T.G.I. Friday’s Facing Class Action Lawsuit for Minimum Wage and Overtime Violations

A former waitress and bartender at T.G.I. Friday’s in Manhattan has brought a class action lawsuit against the restaurant’s parent company, The Riese Organization, for minimum wage, overtime, and unlawful deductions. Cisse Diombera filed suit in the Southern District of New York on behalf of herself and other servers, busers, runners, bartenders, barbacks and other “tipped workers” who work or have worked at T.G.I. Friday’s in Manhattan.  The suit alleges that the employees did not receive the lawful minimum wage for the time spent doing “side work” and did not receive the required overtime pay under the Federal Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the New York Labor Law.  The lawsuit makes further claims under the New York Labor Law that employees were routinely required to do work before being clocked in and after being clocked out without compensation and that “MISC DEDUCTIONS” were unlawfully taken from their paychecks. The attorneys for the workers also claim that the wait staff did not receive “spread of hours” pay, which is required under the New York Labor Law if a restaurant employee has a workday that spans more than ten hours.  The lawsuit against the restaurant also claims that workers did not receive “call-in” pay for days the restaurant requested employees to work but prohibited employees from working the full shift. Lawyers for the restaurant workers are seeking to recover their unpaid minimum wage and overtime, liquidated damages and attorneys’ fees.