Upper West Siders.” Attorneys for the worker claim that she was fired in retaliation for complaining about the Chef’s discrimination.