NEW ORLEANS – A New Orleans woman says her former employer, Creole Cuisine Restaurant Concepts, paid her and some 50 other servers less than minimum wage and owes them for unpaid overtime pay.
Rieneke E. Farrow filed a class-action lawsuit on Dec. 29 in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana against Ammari of Louisiana LTD, doing business as Creole Cuisine Restaurant Concepts, alleging violations of Fair Labor Standards Act and unjust enrichment.
According to the complaint, Farrow earned $2.13 an hour as a server for the defendant’s Charter House restaurant from February 2011 through May 2015. Although the FLSA allows restaurants to take a tip credit, meaning waiters keep their tips to bring their hourly wages up to the federal minimum of $7.25, the suit claims that Ammari unlawfully kept a significant portion of the cash and credit card tips. In addition, Farrow says she was underpaid for the hours she worked in excess of 40 per week, earning time and a half based on $2.13 rather than the legal wage of $7.25 an hour.
The plaintiffs seek reimbursement for tips, overtime and other FLSA wages they are owed, plus litigation costs. They are represented by attorney Jessica M. Vasquez of the Vasquez Law Office in New Orleans.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District Court of Louisiana Case number 2:15-CV-07148